A Natural Demulcent By Cyn Bagley on Jan 27, 2009 - Updated Oct 15, 2011

A demulcent is a substance that soothes or protects an abraded mucous membrane.

I first learned about slippery elm when I was a young girl. My mother would take one of these lozenges when she had laryngitis. It was very soothing and it didn't take too long for her voice to come back. Also, we always had these lozenges to take when we had sore throats. As children we went through a lot of these.

It was only two years ago that I saw these lozenges again at Vitamin Villa. I had remembered "slippery elm" was really good for sore throats and yes, I tried them again. Slippery elm is a large-leaf North American elm. The mucilage (or bark) is ground to make tea for irritated bowels and stomach or put into lozenges for sore throats.

There are a lot of uses for this tree and it does not get "dutch elms disease."

What else can I say? Thayer's Natural Remedies has been around since 1847. So this natural remedy has been around for a long time.

If you have a sore throat for longer than two days or the sore throat is also accompanied by a high fever, stop using this product and see your doctor.