Halls Defense My Favorite Lozenge By Joan Young on Nov 06, 2009 - Updated Oct 15, 2011

These Vitamin C lozenges sooth my throat during dry weather or when I'm hiking, and claim to support the immune system.

Some winters it seems like I live on these lozenges! My throat tends to get just a little bit dry and scratchy, just enough to cause a tiny cough or be uncomfortable. And, of course, if I do have a cold then the throat really needs some lubrication!

These are not medicated drops, but they have Vitamin C, supposedly 100% of the daily requirement in every lozenge. So for those who advocate massive doses of Vitamin C to ward off colds, this is an easy way to get it. I don't know if these have contributed to my success rate, but I've only had about 3 colds in the past 10 years.

These are fairly inexpensive with 30 drops in a regular package. I've found them for as cheap as $1.29, or as high as $1.89, but usually they are about $1.49, which makes them 4.7 cents each.

They come in several different flavor packs. I like the citrus assortment which has orange, lemon, and pink grapefruit. Of course there seems to be more orange and less grapefruit, and I would prefer the quantities would be the other way around. There are other packs that are not always available. They are watermelon, strawberry and cherry. I don't like those nearly as much. They seem a lot sweeter. The citrus flavors are all natural. I'm not sure about the others. You can also sometimes find them in sugar free.

I like to use these when I'm hiking. Often at the end of the day my throat will get dry and even a drink of water doesn't seem to sooth that tickle. One of these lozenges will last for 20 minutes if I just let it melt naturally in my mouth. This is great, because I can usually walk a mile in 20 minutes, so if I'm tired I can say to myself, (for example) “one cough drop” worth of hiking to go!