Keeping colds at bay (I think I may be on to something)

Tis the season to be sneezy.
Touch wood we haven't been visited by any major snot monsters. Maybe with Piggy Flu on the rise in our country I should be consuming whole trees to keep the jinx away.
I do have a theory on why we are staying cold-free in our house. Ta-daa:
And gee I hope by blowing this trumpet I'm not tempting fate.
First I need to take you back a few months. Around Easter I had a shocking cold/flu that left me with a recurring sore throat and cough for weeks afterward. I was ingesting more eucalyptus than a family of very hungry koalas. It seemed nothing could kick it until I discovered Cold-Clear. Within days it was finally gone.
I thought it might have been coincidence and that my own brand of super-flu may have simply run its course so I wasn't ready to spruik the miracles of this little lozenge just yet.
But there have been so many kids with runny noses at school and preschool and we've had a few mornings where the kids have woken with a bit of a croak and sneeze. So I've been busting out the Cold-Clear for the family and nothing has eventuated from these false starts.
You can find Cold-Clear at your local chemist and the magic ingredient is said to be zinc (each lozenge contains 13.3mg). Apparently the zinc binds to the cold virus to stop it spreading. It's safe to give to children over two, there's no preservatives and it's non-drowsy (does contain sugar though). I've only given the kids one lozenge a day on three occasions as I have heard that too much zinc can be adverse and deplete you of iron.
The only down side I've found is that they don't taste awesome; they tend to dry your mouth out and leave a bit of a powdery aftertaste. Although that just makes you drink more water, so there's a silver lining.
If we make it through the winter without major sniffles I'll be buying crate loads of the stuff. If stocks are low you'll know where to come...

Do you have any miracle remedies for warding off winter colds?