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More doubts about echinacea for preventing colds The popular herbal cold-fighter echinacea may not work as advertised, a new clinical trial shows. Echinacea, which is derived from the coneflower, has long been touted as a way to bolster immunity and prevent or ease the common cold. But studies have come to conflicting conclusions as to whether the herb is truly effective. This latest study, published in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, adds to doubts about echinacea's ability to prevent colds. Researchers at the University of California San Francisco found no clear evidence that echinacea prevented nasal congestion, sore throats or other cold-season woes among 58 volunteers they followed for eight weeks. Study participants were randomly assigned to take either three echinacea capsules or three parsley-containing placebo capsules twice a day for the entire study period. Once a week, the researchers asked the volunteers whether they had suffered a sore throat, runny nose, headache or other cold symptoms over the previous week. Overall, the echinacea group reported nine "sick days" per person, while the placebo group reported 14. The difference, however, did not hold up when the researchers performed a statistical analysis of the data -- meaning the difference in sick days could have been due to chance. "Although echinacea is touted as an immune stimulant and sold in almost all health food stores, this study is one of many with equivocal findings that really do not support the use of echinacea to prevent the common cold," said lead researcher Dr. Joelle O'Neil. This study and others suggest that there is no harm to taking standard, commercially available echinacea products, noted O'Neil, who is now a family practice physician with Kaiser Permanente in Fresno.But neither is there reason to recommend the herb for preventing colds, she added. The study did not address whether echinacea is useful for lessening the severity of cold symptoms, or speeding people's recovery, O'Neil noted. SOURCE: Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, April 2008 Dr. Cinque's comments: It goes to show you how unhealthy people are if one group reported 14 sick days in just 8 weeks time, and the other reported 9 such days in the same period. And these were young college students- people who are supposed to be in their vigorous and youthful prime. My Aunt Natalie, who is my godmother, is 90 years old, and I dare say she has fewer than 14 sick days over 8 weeks time. But regarding echinacea, I have never taken it, and I have never been tempted to take it. The claims for it have always seemed rather presumptuous and farfetched to me. And frankly, there is a limit to how many supplements that I, or anyone, can take, both because of the monetary cost and because of the arduousness of taking supplements. And of course the more you take, the more arduous it is. That's as true for me as it is for others. And so, I put a lot of thought into deciding which supplements to take. There are supplements that interest me and intrigue me, and for which I think there is a good theoretical basis for deriving benefit, but which I still don't take simply because of my limitations. But, echinachea doesn't even make my list of considerations. E-mail to a friend Next Article |
