Echinacea Fails To Fight The Common Cold, New Study Says

A staple of herbal medicine for colds and flu fails another test

The answer depends on whether you are talking about Echinacea purpurea or Echinacea angustifolia, and whether you are talking about a pill, powder, alcohol-based tincture, alcohol-free tincture, juice or capsule, whether the product is made from roots or from leaves, whether you take it before infection or after, and what else may be in your stomach when the herb hits your digestive tract.

The most recent study appears in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine. In the study, 719 residents of Madison, Wisconsin aged 18 to 80 who already had the early symptoms of a cold were told to do nothing, given an inert pill that contained no echinacea, or given pills made from a preparation of echinacea root made by MediHerb, an Australian natural products company. Volunteers in the echinacea group took 10,200 mg of the herb the first 24 hours and 5,100 mg of the herb a day for the next four days. The results?

• Users of the herb scored an average of 236 on the Wisconsin Upper Respiratory Symptom Survey, users of the placebo, 264, and participants who did not take anything, 286. Users of the herb had fewer colds symptoms, but the difference was not statistically significant.
• Users of the herb had colds that lasted an average of 6.34 days, users of the placebo, 6.87 days, and volunteers who did not take anything, 7.03 days. Users of the herb had shorter duration of symptoms, but the difference was not statistically significant.

The scientists also measured production of an inflammatory chemical known as interleukin-8, or IL-8. In users of echinacea, the average concentration of IL-8 was 30 ng/L, in the placebo group, 58 ng/L, and in the take-nothing group, 70 ng/L. Echinacea users had lower levels of inflammatory chemicals, but the data analysis concluded the difference was not statistically significant.

So why are there negative results in some studies? The answer seems to be that there are not enough people in any of the studies to establish statistical significance (and that may be the intended result of the research designs). Sure, echinacea makes people feel better and reduces inflammation, but we can say it's not a statistically significant effect, the researchers tell us. And it also makes a difference which product is used for which purpose.

If you are concerned about H1N1 "swine flu" or an outbreak of bird flu viruses, your best best is to take an Echinacea purpurea root product like Echinaforce. If you are treating a cold in a child, try to give your child an echinacea tea, made by pouring hot water over Echinacea angustifolia, Echinacea pallida, or Echinacea purpurea root, or, even better, a combination of all three kinds of echinacea. Sure, part of the healig effect may be the warmth and moisture from the tea itself, but the idea is to get well! Otherwise, make sure any product given to a child is alcohol-free. To be on the safe side, no one who has an allergy to ragweed or who is on steroid treatment should take this herb.