Study Says Echinacea Has No Effect on Colds

New York Times ^ | July 28, 2005 | GINA KOLATA

[nickcarraway]

Echinacea, the herbal supplement made from purple coneflower and used by millions of Americans to prevent or treat colds, neither prevented colds nor eased cold symptoms in a large and rigorous study.

Then the subjects were secluded in hotel rooms for five days while scientists examined them for symptoms and took nasal washings to look for the virus and for an immune system protein, interleukin-8. Some had hypothesized that interleukin-8 was stimulated by echinacea, enabling the herb to stop colds.

But the investigators found that those who took echinacea fared no differently from those who took a placebo: they were just as likely to catch a cold, their symptoms were just as severe, they had just as much virus in their nasal secretions, and they made no more interleukin-8.

Some researchers say still further investigation is needed, with stronger doses and with echinacea species and preparations different from those used in this study. But Dr. Stephen E. Straus, director of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, the government agency that sponsored the new research, says he for one is satisfied that echinacea is not an effective cold remedy.

"This paper says it will not pre-empt a common cold, and it stands on top of prior studies saying it doesn't treat an established cold," he said, adding, "We've got to stop attributing any efficacy to echinacea."

While the herb is generally safe, he said, some people are allergic to it, and it can lower blood levels of theophylline, a drug used by people who have asthma, as well as levels of medications used to treat diabetes.

The study originated at the national center, where researchers were questioning what sort of supplements Americans were taking, and why. A national survey last year by the National Center for Health Statistics found

[mike182d]

Of course the study will say that. If Echinacea helped colds, why on earth would I need to spend so much money on shots and medications?

We all know that colds are caused by a Thera-flu deficiency.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

At least, I can grow my own! I learned all kinds of stuff from My old Mountain Granny, first off was "I'd rather do it myself"!