WORLD / Health
Echinacea 'halves risk of catching cold'
(AP)
Updated: 2007-06-26 01:07
Echinacea, a medicinal herb that came to prominence thanks to its use by
Sioux Indians, can more than halve the risk of catching a cold, a
wide-scale study has confirmed.
Taking echinacea supplements can reduce the risk of a cold by 58 percent
and may also shorten the duration of a cold almost one and a half days,
according to the paper, published on Sunday in the July issue of the
journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases.
The study is a "meta-analysis" comparing the outcome of 14 published
trials using echinacea.
One of the trials combined with echinacea with vitamin C, which showed
the two together reduced the incidence of a cold by 86 percent.
The analysis was led by University of Connecticut pharmacist Craig
Coleman.
Echinacea is a term for nine related daisy-like plant species that are
native to North America and feature in the traditional medicine of the
Sioux and other Plains Indians as remedies for infection, snakebites and
rabies.
Other names for the plant are black sampson, Kansas snakeroot and purple
coneflower.
Coleman's team said they had counted more than 800 products containing
echinacea, which come in the form of tablets, extracts, fresh juice,
tincture and tea.
Three of the nine species are commonly used (Echinacea purpurea, E.
angustifolia and E. pallida), and different parts of the plant are used
for different products.
The authors say it is still unclear how echinacea appears to stimulate
the immune system against the cold virus.
Its three major ingredients are alkamides, chicoric acid and
polysaccharides, but it is unclear whether these work by acting
separately or together, or with the help of other constituents.
And the authors sound a word of caution, saying more work needs to be
done on the plant's safety before doctors can recommend echinacea as a
standard option for preventing or treating the common cold.
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