Thousands of consumers around the world believe that echinacea mobilizes infection-fighting white blood cells in the body and strengthens immune defenses, and therefore helps prevent the common cold and relieve its symptoms. Sales of echinacea account for 10 percent of the billions of dollars spent on herbal supplements in this country. We even keep echinacea in our home medicine cabinet, even though I am not convinced that it really works. But my wife is, so who am I to argue?
Here’s What’s New
Two research reports on echinacea about 3 months apart cast doubt on its effectiveness. Let me tell you about them so you can decide for yourself whether this herb is worth taking.
In the first study, reported in the Annals of Internal Medicine, doctors at the University of Wisconsin evaluated the effect of echinacea on 148 students who came down with the common cold. In this controlled study, half the students received the herb and the rest were given a placebo. Neither the doctors nor the patients knew who was receiving what. When the results were analyzed, there was no real difference between the treated and placebo groups in terms of the severity of the cold and its duration. In fact, cold symptoms actually lasted a little longer in those receiving the herb. Proponents of echinacea say that these results don’t mean much because the researchers used only one type of echinacea (Echinacea angustifolia) and their findings may not necessarily apply to other types.
The second paper raises even more doubts as to the wisdom of spending your hard-earned money on echinacea. It looked into the manufacturing process of this herb, given the fact that the FDA doesn’t routinely monitor supplements, as it does prescription drugs. Doctors at Presbyterian St. Luke’s Hospital in Denver analyzed the contents of echinacea-labeled products sold in retail stores in the Denver area. Among the 59 preparations sampled (21 of which claimed to be standardized, meaning that there is no variation from bottle to bottle), 52 percent contained the ingredients as labeled. A full 10 percent contained no echinacea at all! What’s more, among those claiming to be standardized, only 43 percent actually were. All in all, a rather poor showing.
The Bottom Line
If you take echinacea to treat (or prevent) your common cold and you think it works for you, by all means continue to use it, especially if it agrees with you. So what if the benefit you perceive is all in your head? You feel better, don’t you? But if you’ve never been convinced that the herb works for you, yet you continue to spend money on it because everyone (including your wife) tells you it works, use this as the justification for trying something else, such as chicken soup.
Here’s an afterthought suggested by my echinacea-hooked wife. She asks, “What if the echinacea preparation that was tested in this study and found to be ineffective was among the 10 percent that didn’t contain the active ingredient? In that case, concluding that echinacea doesn’t work isn’t really justified, is it?” That’s a far-fetched possibility, but who ever would have thought of it — other than my wife?
Dr. Isadore Rosenfeld’s legions of fans follow his regular column in Parade magazine and his popular Sunday-morning television series Sunday Housecall on FOX News Channel. In addition to his numerous scientific publications and medical textbooks for doctors, he has written nine New York Times bestsellers. He is a distinguished member of the faculty at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Medical College of Cornell University and attending physician at New York Presbyterian Hospital and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
(Reprinted from
Dr. Isadore Rosenfeld’s Breakthrough Health 2004: 157 Up-to-the-Minute Medical Discoveries, Treatments, and Cures That Can Save Your Life, from America’s Most Trusted Doctor! by Isadore Rosenfeld, M.D.
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