Another Echinacea "study" pisses me off...

You know, you'd think I'd have grown calloused to this kind of crap by now. Yet it still gets my goat all the way up when shit like this gets plastered all over the news.

From the AP Wire: Echinacea in doubt
"Echinacea, a popular but largely untested herbal remedy for the common cold, showed no benefit when given to a small group of college students with sore throats and stuffy noses, researchers say."

I'll leave the asinine "largely untested" statement alone for the moment and focus on two key areas of the study causing me the most distress. Oh, you're gonna love this!

1. Medicago sativa (Alfalfa) was the "placebo". Yes. That's right. Alfalfa. Another medicinal plant specifically indicated for viral infections like the common cold. Loaded with chlorophyll and minerals (like zinc), Alfalfa can lessen the duration of a viral attack, providing the body with nutrients depleted during the battle with the invading virus. Some placebo.
   
2. The Echinacea pills were provided by a multi-level marketing company. Oh boy. Nothing like getting the cream of the crop, fellas. We are keenly aware of the shoddiness of some companies schlepping their "herbal" products, who are more concerned with profits than the quality of their products. Shame on you...

Here's the skinny on Echinacea. If you think you've got or you are getting a cold, Echinacea can help. But Echinacea helps in a very specific way. It stimulates your body to produce more white blood cells to help fight off the infection or the virus. Rather than being specifically antibacterial or antiviral, it's an immunomodulating herb.

But that immunomodulation isn't a magic bullet. For my clients, I recommend they does themselves (with the tincture, not the bulk herb) every 90 minutes while the infection of virus is acute. That's 2 ml taken about 10 times a day... and sometimes for several days. Don't forget that the common cold is a royal pain in the but to shake off, which is why modern allopaths have so far been completely unsuccessful at a "cure", resulting in symptom masking.

And that's another thing that has be pissed off about this study. The specific reports from the participants judged how they felt. But Echinacea does nothing for symptom masking! There are plenty of other herbs that will help with the labored breathing like Osha (Ligusticum porteri), bring down the fevers like Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) or deal with the aches and pains like Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum). You know... symptom relief. No, Echinacea doesn't do much for symptoms, working at a much deeper level.

OK. I'll put the soap box away for the moment. Until someone else comes along and publishes this kind of rubbish. Then I'll dust it off and pound the pulpit some more...

Posted by Evo Terra at December 18, 2002 08:14 PM | TrackBack (0)