Studies Find No Benefit in Echinacea

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 5/17/2004 9:40:53 AM Pacific Standard Time,

chrisziggy writes:

A few months ago, researchers at the University of Washington and Bastyr

University found that echinacea is not effective in young children. The

researchers reported that use of echinacea from the onset of symptoms

did not lessen the number of days the colds lasted or the severity of

symptoms.

 

Well, they didnt report the complete findings of the study.

 

This particular study was used both to show that echinacea was useless, and

that it was a very effective medicine. There were quite impressive results from

use of echinacea in the study, but no, it didnt specifically reduce the

severity or duration of the specific illness for which it was taken. However, it

did give additional immune support for future resiratory infections. See below

for more details.

 

From the Press Release of the American Botanical Council:

 

(Austin, TX, December 1, 2003). A syrup made with the popular herb echinacea

reduced the number of respiratory tract infections in children but did not

reduce the severity of infections, according to a new clinical trial to be

published in Wednesday’s edition of the Journal of the American Medical

Association. The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Washington

and

Bastyr University, was conducted on 524 children ages 2 to 11 and is one of the

largest clinical trials on echinacea published to date.

In a finding that was not part of the trial’s primary outcomes, children in

the echinacea group experienced significantly fewer second and third upper

respiratory tract infections (URIs) than children in the placebo group in the

4-month trial. In total, parents reported 707 cases of URIs in the study,

reported

in 407 children. There were 370 cases of URI in children treated with placebo

but only 337 URIs in those treated with echinacea. Of the children with at

least 1 URI, 64.4% of those receiving placebo had more than 1 URI compared with

52.3% of children receiving echinacea (P= .015).

As stated by the study’s authors, “It is conceivable that echinacea

stimulated an immune response in study children that was too late to modify the

URI

for which it was given but provided a window of protection against another URI

in the child.â€

“Curiously, the press release from JAMA does not mention this important

trend, nor is it mentioned in the study’s abstract. We suspect that some

medical

writers who rely solely on the press release or the abstract will not be aware

of this important benefit of the echinacea used in this study,†said Mark

Blumenthal, founder and executive director of ABC.

Just goes to show, you cant believe everything you read!

 

Julie

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

And then they say ....

 

*Smile*

Chris (list mom)

http://www.alittleolfactory.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Studies Find No Benefit in Echinacea

 

May 12, 2004

 

Americans spend more than $300 million each year on echinacea, an herb

popularly believed to prevent and cure colds. But two recent studies

have found no evidence that it does anything at all.

 

A few months ago, researchers at the University of Washington and Bastyr

University found that echinacea is not effective in young children. The

researchers reported that use of echinacea from the onset of symptoms

did not lessen the number of days the colds lasted or the severity of

symptoms.

And now a second study finds that echinacea doesn't prevent colds in

adults either.

 

In the first study, funded by the National Center for Complementary and

Alternative Medicine at the National Institute of Health, enrolled 524

children aged 2 to 11. The children were randomly assigned to receive

either echinacea or a placebo at the onset of cold symptoms and twice a

day for as long as the cold lasted, up to a maximum of 10 days.

 

No significant difference was found between the two groups. The results

were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The second study was funded by the German company Madaus

Aktiengesellschaft, which markets echinacea products. It exposed 48

healthy adults to a virus that causes the common cold, and found that

those who took echinacea were no less likely to develop colds than

people who took an inactive placebo pill.

At least the substance was not found to have harmed any of the subjects.

Nevertheless, doctors warn that anyone taking herbal products should be

aware that they can interact with prescription medications.

 

The study dealing with adults was published in the journal Clinical

Infectious Diseases.