Echinacea & Colds

[Guest guest]

Hi All,

 

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/544846?src=mp Echinacea Cuts

Cold Incidence, by Martha Kerr

 

BOSTON (Reuters Health) Sept 20 - Use of echinacea, or extract of the

purple coneflower, before the onset of full-blown symptoms of the

common cold reduces the incidence by more than a half and the

duration by almost two full days, researchers reported here at the

annual meeting of the American College of Clinical Pharmacology.

 

There are approximately one billion colds reported annually, Dr. Sachin

A. Shah told meeting attendees. He commented that 20% of patients

report using nutraceuticals for symptom management. Of these,

echinacea is the most commonly used.

 

Dr. Shah of the University of Connecticut, Storrs and colleagues

conducted a search and ultimately a meta-analysis of randomized

controlled trials on the subject. The investigators found 14 studies that

contained information on incidence in 1,356 patients and duration in

1,630 patients.

 

The team found that echinacea use cut incidence by 58%, with an odds

reduction of 0.42. Duration was shortened by 1.9 days compared with

the colds of nonusers.

 

Best regards,