This is of course, right on the money. Just like the evangelicals -- the more you prove them wrong, the stronger their faith becomes

LMAO...

The root is supposed to be used to boost the immune system. You take it regularly. It does NOTHING when you're already sick. Any herbalist could've told you that.

What a sack of crap this article is.

Ham is correct. It's already common knowledge that any benefits of Echinacea will be if you take it BEFORE the cold hits--in other words, when you have that initial scratchy throat. It's already common knowledge that after the cold has begun in earnest, benefits are minimal. I have used Echinacea CORRECTLY like this and it has staved off more than one cold that threatened.

Also, Zinc has the same effect if taken just as the cold is about to hit, and it also shortens the duration of the cold by a couple of days if taken several times a day during the entire duration of the cold. AGain, I have experienced this effect many times. I am a daycare worker, so believe me, I have had ample opportunity to test it.

And of course you're doing what you're criticizing. It's called cognitive dissonance, AKA dis-information. You define what a thinking person is supposed to thing, or listen to? Good luck. If a glass of water will cure it why argue over beliefs? Of course that's homeopathy, which has been around and tested for nearly 200 years. The panacea works on the Queen's horses and dogs, how is it a panacea then? In any case I go with what works. There have been studies trashing over a thousand serious research programs by Linus Pauling. Except they neither use d the same dosage (6000 to 18000 mg) nor time limit. Of course 50mgs has no effect. In any case studies based entirely on statistics can be slanted the way you want them to go; It's garbage in, garbage out, and false science.

If you have a cold drinking hot licorice root tea or hot Essiac tea will do the trick.

In my experience, echinacea doesn't help after you've developed a full-fledged cold. But taken in high doses at the onset of a cold, when you feel the first tell-tale tinglings in the throat, it seems to stop it in its tracks.

Without fail, when I've had a tingly or scratchy throat and ignored it, I've developed a cold. When I've taken echinacea promptly (like once per hour for an entire evening), then the feeling abates and a cold never develops. It's not using the scientific method, and there's plenty of room for subjectivity, but it's sure been my experience that echinacea helps. I don't know how... maybe it's coincidence, maybe it's a placebo effect, maybe it does jump-start the immune process. But it's worth the few bucks, because it *appears* to work for me and colds are sure a pain.

Unfortunately, when I dismiss the throat tingles and start experiencing full-fledged soreness or nasal symptoms, echinacea fails me at that point. If you want to try it, keep it on hand so you can try it promptly.

From everything I've read, I've determined three things:

1. Echinacea must be started at the first hint of throat irritation.

2. Echinacea should not be taken any longer than 7 days.

3. Zinc supplementation is beneficial. However, Vitamin C inhibits the absorption of Zinc, so they should not be taken at the same time.

If trying to fight a cold, I take 1/2 Zinc tablet with breakfast, take vitamin C and my daily multi-vitamin with lunch, 1/2 Zinc tablet with supper and another vitamin C at bedtime. I take an echincea capsule after breakfast and after supper.

I really think it helps. Most important, though, is to keep your hands away from your eyes and nose unless they've been well washed beforehand.

Since I started practicing homeopathy and other forms of alternative medicine I honestly can't remember the last time I was sick... with ANYTHING. At the first INKLING of anything coming on I break out the Echinacea, Zinc and B12 and also supplement w/colloidal silver. Works EVERY time.

I also keep numerous remedies like Newton's tinctures handy and they work miracles on my and all of my pets. Chinese and Ayurvedic remedies work wonders as well.

The key to NOT getting sick is by having a strong immune system. You can't have a strong immune system when you're eating processed frankenfood, dousing yourself with toxic health and beauty products and living in a toxic environment. Since I live a totally green, organic lifestyle the most I've ever had to deal with is cuts, bruises, aches/pains or a stuffy nose.

The best thing you can do is keep up on your vitamins, minerals, antioxyidants, omega fatty acids etc. One miracle immune booster that also is an antibacterial / antiviral / antifungal that should be part of everyone's diet is ORGANIC VIRGIN COCONUT OIL.

Anyways... to all of you who live a toxic lifestyle..... have fun getting sick !

How do you know that your coconuts are virgins? Are they just giving you a line? Are you just getting a freak on by deflowering coconuts?!?!?! Big Pharma?!?!?! How about BIG SUPPLEMENT?!?!?! Viruses cause colds. Your body fights off viruses, and the symptoms are indicators of the fight going on. Water, rest, a good book will cure a cold, and cost nothing but time. You can't "boost your immune system". Stop evangelizing for supplements, donate the money you would have spent to charity, that will boost your immune system as much as anything.

billmcc1 - Finally another voice of reason!! I don't understand how people can keep pushing these herbs and not understand that someone is selling them just as aggressively as any other product. Honestly folks, if these herbal remedies make any money then you can bet the large pharmaceutical companies are selling them to you. Just look at the example that Dole set with organics...as soon as people started buying organic, Dole bought organic farms and started selling under different labels to get in on the profits. Look at one the largest supplement companies...

"One of the largest — NBTY Inc., on New York's Long Island — sold $2 billion last year in the United States alone. Its brands include Nature's Bounty, Vitamin World, Puritan's Pride and Sundown."

What's better than this is adequate levels of Vitamin D. I have been taking 2000 IU of Vitamin D3 for several years with no side effects and have caught no colds or flu. People, this is real. Vitamin D is cheap and it works. Stop listening to propaganda and research the health benefits. It helps with depression and protects you from colds and the flu.

all these supplement takers are daft in the head. colds are colds and we all get them and we always will. people always look for an easy way by popping this and popping that until next week when it turns out it causs cancer.

Quite to the contrary Bob. Vitamin D helps every system in the body to function better. It has been shown to block transmission of colds and flu. It has also had studies that show it reduces the incidence of cancer as well. You need to read a little more instead of dropping propaganda here.

It's just another business looking to make money off the ignorant that fall for their sales pitch.

f you are concerned about catching a freaking cold, then change your pillowcases three times a week, wash your bed lines once a week and spray your pillow with Lysol and clean off all your door knobs. This is usually where bacteria growth is most common and why a cold will linger on for a long time.

Changing your pillowase daily or three times a week is the best thing ne can do for themself, and then spary the pillow with lysol disinectant to kill the germs and bacteris that lives and breeds there. do the same for your mattress as well, and even your sofa if you lay on it or nap on it.

If you are already feeling a cold coming on, then do all these things and then change your pillowcases daily, and never drink from the same cup. Wash it out before drinking out of it again.

It's pretty easy to defeat the common cold, but most people imo think popping pills or drinking some medicated drink is the quick fix for them.

There are no pharmaceutical drugs used to treat the common cold besides the over the counter stuff which all has generic versions. So the conspiracy you propose has little plausibility.

Jeff, you MAY have a point. Speaking of plausibility, though, who do you think manufactures the over-the-counter stuff?

And how many BILLIONS of dollars in worthless cold remedies are sold every year because THEY DON'T WORK !?

They TREAT... not CURE. Homeopathy CURES at the root cause.

How? What is the mechanism that they use to cure a cold?

Let's see, homeopathy is the theory that "like cures like". The homeopathic "cures" are constantly diluted until only the "memory" of the substance remains. That doesn't even make physical sense. There is no such thing as a memory of a substance. Herbs that have medicinal properties are discovered, taken apart to find the active ingredient, and a pure, potent product is available to treat disease. Belladonna, digoxin for heart trouble. But you actually have to take something that has an effect on your cells or metabolism, or disrupts bacteria, viruses. etc. Please make a voodoo doll of an overweight, white health care worker, stick pins in it, and I'll let you know whether or not I feel pain. Then you can direct me to someone who can sell me water with the "memory" of what will ease my voodoo-ic misery!!!! GO GET SOME SCIENCE EDUCATION!!! Don't be a mark for supplement hucksters.

Using Echinacea and other herbs is naturpathy, not homeopathy. Echinacea stimulates the white blood cells - the macrophages - which stimulates the immune system. I use an alcohol-based liquid tincture (it's stronger - my favorite brand is Herb Pharm) of superechinacea - when I feel something coming on, or when I have way too little sleep and my immune system is weak - I take at least two or three droppers-full a couple/three times a day for a few days, up to a week. If it's really bad, I throw in a dropper or two of goldenseal, which has antibiotic qualities.

The trick is to take enough, and take it early enough when the symptoms haven't really taken hold and you can actually prevent it from becoming a cold. Many, many times over the past 15+ years this has worked for me - I've even gotten my boyfriend to do it, and it works for him, too. Usually one day is enough to stop whatever in its tracks. NEVER take it every day, all the time - you can harm your immune system. If you take it for two weeks straight, take a few days or a week off.

gfganesh

What a worthless article.

Of course western medicine does not want you to take echinacea. You might not take their medicine if echinacea works. For me it certainly does and repeatedly.

You might as well be taking a placebo.

That's been my experience too. Looking at this study, I'm not surprised echinacea "didn't work." When I've waited until I developed a full-fledged cold, it hasn't helped me either. They recruited volunteers who were already sick.

They need to recruit volunteers at the first sign of a cold (tingling in the throat, for me) and administer high doses promptly. Why have we never seen a study that actually administers echinacea as directed?

Echinacea (with Goldenseal) definitely works for me, despite the fact that I am typically very skeptical about herbal remedies; no placebo effect here. As described above, it works when I take it at the first sign of a cold coming on. As recently as last week, I took Echinacea 3 times a day, and VOILA - no cold developed at all ! As far as expense: I buy 30 tablets at the 99 Cents Only Store for - you guessed it - 99 cents ! I think I had better stock up before the FDA bans it !

How would you know that you have no placebo effect? Isn't the point of a placebo effect that you believe the "stuff" will work and so therefore it does? Wouldn't the placebo effect be totally contingent with you not knowing it's a placebo effect?

Exactly...the "secret" is taking it at the earliest onset of symptoms. Thank you for pointing that out. Works GREAT for me! I make sure I have echinacea and/or homeopathic zinc on hand all the time. It's too late if you wait to pick it up on your way home from work after suffering all day.

Mo-mo

No, Echinacea is NOT supposed to be taken at the onset of the illness. It is to be taken BEFORE the onset of the illness. Current recommendations are to start up to 6 weeks before 'cold season'. It is NOT recommended to take echinacea year round, as it looses it's effect it so taken.

How do I know? I AM a Pharmacist.

And echinacea is over the counter. Being a pharmacist is irrelevant.

JLM-268998

WRONG!

Pharmacists ARE your best resource for information about OTC drugs and herbal remedies. Most Pharmacists are quite willing to give you advice, FREE of charge. I can look up information on my store's computer if I am unsure about what to advise.

Your Doctor sees Reps, (Salesmen), from Drug, NOT Herbal companies. Most know little about herbs.

If you don't, or can't, consult with your Pharmacist, it's YOUR loss. If your Pharmacist won't, or can't, provide consultation when requested, find a new store.

Darthdon - Every study by a reputable source has shown time and time again that vitamin C and Echinacea have no appreciable effect on reducing the length or severity of cold symptoms, so if you 'look up information on my store's computer if I am unsure about what to advise.' then I would want to know which store you work for and who your manager is, so that I can call and let them know that you are passing out false information. You clearly shouldn't be giving out advice that's been proven false. Additionally, what school did you go to where you learned such quackery?!

If you reccomend herbals, are you a "Farmacist"? Because you can't be a Pharmacist and ignore the science going on that consistently proves the uselessness of most all herbs for disease processes. Herbs are reccomended on the "anecdotal" reports of people. that's not science. The echinacea study was a blinded placebo research effort. Oh, and the herbal sales people aren't "reps"? They don't have a vested interest in keeping patients ignorant of the facts, rather than the anecdotes? At least advise people to spend their hard-earned money on things that relieve their symptoms. What color are the feathers on your witch doctor costume?

Professional pharmacists aren't trained in herbal remedies (including echinacea). Your being an alleged pharmacist is irrelevant.

JLM

The School of Pharmacy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill taught us about herbs. It would be difficult to not do so as many of our pharmaceuticals, such as lanoxin, are derived from natural sources such as the herb foxglove

StMiller and billmcc1

I have worked for both CVS and Walgreens. Both provide access to web sites that have information on the use of herbs. Much of the advice I give is based on the German Commission E, (Germany's 'FDA' for herbs). The German material IS based on studies, just like those used by the FDA, NOT anecdotes. It would be ridiculous for any company such as these to not enable their Pharmacists give advice about herbs, since they sell herbal products.

p.s. I often advise my customers to not use herbal products after reviewing their drug profile because my computer system also provides information on drug/herb interactions. Also, the study in the article was Not a double-blinded CROSSOVER study, and therefore only of limited use.

The study was a double-blinded study, so are you saying that any double-blinded study that doesn't have a crossover applied is of limited use?

StMiller

Yes, it would be of less use. Double blind with crossover is the 'gold standard' for drug trials.

The unbelievers are the closed-minded people. They don't believe it will help, do not use it correctly, and it doesn't work! Duh....who is the deadhead?

It's called the placebo effect? The same reason you feel better when you eat organic food that has less nutritional value and worse taste. It's organic...man...and it is all in your mind.

Mark, you don't have to take it or "believe" it, but you're the one missing out! Try it--even if it was only a placebo effect, GREAT if that makes the sufferer feel better. Or not. Just keep on suffering....

Lisa-256867 - The placebo effect is so powerful that if people are given a sugar pill and told that it was a $1 per pill they report more positive effects than people given a sugar pill who are told it was 10 cents per pill. The placebo effect is real and very powerful.

I'll take the placebo effect over a cold any day!

I take 2 pills four times a day at the first sign of not feeling well. Doseage is everything.

Except colds are viruses and antibiotics do nothing to a virus.

Antibiotics have no effects against viruses

No...but Extra virgin organic coconut oil is antiviral AND antibiotic as well as antifungal. LDM-100 is also antiviral and antibiotic and will kill/cure anything.

http://www.barlowherbal.com/product_info.php?products_id=47

"and will kill/cure anything." Anything?! Really?! Wow.

Yeah, I love all those "magic" ingredients that cure everything without any side effects. Coconut, grapefruit extract, elderberry, grape skin... entire books have been written on how to cure cancer with these things.

I went to a homeopath for my child's bedwetting problems, because she claimed to have a solution for it. I thought she had some kind of bedtime routine or sleep therapy, but nope, she just wanted to sell me $250 of potions to cure all sorts of illnesses she claimed my child had. She swore they'd work and that it was impossible to overdose. I settled on the $25 bedwetting cure only, and had no success. Stupid witch doctors! Glad I didn't waste $250!

As a professional Immunologist I am fascinated to hear the evidence that you can "boost my immune system". I've spent 40 years trying to do this but obviously doing things wrong.

Apparently... just proves that the practice of conventional medicine is WORTHLESS.

At my house, we keep echinacea on hand and always refer to it as our "placebo," since study after study finds it ineffective. However, it keeps us from getting colds, whether by the placebo effect, immune boost, or some cosmic force. So we're not giving it up any time soon.

Yeah, but it answered the wrong question. Most people don't claim that echinacea cures colds - only that it prevents them. This study didn't address that claim at all. And previous studies that have involved such low doses of echinacea that it didn't have a chance. Since most echinacea fans take it at the first signs of a cold in high doses (like 1,000 mg), they're not going to find any relevance in studies that administer it differently.

What if they did a study on some seizure drug, giving patients only 1/10 of the recommended dose? I suspect it would have a minimal effect on preventing seizures. They should at least give echinacea studies the same integrity.

It works beautifully for me, too. BUt I take the liquid tincture - the alcohol based is strongest - because it gets into the system faster than the capsules. Otherwise, I use it just like you do. I use 2-3or 4 droppers full each time - two or three times a day to prevent the cold from coming on. I sometimes throw in some liquid goldenseal for antibiotic qualities. I keep a little bottle in my purse for on-the-road/at the office symptom onset, too.

Airborne had to pay $30 million dollars after it was proven that their claims were b.s. - but if you want to throw your money away, go right ahead.

I was always annoyed with Airborne's claim: invented by a school teacher!

Really? I'm supposed to be impressed that a school teacher invented it? He sounds about as qualified as a plumber. Either tell me an immunologist invented it or don't mention where it came from. Why was the school teacher touted as some amazing qualification?

There was a double-blind study at a university a few years back that found Echinacea produced no benefit whatsoever in protection from colds. I'll see if I can dig up a link.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/28/health/28cold.html There you go. Study in the New England Journal of Medicine published in July 2005. Sorry to burst your bubble but this stuff has been studied extensively and is demonstrably of no value whatever in preventing or treating colds.

It does put a lot of bucks on the bottom line of sundry purveyors of supplements though, so it has that value to it.

Yeah.... and look who funded these studies... a BIASED gov't run agency . The same gov't that supports BIG PHARMA. Tell me that the studies were funded and performed by completely INDEPENDENT organizations and researches with NO connections to Big Pharma or the gov't and THEN I'll believe the results. Until them... I will never believe any gov't funded / performed research studies. Not from THIS gov't anyways.

DOES ECHINACEA REALLY WORK?

Recently, there has been a government-funded study discounting the effectiveness of Echinacea.

However, 13 high-quality European studies found quite the opposite. They found that...

"Echinacea (when taken at the first sign of a cold for 8 to 10 days) reduced cold symptoms or shortened their duration."

You can read about these studies and more on The University of Maryland Medical Center's web site.

Here's another study just for $hits & giggles:

http://www.traditionalmedicinals.com/data/fe/file/clinical_pdfs/echinecea_plus_study.pdf

The doses in the above study were extremely low. Much lower than the recommended dosage on the label of commercially sold echinacea.

Might was well crush your aspirin tablet into ten pieces, take one piece, and have a fit that your headache didn't go away. I guess that means salicylic acid doesn't work! A study that doesn't account for dosage is practically worthless.

So you think science is b.s. - airborne had to pay millions after their claims were proven to be fraudulent. Zinc is the only one of the suggestions here that has actually been proven to help, although ZiCam has also made people lose their sense of smell.

Well, yes. If you consider "science" to be a specific selection of studies that deny the results of other studies and deny the actual real-life experiences of millions of people then I do think "science" is bs.

Sorry, posted in the wrong place!

Herbal products vary widely in their quality. Where did the echinacea you took in Europe come from? If it was German, where herbal products are regulated, the quality would have been quite good, other countries, perhaps not.

I don't think that he is having trouble understanding your claims. He, like many of us, are having trouble with your insinuation of causality. I am also seeing in the comments what likely amounts to a lot of embellishment and exaggeration in anticipation of people doubting the echinacea success claims.

Here is what happens...

People 'feel' a cold coming on, pop a few herbal remedies then say "I took my herbal medicine and look...no cold." There are multiple things wrong with this assertion being offered as proof that echinacea worked. 1. There was no proof of a cold coming on just because someone had a scratchy throat, or the beginnings of the sniffles. 2. Just because you did A before B happened doesn't mean that A caused B. So making the assumption that it was a real cold coming doesn't mean that it was averted (B) just because you did A (in this case took herbals). Thats a classic case of "Correlation does not imply causation".

However, my favorite claims are the ones where the person says..."No, No, No...you are supposed to take echinacea an extended period of time. You'll see you won't get as many colds." As if the fact that nothing happens is caused by the taking of the herbs.

Or the much abused claim "It boosts your immune system" as if that were actually physically possible.

Or the claims that its all a conspiracy to get you not to buy other medicines. I like that one because it seems to insinuate that a pharmaceutical company couldn't figure out and start selling herbal remedies if they wanted to make money off them. It also means the conspiracy nuts consider the herbal companies to be in business for altruistic purposes when in reality they are making buckets of cash off maintaining the silly beliefs about the herbal remedy's effectiveness, but somehow that isn't a conspiracy.

And it is clear that some people flat out exaggerate the claims of effectiveness for the simple reason that they want to believe they are right.

Study after study (peer reviewed, double-blind) have shown time and again that echinacea (and Vitamin C) offer no benefits in terms of reducing the length or strength or likely-hood of getting the common cold.

But don't waste your time believing the facts or the science or the people schooled in these matters. No, no, no...believe the anecdotes or claims of people equally biased as yourself.

It's like the people who claim the flu shot got them sick. They were already getting sick but had no symptoms, so they claim that the flu shot caused the illness.

Or the much abused claim "It boosts your immune system" as if that were actually physically possible.

I would like somebody, someday to please explain what boosting the immune system actually is. Does the body create more white blood cells? If so, that's not good. Does it create antibodies? If it does, which antibodies does it know to create, especially for something that mutates so rapidly like the cold? Does it create an inflammatory response? If so, long term inflammation isn't good for you either. I would like a full breakdown of how the immune system can be boosted, by what means does it "work better", and how does it "kill" a cold.

You cannot boost your immune system any more then it's top capacity, which can be reached by sleep and good habits. Personal stories do not counter that fact. There were hundreds of stories of people in the Middle Ages being cured by humour bloodletting techniques. Does that mean it works? Or all of the testimony of Mercury tonics that cured STD's? Heck, Heroin used to be promoted as a GREAT cold remedy by people. Doesn't make it any safer.

StMiller, what you are saying makes perfect sense if correlation, in no way shape or form, ever means causation. Implicit in what you are saying is that millions of people, over an extended period of time, are so out of touch with themselves that they have no idea whether or not they are actually getting sick.

I'm afraid you're going to have to prove that.

I'm afraid you're going to have to prove that.

Actually, since you're the one making the claim that it works, you'd have to prove that correlation does cause causation in this case.

Sure: Whenever I feel a cold coming on (which apparently I cannot possibly actually know, but let's just go with it) and I've been cheap that month and haven't laid in any of my preferred remedies, I find that I am exponentially more likely to get sick. That's just my personal experience.

Obviously, because of the incontrovertible "study after study" that says this cannot be possible, I am hallucinating. That's really of little concern to me unless it causes more pronounced side effects, like starting with a conclusion and then only being mindful of evidence that supports what I started with.

Okay. I haven't gotten sick since I bought a new pair of shoes. Therefore, my shoes are obviously keeping me well. That's my personal experience, so it must be true. There's no side effects, so it obviously cannot be a bad way of thinking.

Or, I haven't broken my leg since I started drinking coffee. Therefore, coffee is preventing me from breaking my leg. I did, however, break my leg the month I stopped drinking coffee. Therefore, drinking coffee prevents leg fractures.

I also got pregnant the month that I stopped eating eggs. Therefore, eggs must be a form of birth control.

You're right Doctor. It's got to be the shoes.

What a great day it will be when we can get every single human and every aspect of their lives standardized.

I have no problems with people taking it. I just want people to understand what they're claiming and at least be able to admit that there may be no proof to their claims.

Montgomery-2822326 - Piper is 100% correct. No one cares if you take the stuff, but start claiming that it works (ala Airborne) and that's when you run into the need to prove your claim. Users of echinacea are claiming that it works, but can only offer anecdotal evidence to backup that claim. Those who ran the study are part of a growing body of actual evidence that proves factually that it does not work. It has gotten to the point now where the anecdotal evidence actually says...'Oh, it has to be taken for weeks on end before the cold season and if you don't get a cold it shows that it worked. Also, they can't possibly test that claim, so therefore you can't disprove that it works.' This is no different than the people that claim that vaccines caused their children to become autistic.

Geez.