09.01.05
Indication: Colds
Source: NEJM, July 28, 2005;353(4):341-8.
Research: The study, funded by a grant from the National Center for Complimentary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), involved 399 subjects who began treatment seven days prior to administration of the challenge virus and continued treatment for the next five days. The three Echinacea preparations were manufactured for the study from a single lot of (presumably dried) root. All were made at a concentration ration of 1 kilogram of root to 5 liters of extract (1:5 tincture), and were extracted with supercritical CO2, 60% ethanol and 20% ethanol, respectively. The dosage for each of the extracts was 1.5 mL three times daily, representing 300 mg per dose or 900 mg per day of Echinacea angustifolia root.
Results: According to investigators, there were no statistically significant effects of the three echinacea extracts on rates of infection or severity of symptoms. Similarly, there were no significant effects of treatment on the volume of nasal secretions, on polymorphonuclear leukocyte or interleukin-8 concentrations in nasal-lavage specimens, or on quantitative-virus titer. The results of this study, researchers said, indicate that extracts of E. angustifolia root, either alone or in combination, do not have clinically significant effects on infection with a rhinovirus or on the clinical illness that results from it.
Source: NEJM, July 28, 2005;353(4):341-8.
Research: The study, funded by a grant from the National Center for Complimentary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), involved 399 subjects who began treatment seven days prior to administration of the challenge virus and continued treatment for the next five days. The three Echinacea preparations were manufactured for the study from a single lot of (presumably dried) root. All were made at a concentration ration of 1 kilogram of root to 5 liters of extract (1:5 tincture), and were extracted with supercritical CO2, 60% ethanol and 20% ethanol, respectively. The dosage for each of the extracts was 1.5 mL three times daily, representing 300 mg per dose or 900 mg per day of Echinacea angustifolia root.
Results: According to investigators, there were no statistically significant effects of the three echinacea extracts on rates of infection or severity of symptoms. Similarly, there were no significant effects of treatment on the volume of nasal secretions, on polymorphonuclear leukocyte or interleukin-8 concentrations in nasal-lavage specimens, or on quantitative-virus titer. The results of this study, researchers said, indicate that extracts of E. angustifolia root, either alone or in combination, do not have clinically significant effects on infection with a rhinovirus or on the clinical illness that results from it.
