Echinacea

[Torpedo]

.. is not effective :(

A randomized controlled trial of echinacea as a treatment for upper respiratory infections in children showed that the herbal medication reputed to reduce the symptoms of the common cold is no more effective than a placebo.

According to a paper presented by Dr. James Taylor of the Child Health Institute at the University of Washington (UW) at the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Society in Seattle, the study showed that the incidence of side effects was higher with echinacea than with the placebo.

[MS]

Hehehe, that's great Torpedo. Makes you wonder how many other 'herbal remedies' are actually making us worse rather than better while the people marketing them line their pockets with our hard earned pay. Considering it's a MULTI billion dollar industry with very little human scientific evidence for most of the herbs, ya gotta think there's a lot of gullible people in the world!

[WODIN]

I use Echinacia and it works very well. Combine it with Cats claw and it burns off infections very quickly.

Just my own personal experience.

[BabyDoc]

I personally do not think that I get well any faster taking Echinacea than I do just getting plenty of rest and fluids. If you do feel that you like it and want to take it just make sure that you don't take it every day in an effort to prevent illness. Echinacea promotes the formation of free radicals in the body (one of the ways it theoretically aids in fighting illness). However these free radicals are extremely damaging to the body's tissues. Take home message: Echinacea makes free radicals, free radicals OK when sick but BAD when healthy.

[WODIN]

Thanks for the note Babydoc. I take it with catsclaw when I get a fever going.