Herbal Rx for the immune system: echinacea can help fight off a myriad of ills - The Herbalist

Vegetarian Times, Sept, 1996 by Donald J. Brown

AS THE INTEREST in native wildflowers grows, more and more people are finding a spot in their yard for echinacea, commonly known as purple coneflower. Most folks appreciate echinacea's pastel color and daisylike beauty. But this plant is more than just another pretty face in the garden: Echinacea is one of the most useful healing herbs around.

The Plains Indians certainly understood the power of echinacea. They used this healing plant more than any other whether treating snake bites or small pox. Today, more than 200 medical journal articles on various echinacea species bear out a variety of uses for the herb. Study after study has shown that echinacea is a potent preventer of colds and flu and also useful as a supportive therapy in treating recurrent infections including vaginal yeast infections and bronchitis.

Echinacea preparations are among the most popular herbal formulas in European countries where herbs are a standard part of mainstream health care. In Germany, for example, more than 300 echinacea products are available; in 1994, German doctors and pharmacists wrote more than 2.5 million prescriptions for echinacea. Echinacea is becoming just as popular in the United States, where it's one of the 10 best-selling herbs.

PLANT FACTS

ECHINACEA is a native American wildflower belonging to the sunflower family. Of the nine species native to the United States and Canada, three are used medicinally: Echinacea purpurea, Echinacea angustifolia and Echinacea pallida. Although echinacea can be found growing in the wild, most medicinal preparations are harvested from plants cultivated in either the United States or Europe.

The history of echinacea's medicinal use around the world begins in the United States. Echinacea was first introduced into U.S. medical practice in 1887 by Dr. John King, who wrote The American Dispensatory, a guide to various medicines, which included herbal therapies. Also recommended by John Uri Lloyd, a Cincinnati pharmacist famous for his research on herbal medicines, echinacea was popular among medical professionals in the late 1 9th century. By the early part of the 20th century, however, echinacea had largely disappeared in U.S. medicine.

Echinacea was rediscovered in the 1930s by Dr. Gerhard Madaus. Madaus, the founder of Madaus AG, a leading herbal medicine manufacturer in Cologne, Germany, came to the United States in search of seeds from Echinacea angustifolia, the form of echinacea most widely used at that time. Madaus returned to Germany with seeds from Echinacea purpurea instead of Echinacea angustifolia. By default then, Echinacea purpurea became the subject of modern pharmacological studies by Madaus. The result was the development of a product called Echinacin, a preparation of juice expressed from the flowers, leaves and stems of the plant. Available today in the United States, this product has become the most extensively researched and frequently prescribed echinacea preparation in the world.

HEALTH-CARE APPLICATIONS

STUDIES SHOW that echinacea works by boosting the activity of the immune system. Most of echinacea's immune-enhancing properties are attributed to complex sugar molecules known as polysaccharides. One polysaccharide, arabinogalactan, has shown significant ability to boost the immune system, but other components of echinacea also influence immune system activity, stimulating the production of infection-fighting white blood cells, such as lymphocytes and macrophages. Echinacea also enhances the production of interferon, a group of proteins that inhibits viral multiplication and increases the activity of the body's killer cells The end result? Better defense against infections.

A rather embarrassing footnote for modern medicine has been the absence of an effective treatment for the common cold. And while flu vaccinations appear to be useful preventive tools for some atrisk populations, including individuals with compromised immune systems and the elderly, their use in healthy populations is questionable. A safer approach is to enhance your immune function during cold and flu season.

With numerous clinical studies to back its use, echinacea has emerged as an effective herbal prescription to prevent as well as treat colds and flu. One study examined the effect of an Echinacea purpurea expressed-juice preparation on the length of time and severity of colds in 108 patients (Forum Immunologie 8:2-12, 1992). Half the group received echinacea, and the other half received a placebo. After eight weeks of treatment, subjects taking echinacea experienced less frequency of infection. When they did get sick, the echinacea group experienced less severe symptoms and recovered far more quickly.

Another study looked at the effects of echinacea on 180 persons with the flu (Zetischrift Phytother 13: 7-13, 1992). Subjects, who ranged from age 18 to 60, received one of three treatments: a placebo, 450 ma. of echinacea daily or 900 ma. of echinacea daily. Persons receiving 900 ma. showed a significant reduction in such flu symptoms as weakness and low energy, chills, sweating, sore throat, headaches and muscle and joint aches. The lower dosage of 45 0 ma. did not produce favorable results, however.