Hold the Cold
Preventing seasonal colds is tough, but these herbal remedies can reduce the suffering time.
Catherine Guthrie
10/2007
10/2007
Prepare to be sidelined by at least one cold this season. Consider the
stats: The average adult suffers two to four colds a year. Got kids? Buy
tissue in bulk. Children get more than twice that number. Recognizing
a cold is easy-a runny nose, sore throat, cough, and sneezing are its defining
features-but kicking one is not. Your best hope is a reduced sentence with
one of these natural cold-busters.
Remedy: Echinacea
The scoop
Echinacea is still the number one herbal choice for cold sufferers. A new survey published in Alternative Therapies found that 41 percent of herb users rely on it. But the purple coneflower's reputation has wilted slightly. Most recently, researchers for the Cochrane Collaboration, a nonprofit health research group, pooled data from 16 echinacea studies-and reported that the herb "might be effective" for colds. But another meta-analysis published last year in Clinical Therapeutics found that when people who were exposed to a cold virus took echinacea, they lowered their likelihood of catching a cold by a whopping 55 percent. Experts blame the flip-flop on everything from dosage variations to competing cold viruses to dubious science. One thing is clear, however: "Multiple studies show that echinacea reduces the length of a cold by at least a day," says Woodson Merrell, M.D., chairman of the Department of Integrative Medicine at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City. But in order to maximize the herb's potential, look for a combination formula-such as Esberitox, which includes thuja (white cedar) and baptisia (wild indigo), made by Enzymatic Therapy. "Echinacea is not as effective by itself," says Merrell. How To Use It
If you like echinacea straight up, take 300 milligrams of powdered extract three times a day; if using a tincture, swallow 3 to 4 milliliters three times daily.
The scoop
Echinacea is still the number one herbal choice for cold sufferers. A new survey published in Alternative Therapies found that 41 percent of herb users rely on it. But the purple coneflower's reputation has wilted slightly. Most recently, researchers for the Cochrane Collaboration, a nonprofit health research group, pooled data from 16 echinacea studies-and reported that the herb "might be effective" for colds. But another meta-analysis published last year in Clinical Therapeutics found that when people who were exposed to a cold virus took echinacea, they lowered their likelihood of catching a cold by a whopping 55 percent. Experts blame the flip-flop on everything from dosage variations to competing cold viruses to dubious science. One thing is clear, however: "Multiple studies show that echinacea reduces the length of a cold by at least a day," says Woodson Merrell, M.D., chairman of the Department of Integrative Medicine at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City. But in order to maximize the herb's potential, look for a combination formula-such as Esberitox, which includes thuja (white cedar) and baptisia (wild indigo), made by Enzymatic Therapy. "Echinacea is not as effective by itself," says Merrell. How To Use It
If you like echinacea straight up, take 300 milligrams of powdered extract three times a day; if using a tincture, swallow 3 to 4 milliliters three times daily.
