ASK DR. BAUGHAN                                                         July 2, 1999

CAN ECHINACEA PREVENT THE COMMON COLD?

We are an impatient society.  We want results - now!  We want to banish discomfort and bad feelings once and for all.  If we get a cold, it should be no more than 24 hours; 7 days is unacceptable and requires action or an explanation.  We are not very logical in our impatience.  We say things like, “If we can put a man on the moon (a physics problem), why can’t we cure the common cold (a biological and ecological problem)?”  We are not very precise in stating the problem, either.  There is a “cure” for the common cold - time and rest.  What we want is once and for all prevention of the common cold.  We also tend to lump things we do not like into large categories, like “liberals.”  The term “common cold” refers to infections caused by over 100 different viruses.  But we say “I have a cold again,” instead of “I had a rhinovirus, type 27 last month.  This month I picked up adenovirus P54.”

So we turn to various remedies for prevention.  Herbs are definitely the growth market of the end of the millenium.  They are “natural” - just like poison ivy and ragweed, but then we lump things we like together, too.  There have been a few studies showing that taking Echinacea when you contract a cold may shorten the duration and severity of symptoms for some people.  So the next leap of impatient, illogical faith may be, “Well, if it is good for treatment, will it be good for prevention?”

Much of the decent research on herbal treatments comes from Germany.  Melchart, a German researcher, reported in the Archives of Family Medicine November/December 1998 issue on a study entitled, “Echinacea root extracts for the prevention of upper respiratory tract infections.”  First, the paper explains that there are three different species of Echinacea, - purpurea, pallida and angustifolia, and they may have different properties.  Next, products may prepare different parts of the plants, - leaves, stems, roots.  Does the age of the plant matter?  Certainly fresh fruits are more nutritious than decaying fruits.

The study included 302 volunteers from four military institutions and one industrial plant in Germany.  They were not ill at the beginning of the study.  The volunteers were divided into 3 groups.  One third took Echinacea purpurea for 12 weeks; one third took Echinacea angustifolia for 12 weeks; one third took a placebo for 12 weeks.  When the study concluded, the authors found no difference in the time until a person developed their first cold, no difference in the total number of colds, and no difference in the severity of colds.  The E. angustifolia group had more side effects, including digestive tract discomfort, headaches and dizziness.

So what may work for acute treatment may not work for prevention.  We shouldn’t be too surprised.  Taking penicillin for strep throat may work great, but we know not to keep people on penicillin continuously for prevention unless they have certain rare conditions.  We do not know if Echinacea works directly on a virus or if it stimulates the immune system.  If it stimulates the immune system, we may not want an immune system continuously stimulated anymore than we want a nervous system continuously stimulated.  So for now I will continue to believe that when I get a common cold, it is nature’s way of telling me to get some additional rest and to watch my favorite old movies once again.