ECHINACEA.In April 1998 (p. 8) we reported that taking echinacea echinacea (ĕk'ənā`shēə), popular herbal remedy, or botanical, believed to benefit the immune system. It is used especially to alleviate common colds and the flu, but several controlled studies using it as a cold medicine have regularly doesn't seem to protect people from getting colds, and that it isn't clear which form of echinacea can shorten (audio, compression) Shorten - A form of lossless audio compression. a cold's duration or relieve its symptoms. New research confirms that the herb herb (ûrb, hûrb), name for any plant that is used medicinally or as a spice and for the useful product of such a plant. Herbs as condiments and seasonings are still important in culinary art; the use of medicinal herbs, however, has waned doesn't prevent colds. In the first good U.S. study, people who took the EchinaGuard brand every day got no fewer colds than people who took a lookalike (but echinacea-free) placebo placebo (pləsē`bō), inert substance given instead of a potent drug. Placebo medications are sometimes prescribed when a drug is not really needed or when one would not be appropriate because they make patients feel well taken care of. . The study, which hasn't yet been published, was sponsored by EchinaGuard's U.S. distributor, Nature's Way. But echinacea's ability to shorten the length of colds or ease their symptoms is still up in the air. German scientists have found that an echinacea extract was no better than a placebo at preventing --or shortening the duration of--colds and similar infections.[1] But in a Swedish study of 246 volunteers, those who started taking either of two different dosages of the EchinaForce brand three times a day at the first sniffle had significantly milder cold symptoms than those who took a third echinacea preparation or a placebo.[2] [1] Amer. J. Med. 106:138, 1999. [2] 2 Phytomedicine phytomedicine /phy·to·med·i·cine/ (-med´i-sin) 1. a preparation of a medicinal herb. 2. herbalism. phytomedicine 6: 1, 1999. |
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