August 05, 2005

Cold Comfort for Echinacea Fans MedPage Today -- may require registration; the first time I accessed it, it didn't, but the second time it did. So I dunno. I swore by echinacea for years. Turns out, it don't do doodly-squat for cold symptoms. Vitamin C is less effective than origianlly believed, too. I feel like such a fool!
posted by Koko 18 years ago
  • And well you should. Sucker. Send me £100 and I guarantee you'll never get sick again. Go on. You know you want to.
  • I'll give you a hundred pounds all right.
  • My typical cold consist of 1-2 days of sniffling & sneezing, followed by 2-5 days of cough & chest congestion. If I take echinacea within an hour of the first symptoms, I skip the first phase and go straight to the second. If I don't take it or take it too late, I get both. Of course that's anecdotal evidence only...who am I to argue with people who wear lab coats?
  • Wrong. They didn't test the right type and it was an incredibly low dosage.
  • I very rarely get colds, so all you sickly whelps can take what you like. I'm alright, Jack. Mrs kitfisto takes this stuff, but she's forever getting colds and such. Go figure. Yay! 100 pounds!
  • Not that I believe in such nonsense. Just have a rule: never believe American Pharmaceutical Studies into Natural Remedies. Shutup tentacle head.
  • I'm not up on my med lingo, but it looks like they just sprayed up the test subjects' noses. I could be misreading it, but are they researching only echinacea in general, or only if nasally applied? Doesn't it also come in drops, pills, teas, etc. In Germany it's usually injected. While these methods of intake may also be placeboic(? placeboish? placeboian?), they could at least have tested them too, before ruling it out. On preview, Chyren said it more succinctly.
  • Runny nose? Sore throat? Big red face? Not bloody likely!
  • Germans inject it! Shit! How hardcore!
  • I don't get colds very often either. I thought it was because I took echinacea at the first sign of symptoms. Maybe I'm just healthy? Chy, where does it say what type and dosage they used?
  • Yeah, you sniffy, Lemsip slurping runts! Just toughen up and be naturally healthy like the canadian klutz and my good self!
  • never believe American Pharmaceutical Studies into Natural Remedies See ... Mr. Koko and I have been back and forth about the efficacy of echinacea for years. He finally won me over with the argument, "if echinacea really worked, wouldn't the major pharmaceutical companies already be marketing it?" They would want their studies to prove that it's effective, so they can make money off it, would they not? Answer me that, Dr. Science!
  • OR (puts on devil's advocate hat), they want it to look rubbish so the sickly whelps buy their chemical coctails. Not that it bothers me. Have I mentioned I rarely get colds?
  • Major pharmaceutical companies are all about patenting and exclusively marketing their own inventions. They can't make enough profit from marketing a substance anyone can get from common wildflowers.
  • Say Dr Science, nice mask and cape.
  • Anyone could get them from wildflowers, but most people wouldn't bother, or know how to do it properly. Echinacea is already available in stores at astronomical prices; the pharmaceutical companies could patent their own "recipe" and sell it more cheaply, undercutting the companies that sell the natural remedies and making a tidy profit. Since no one ever believed echinacea cures a cold, they could still sell all their other products, "for your more severe cold symptoms. Ask your doctor or pharmacist".
  • Major pharmaceutical companies are all about patenting and exclusively marketing their own inventions. They can't make enough profit from marketing a substance anyone can get from common wildflowers. You mean stuff like aspirin? (ok, it's from a tree) *in louder voice* You mean stuff like digitalis?
  • But what really puzzles me is what is the difference between Echinacea and an echidna?
  • rhinovirus 39 on 339 volunteers, in a seven-arm study that evaluated the three preparations . . . the corresponding rates for the six active arms ranged from 81% to 92% and 50% to 75%. No way dude, that's MATH! You're not foolin' me! pfft. Sucka MC mathin' nerdicles!
  • yeah yeah yeah storybored. everything pharma is derived from nature in some shape or form. their trick is to get the final product as far from descrinable from the natural shit and then discount the natural shits benefits. remember the "devil weed"???
  • /psst I've cultivated a phenomenal crop and can send out packages as needed. Never even been stomped on. *gazes around innocently*
  • I stuffed an echidna up my nose once. Went in a treat. Getting it out was a bit more of a challenge. Took my mind off the sniffles. I'd recommend it.
  • I prefer echidnas. Sod all use against colds, but good fun while you're suffering.