Study: Echinacea isn’t an effective treatment for the common cold
December 21st, 2010 - 8:44 pm ICT by Aishwarya BhattWisconsin, Dec 21 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Herbal medicine enthusiasts were very happy when it emerged that Echinacea does indeed cure cold.
They might be disappointed now because latest study has revealed that the plant can at best only reduce the length of cold. Scientists say the plant does not cause cold too go away as was thought earlier.
However the scientists maintain that the findings should not deter people who genuinely feel that the herbal has cured their cold. The researchers said the plant has a placebo effect and that makes it not that dangerous when it is tried out.
As far as the findings of the study are concerned, there is no evidence that the plant can cure common cold. The findings were made available in the 21st day of Dec. edition of the journal, Annals of Internal Medicine.
During the study, the scientists observed more than 700 participants with common cold. They were divided into two groups with one group given a pill that contained Echinacea and the other group given a pill that contained only placebo. None of the participants was however told of the content of the pill they were taking.
It was found that those that took the pill with Echinacea had their symptom period shortened but it wasn’t cured totally.
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Tags: annals of internal medicine, common cold, echinacea, enthusiasts, herbal medicine, journal annals, medicine, participants, placebo effect, scientists