Echinacea Disappoints: There’s still no cure for the common cold
By Nathan Seppa
A folk remedy touted as a cold treatment has failed its most recent—and possibly most exacting—test. Volunteers exposed to a cold virus and given the herbal supplement echinacea fared no better than did virus-exposed participants who received an inert substance, researchers report in the July 28 New England Journal of Medicine.
The U.S. study is the third in 3 years in which echinacea failed to alleviate colds in children or, as in this case, young adults. These findings run counter to earlier reports, most out of Europe, that echinacea revs up an immune response against cold viruses (SN: 3/27/99, p. 207).