Echinacea Doesn't Help Common Cold in Children [balance]

Thumbs Down on Echinacea for Kids

Herb Has No Effect on Common Cold

Written by Jeanie Lerche Davis

May 8, 2002 -- Despite the hype over echinacea, the herb has little effect on the common cold in children. That's the result of a new study, presented this week at the Pediatric Academic Society meeting in Seattle.

In their study, researchers gave either echinacea syrup or a placebo to 524 children with upper respiratory infections -- the common cold. Parents recorded the severity of four symptoms -- runny nose, nasal congestion, cough, or sneezing -- for up to 10 days.

The duration of all kids' colds was nine days, and the severity of common cold symptoms was the same, reports James Taylor, MD, with the Child Health Institute at the University of Washington in Seattle.

"Echinacea ... had no effect on the duration or severity of [common colds] in children," writes Taylor. In fact, its use was associated with an increase incidence of rash , he states.

The study also concludes that it is unclear if other preparations or doses of echinacea may have been more effective.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The New War on Science: 4 Reasons People Reject Good Data [a to z guides]

Image
The New War on Science: 4 Reasons People Reject Good Data Written by Natalie Sabin Aug. 5, 2022 – Thanks to science, we know the world isn't flat, that the Earth revolves around the sun (and not the reverse), and that microbes cause infectious diseases. So why is scientific skepticism a global phenomenon – and one that appears to be getting worse, if the crazy stuff you saw your friend post on social media this morning is any indication? In a newly released paper , social psychology researchers sought to answer exactly these types of questions. What leads some people to reject science? And how can trust in science be restored? Aviva Philipp-Muller, PhD, one of the co-authors of the paper, says finding answers and restoring widespread trust in science may be more important now than ever. "If you come to conclusions through gut instincts or listening to people that have no knowledge on a topic, you can come to believe just about anything," she says. "And sometimes...
Read more

Gen Z Is More Fatalistic Than Boomers About Climate Change [a to z guides]

Image
Gen Z Is More Fatalistic Than Boomers About Climate Change Written by Lisa Rapaport From the WebMD Archives Nov. 10, 2021 -- Members of Generation Z, or anyone born after 1996, are much likelier than baby boomers to have fatalistic views about behavioral adjustments to combat climate change, according to a survey of U.S. adults . Yet the two age groups are equally likely to make such changes. Conventional wisdom puts the two generations in opposing stances. Gen Z is represented as a group of Greta Thunbergs, crusading for broad societal changes to slow and reverse the effects of global warming. Meanwhile, boomers, or those born after World War II through the mid-1960s, are cast as unwilling to abandon SUVs or disposable coffee cups for the sake of future generations. For a clearer picture of generational attitudes around climate change, researchers at Kings College London conducted a survey in August 2021 of a representative sample of 2,153 U.S. adults. (The investigators also ask...
Read more