Echinacea halves the risk of catching cold

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Echinacea halves the risk of catching cold, a pdf-availed below paper's review suggests.http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2007/06/25/echinacea.htmlEchinacea halves risk of catching cold: reviewLast Updated: Monday, June 25, 2007 | 4:46 PM ETCBC NewsEchinacea, a herb widely used to fight the sniffles, helps reduce the risk of getting the common cold and shortens its duration, a new review suggests.In the July issue of the medical journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases, researchers analyzed the results of 14 published trials on echinacea, or purple coneflower. The beneficial effect was seen after combining results from 1,600 participants.[inset:] 'An analysis of the current evidence in the literature suggests that echinacea has a benefit in decreasing the incidence and duration of the common cold."- Study's conclusionEchinacea refers

to flowers, roots and stems of nine related plants that are native to North America. Extracts are thought to boost the body's immune system....Shah SA, Sander S, White CM, Rinaldi M, CI.Evaluation of echinacea for the prevention and treatment of the common cold: a meta-analysis.Lancet Infect Dis. 2007 Jul;7(7):473-80.PMID: 17597571SummaryEchinacea is one of the most commonly used herbal products, but controversy exists about its benefit in the prevention and treatment of the common cold.Thus, we did a meta-analysis evaluating the effect of echinacea on the incidence and duration of the common cold. 14 unique studies were included in the meta-analysis. Incidence of the common cold was reported as an odds ratio (OR) with 95% CI, and duration of the common cold was reported as the weighted mean difference (WMD) with 95% CI. Weighted averages and mean differences were calculated by a random-effects model

(DerSimonian-Laird methodology). Heterogeneity was assessed by the Q statistic and review of L'Abbé plots, and publication bias was assessed through the Egger weighted regression statistic and visual inspection of funnel plots.Echinacea decreased the odds of developing the common cold by 58% (OR 0.42; 95% CI 0.25-0.71; Q statistic p<0.001) and the duration of a cold by 1.4 days (WMD -1.44, -2.24 to -0.64; p=0.01). Similarly, significant reductions were maintained in subgroup analyses limited to Echinaguard/Echinacin use, concomitant supplement use, method of cold exposure, Jadad scores less than 3, or use of a fixed-effects model.Published evidence supports echinacea's benefit in decreasing the incidence and duration of the common cold. Table 3. Results of subgroup and sensitivity analysis.=================================== >>>>>>>Incidence of cold===Duration of

cold>>>>>>>Number of studies---Echinacea group [number events/total population (%)]---Control group*---Odds ratio (95% CI) random effects===Number of studies---Number of participants, echinacea---Number of participants, control---Weighted mean difference (95% CI) random effects====================================================All studies 9 337/751 (45%) 394/604 (65%) 0.42 (0.25 to 0.71) 7 738 892 -1.44 (-2.24 to -0.64)Fixed-effects model 9 337/751 (45%) 394/604 (65%) 0.44 (0.34 to 0.56) 7 738 892 -1.59 (-2.25 to -0.94)Excluding studies with Jadad score less than 3 7 326/687 (47%) 373/536 (70%) 0.42 (0.23 to 0.76) 6 722 876 -1.51 (-2.40 to -0.61)Excluding Cohen et al (2004)28 8 252/591 (43%) 244/436 (56%) 0.61 (0.46 to 0.81) 6 600 584 -1.43 (-2.53 to -0.33)Studies evaluating echinacea without a supplement 8 252/591 (43%) 244/436 (56%) 0.61 (0.46 to 0.81) 3 467 448 -1.57 (-4.34 to 1.19)Studies evaluating echinacea with a

supplement 1 85/160 (53%) 150/168 (89%) 0.14 (0.07 to 0.25) 4 271 444 -1.25 (-1.87 to -0.65)Studies using Echinaguard/Echinacin 5 108/193 (56%) 139/201 (69%) 0.44 (0.27 to 0.71) 0 0 0 NANatural virus exposure only 6 239/514 (46%) 304/437 (70%) 0.35 (0.16 to 0.74) 7 738 892 -1.44 (-2.24 to -0.64)Rhinovirus exposure only 3 98/223 (44%) 90/167 (54%) 0.65 (0.42 to 0.99) 0 0 0 NA====================================================>>>NA=not applicable.

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