In Other Journals

Is echinacea effective against the common cold? Not likely, according to a US expert who laments that further trials of implausible remedies are continuing because of their public popularity rather than some reasonable chance of efficacy.1 Sampson was commenting on a placebo-controlled study sponsored by the US National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) which found three extracts from Echinacea augustifolia roots ineffective in preventing and/or treating a cold in about 400 healthy, young adult volunteers inoculated with rhinovirus type 39.2 The NCCAM is reported to have three more clinical trials of echinacea currently under way.