Study casts doubt on echinacea as cold remedy

Echinacea, touted as a herbal remedy for the common cold, did nothing to alleviate symptoms in children, says a US study.

Researchers gave either a syrup containing echinacea or a similar-tasting placebo to 407 children who had upper-respiratory tract infections, and found no difference in either the length or severity of colds.

James Taylor of the University of Washington in Seattle, who led the study, said the average length of the illness in both groups was about nine days. The children ranged in age from two to 11, and were monitored over four months.

The echinacea group was also found to be slightly more susceptible to unexplained rashes.

The results contrasted with earlier, less reliable studies that have shown echinacea to be somewhat effective in helping adults stricken with colds to recover, said the report, published in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association.

The most common type of echinacea is derived from a juice extracted from a flowering herb. An unregulated alternative therapy, it is given to as many as one in five North American children and has annual US sales of roughly US$300 million ($471.4 million), the report said.

On average, children suffer between six and eight colds a year.

- REUTERS