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Echinacea-Plus Formula Research Report
Published by Natural Medical Quarterly
Takes the Ache Out of Flu Season Every year it seems the common cold and the current year's flu bring a little more misery than the year before-racking coughs, drips, sniffles, sinuses that feel as if they've been hit with a blowtorch, aches in places most of us didn't know could ache-you've been there. We all have. Prevention is the best answer. Things like a perfect diet, optimum nutrition, and flu shots can help you sail through the season without a single sniffle. Sometimes. Unfortunately, sometimes is the operative word. As autumn segues into winter people spend more time indoors with the windows and doors closed thus creating a perfect breeding ground for viruses. Children bring the latest versions home from school, and fast lane lifestyles conspire to weaken immune systems, which leaves most of us more vulnerable to the growing pool of viruses lying in wait. Life isn't necessarily perfect. Our schedules are so crammed we don't always have time to eat right. There goes the good diet and the optimum nutrition. We get tired and run down. We push to get through the holidays, further depleting our physical resources. And, even if we remembered to get a flu shot, the vaccine doesn't always work. That's because the viruses that are responsible for all that seasonal misery mutate faster than the vaccines can keep up. Even worse, there is no vaccine at all for the common cold. Colds and flu have a lot of similarities. They are both acute viral infections (which means that most antibiotics won't help at all). Colds typically produce nasal congestion, a scratchy throat, sneezing, coughing, blocked sinuses and eustachian tubes, and little or no fever. Flu tends to hit suddenly, like the proverbial ton of bricks, with fevers from 102 degrees to 104 degrees, severe headache, muscular aches and pains, exhaustion, and a dry hacking cough. Neither are a whole lot of fun. So what do you do when life presents a nasty virus? At our house, relief is no farther away than the medicine chest where we keep the echinacea and other herbs that comprise the best cold fighting formula to be had without a prescription. Here's the Story on the Cold Fighters in Nature's Aide® Echinacea Plus Even though the seasonal viruses are typically named for foreign shores-i.e. the infamous Hong Kong flu-two of the herbs that fight them are homegrown. True natives. These tough new world prairie plants were being used to fight infections long before the Pilgrim Fathers landed on Plymouth Rock and they remained an important part of the conventional medical pharmacopoeia until the mid-twentieth century. Now, with the advent of complementary medicine, these herbs again enjoy their proper place of honor in the 21st century medical kit. The Purple Cone Flower, aka Echinacea, Makes Our Own Immune Cells "More Efficient" Against Bacteria, Viruses, and Cancer According to the Herb Research Foundation, echinacea (unlike antibiotics which are directly lethal to bacteria) "makes our own immune cells more efficient in attacking bacteria, viruses, and abnormal cells." Indeed, echinacea is perhaps the best-known and best-researched herb for stimulating the immune system. Over 500 studies document the chemistry, pharmacology, and clinical use of echinacea. Although no one has discovered exactly how echinacea works, it is certain that various phytochemicals in echinacea do the following:
Goldenseal, the Antibiotic of the Plant World Goldenseal, a pretty little member of the buttercup family was first introduced to early settlers by the Cherokee and Iroquois tribes. The root and rhizomes immediately became a valuable addition to the European remedies brought with the settlers-so valuable that goldenseal was sold and used in standard medical practice until 1960, marketed by Park-Davis, Squibb, and Lilly, among other giant pharmaceutical names. During the 1980s goldenseal became one of the most sought after herbs in the country. It was reputed to clear the blood of drug residues, enabling one to pass tests designed to detect such substances. In actual fact goldenseal does not do this. What it can do, however, is zap the nasty bugs that cause a multitude of human miseries. The researchers at Integrative Medicine Communications aver that goldenseal is "particularly applicable to disorders and infections of the mucous membranes." In the laboratory, according to Health World's Herbal Materia Medica, antimicrobial effects have been demonstrated against bacteria, protozoa, and fungi, including:
.Herbal Materia Medica James F. Balch, MD, in Prescription for Nutritional Healing credits goldenseal (if taken immediately at first onset of symptoms) with being able to "stop a cold, sore throat, or flu from developing." That sounds exactly like what most of us wish for during the flu season-a magic pill that will stop the misery in its tracks. Like echinacea, goldenseal should not be taken on a continuous basis, and is contraindicated for pregnant women or nursing mothers. Garlic-The Secret Ingredient in Chicken Soup? Years ago a study indicated that chicken soup-just like grandmothers the world over claimed-really did help a cold. Most of the grandmothers I know put a garlic clove or two in their chicken stock. It may be that garlic was the secret ingredient in all that lovingly tendered chicken soup. Not that the health benefits of garlic are a secret any longer. If it weren't a close relative of lowly onions and leeks, garlic might be billed as a modern miracle drug, echoing the reputation it enjoyed several thousand years ago. The earliest medical literature of the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and Chinese lauded garlic as the primary treatment for tumors, headaches, weakness, fatigue, wounds, sores, and infections. The first Olympic athletes used garlic as an energizer. In those days it was cultivated not for its culinary value but for its therapeutic benefits. The scientific community took notice of garlic when Louis Pasteur demonstrated its anti-bacterial properties in 1858. They took another look when Albert Schweitzer successfully used garlic to treat amoebic dysentery, but they really began to pay attention when the results of an epidemiological study were published about 10 years ago. The long-term study compared
three groups of vegetarians in India who: Although the diet of all three groups was virtually identical except for the differences in the amount of garlic consumed, their cholesterol levels varied widely, indicating beyond much doubt that garlic lowered cholesterol levels. A follow-up study involved two sets of patients with coronary-artery disease. One group got garlic the other did not. Those who received garlic had steadily declining levels of the blood fats associated with heart disease. The researchers waxed eloquent: "The positive reports appear to be overwhelming. The reviewers were surprised by the scarcity of negative reports." According to Integrative Medicine Communications, results of subsequent research into the effects of garlic on cardiovascular disease show "unequivocally that it can help prevent atherosclerosis through its effects on elevated lipids and blood pressure." Studies on both animals and humans showed that garlic favorably shifted the critical HDL/LDL ratios, lowered plasma viscosity, improved blood fluidity and capillary blood flow, inhibited platelet aggregation, and reduced blood pressure in hypertensive patients. But that's not all garlic does. Scores of recent studies have shown that the various compounds in garlic not only protect against heart disease they appear to have active anti-cancer effects and remarkable antibiotic action. Garlic juice and its constituents can inhibit, or kill, more than 60 fungi and 20 types of bacteria, including some of the most virulent known to man. It is also believed to be active against certain viruses. Garlic is also a major antioxidant and shows antitoxic activity against the toxins we take in on a daily basis. Toxins like carbon tetrachloride, isoproterenol, and heavy metals. Cancer research with garlic is impressive. Epidemiological studies in China indicate that garlic protects against stomach cancer. In animal studies, garlic compounds given to mice before exposure to a colon-cancer-inducing agent had a potent protective effect. The garlic-treated animals got 75 percent fewer tumors. In similar studies garlic protected animals against esophageal cancer, as well as stomach and skin cancers. There you have it, the complete miracle drug, a pungent panacea, and so safe it can be found in kitchens the world over. Garlic may be what Hippocrates had in mind when he said some 2300 years ago: "Let food be your medicine." One caution-because garlic increases the fluidity of blood it should not be taken in conjunction with blood thinners. Astragalus
Bolsters In Chinese medicine Wei Ch'i refers to the defensive energy system, known in the Western world as the immune system. Like most other herbs that have occupied positions of importance in various traditional medicine protocols, astragalus has been "discovered" by modern medical science. In scientific studies in both the United States and China extracts from the root of this member of the pea family have been shown to increase nearly every phase of immune system activity. One study, reported by Health World, showed that long-term use (35 days) enhanced immune cell activity ranging from the speed with which immune cells develop to the speed with which they travel in the body. Another study showed that astragalus increased the production and storage of interferon (a substance that alerts the body to invading pathogens and stimulates cells to begin their defense), and to amplify interferon's effects in fighting illnesses like the common cold. In studies performed at places like the National Cancer Institute researchers discovered that astragalus augments those immune cells that fight disease while it removes some of those that actually make the body more vulnerable to invading bacteria and viruses. There is also evidence that astragalus protected the immune system during chemotherapy and radiation treatments, preserving the body's natural immunity while helping it to attack the cancer. Scientists have isolated a number of active ingredients in astragalus, including choline and a polysaccharide called Astragalan B. Astragalan B appears to work against viruses by binding to the cholesterol on their outer membranes, which weakens the viruses so astragalus-bolstered immune cells can kill them before they invade body cells and begin to reproduce. Viruses are, in effect, parasites. They cannot reproduce on their own but must invade a cell of a host in order to replicate themselves. Anything that interferes with this process lessens the impact of a viral attack. That is the crux of the matter. The aim of any good cold or flu formula is to get rid of viruses before they can do harm. Popular symptomatic remedies merely try to mask symptoms so the sufferer feels "better" while his or her immune system is struggling to overcome the latest attack. Unfortunately, this depletes immune resources and leaves the victim even more vulnerable to the next nasty bug to come along. And, that's why the folks at Nature's Aide® put these powerful virus fighters in one convenient formula. No matter how safe natural substances are, it is always recommended to check with your professional health care provider before taking anything new. |
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