NEW YORK — Got the sniffles? The largest study of the popular herbal remedy echinacea finds it won’t help you get better any sooner.
The study of more than 700 adults and children suggests the tiniest possible benefit — about a half-day shaved off a week-long cold and slightly milder symptoms. But that could have occurred by chance.
For most people, the potential to get relief a few hours sooner probably isn’t worth the trouble and cost of taking the supplement, researchers said.
Echinacea is a top seller marketed as a product that helps the immune system fight infections. In the past, some studies found it did nothing to prevent or treat colds; others showed modest benefit. Research on echinacea, also known as purple coneflower, is hard to compare because there’s more than one kind of plant, and different parts of it are used.
With government funding, Dr. Bruce Barrett and colleagues at the University of Wisconsin tackled the question again. Findings were released Monday by the Annals of Internal Medicine.
