Is it known how Echinacea works to promote immunity function?
Almost all studies with herbals are done in the test tube, not in animals or patients. Lots of things work in the test tube, as all the big drug companies know, but only a tiny fraction of them will make it through all the testing that would be required to make them into drugs. Since herbals are considered food supplements, they need no testing for safety or efficacy to be sold to (sometimes gullible) people. In one study, the researchers found that none of three preparations of E. angustifolia at the 900 mg per day dose had significant effects on whether volunteers became infected with the cold virus or on the severity or duration of symptoms among those who developed colds. However, critics of this study believe the dose of E. angustifolia used was too low. NCCAM (NIH) will continue to support research on Echinacea. A number of preclinical, Phase I, and Phase II studies of Echinacea products are currently under way. This research is being done both because of the public health burden
