The genus Echinacea, Asteraceae, is comprised of nine species, which are perennial herbs indigenous to North America and which have been traditionally used as medicinal plants for centuries. Three Echinacea species, E. angustifolia DC var. angustifolia, E. purpurea (L.) Moench, and E. pallida (Nutt.) Nutt., are currently being traded internationally in the natural products market. Echinacea pro...

The therapeutic use of medicinal plants such as Echinacea, ginseng and St. John’s wort has gained widespread acceptance in North America in the last two decades. Aeroponic cultivation of medicinal plants have shown great potential for producing root yields that are cleaner, more uniform and faster maturing than can be obtained using conventional soil-based methods. Two pilot-scale commercial A-...

Americans spend between $3.5 and $5 billion annually on herbal treatments, and nearly 50 million individuals currently report use of botanical supplements. With so many herbal products on the market, it is imperative that physicians thoroughly question patients with regard to supplement use. Physicians must understand the benefits and risks associated with medicinal herbs and counsel patients a...

PURPOSE We wanted to determine whether the severity and duration of illness caused by the common cold are influenced by randomized assignment to open-label pills, compared with conventional double-blind allocation to active and placebo pills, compared with no pills at all. METHODS We undertook a randomized controlled trial among a population with new-onset common cold. Study participants were...

The effect of dietary Echinacea purpurea on performance, viremia, and ontogeny of the humoral antibody response against porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) infection was evaluated in weaned pigs. In three replicates, 120 weaned pigs (25 +/- 1 d of age; 8.46 +/- 0.48 kg of BW) from a PRRSV-naive herd were allotted randomly to one of eight pens (diets) in two separate room...

Objective. To identify whether a standardised Echinacea formulation is effective in the prevention of respiratory and other symptoms associated with long-haul flights. Methods. 175 adults participated in a randomised, double-blind placebo-controlled trial travelling back from Australia to America, Europe, or Africa for a period of 1-5 weeks on commercial flights via economy class. Participants ...

Objective. To investigate the safety (risk) and efficacy (benefit) of Echinacea purpurea extract in the prevention of common cold episodes in a large population over a 4-month period. Methods. 755 healthy subjects were allocated to receive either an alcohol extract from freshly harvested E. purpurea (95% herba and 5% root) or placebo. Participants were required to record adverse events and to r...

BACKGROUND Echinacea sales represent 10% of the dietary supplement market in the United States, but there is no guarantee as to the content, quality, variability, or contamination in Echinacea preparations. OBJECTIVE To qualitatively and quantitatively assess the contents of Echinacea-only preparations available in a retail setting. METHODS One of each single-herb Echinacea preparations tha...

Low and erratic seed germination presents a major production problem in the medicinal plants that collectively are called echinacea or purple coneflower (Echinacea angustifolia and E. pallida). In this study, nine seed lots of each E. pallida and E. angustifolia from a wide variety of commercial sources and germplasm collections were collected and treated with a solution of 1.0 mM [144.5 mg·L-1...

The objective of this study was to examine and demonstrate how harvesting age (flower age) contribute to the variations in the quality of Echinacea purpurea (L.) Moench. The effects of different flower developmental stages on caffeic acid derivatives and isobutylamide content are described. These phytochemicals were extracted from fresh plants with 60% ethanol and quantified by the HPLC analysi...