Subject: Re: ECHINACEA

From: [email-masked] (Sally)
Date: 9 Aug 1995 03:12:28 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (SusClawson) says:
>
>I read somewhere that echinacea needs to be used one week on then one week
>off because it can take over your body's natural immunities.  Can someone
>please tell me if this is true, and if it is, then I'd like advice.

Echinacea is a natural anitbiotic, and like the synthetic kind, you 
shouldn't stay on it all the time.  Your system will develop an immunity
to it. So just use it when you need it, and don't stay on it for a long
period of time. Sally

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From: "L. Kees" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 9 Aug 1995 11:00:35 -0700

does anyone know what part of echinacea is used?  I have a friend that 
just started growing her own and would like to know how to use it.
Thanks,
Linda

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From: [email-masked] (Todd Caldecott)
Date: Sun, 13 Aug 1995 16:22:30 -0800

In article <[email-masked]>, Maggie Houston <[email-masked]> wrote:

> In my training with NA's l learned that Echinacea (blood purifier and 
> antibiotic) can be used as long as two weeks.  The German research branch 
> of their equivalent of FDA (called Komission E) Drs. Wagoner and Bauer 
> demonstrated this fact.  Their studies also showed that tinctured extract of 
> this plant could be chemically potent or not depending on how it was grown, 
> harvested and extracted.  In their studies, the extracts available on the 
> commercial market were far less potent than their on prepared version.  So 
> their conclusion was 2 weeks on then off for a week, then one could use
it for 
> another two weeks at diminished activity.  Also the plant variteties of 
> Echinacea angustifolia, purpurea and to a lesser extent pallida all had 
> medicinal chemical activity.  The whole plant is medicinal but needs to be at 
> least 3 years old before you should harvest. 

There is no evidence to suggest that Echinacea cannot be used longer than
2 weeks.  In the original study (and please be patient I'm doing this from
memory) Echinacea was found to be increasingly effective for 5 days, after
which the study ceased.  This paper, originally written in german, was
mistranslated, leading one to believe that Echinacea's effects plateaued
after five days.  Echinacea is being used by several professionals long
term.  Typically though, it is used as a surface immune tonic, useful in
chronically immunodepressed patients who suffer from chronic colds etc.
(although its use in AIDS is still a matter of some controversy).  For
most of us who take it seasonally for colds etc. it is most effective when
taken in combination with other herbs ie. garlic, baptisia, thymus,
astragalus etc.

-- 
Regards... [email-masked]