Next to Mom’s chicken soup, Echinacea has long been thought to be an effective way to battle an existing cold or keep you from getting one in the first place. The World Health Organization recognized it as a cold treatment in 1999, and enough people believed in it to rack up $153 million in 2004 sales in America alone.

Not so fast, say researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. In a study appearing in the New England Journal of Medicine, these researchers claim that Echinacea does nothing to either head off a cold or treat it once it’s taken hold.

The study involved 437 people, most of them college students so hard up for money that they would consent to have cold viruses dripped into their noses. Some of the participants took Echinacea or a placebo a week prior to the time of infection, while others took Echinacea or a placebo at the moment of infection. All were secluded in hotel rooms for five days and monitored for signs of the virus or signs of an immune system protein, interleukin-8, that was thought to be stimulated by Echinacea (and the reason for its “cold remedy” association).

And the results? Nada. The researchers found no difference among any of the groups involved. Critics of the study point out that it only used the root portion of one version of the plant, the purple coneflower, and that the dosage was too low to be effective.

As far as we know, Mom’s chicken soup still works, though.

Popularity: 1% [?]