The efficacy of echinacea extract

1. Anti-inflammatory and prevention of upper respiratory tract infection

Experiments have shown that Echinacea can alleviate the symptoms of upper respiratory tract infections and early colds, and shorten the course of the disease, especially the early symptoms. At present, many American family doctors recommend that patients use echinacea drugs to prevent upper respiratory tract infections and other inflammations, and point out that for healthy young people in the early stages of a cold, echinacea may be a reasonable choice, even better than antibiotics.

A retrospective study of 1,280 children with bronchitis showed that treatment with echinacea juice can speed up the healing process than treatment with antibiotics. This is mainly because bronchitis is mostly a viral infection and antibiotics can't help it, but echinacea preparations can stimulate non-specific The defense system attacks cells infected by viruses.

In Germany in 1982, there were as many as 300 types of echinacea single preparations and compound preparations, and they were widely used to treat acute and chronic respiratory infections caused by viruses or bacteria; assist various antibiotics to treat various serious bacterial infections.

2. As an immunomodulator and immune booster

Echinacea plants are mainly used to treat and prevent diseases by activating different immune cells to improve the function of the body's own immune system. In Germany, echinacea preparations were listed in the 2000 most commonly used prescriptions in 1989, ranking 131st. Echinacea is currently known as an immune enhancer in the world.

In human medicine, echinacea is widely used to treat various infectious diseases and immune diseases such as bronchial asthma, genital herpes, cancer and AIDS. Echinacea can increase the phagocytosis of alveolar macrophages against pathogens and increase the body’s resistance. At the same time, it can produce a variety of cytokines, such as IL-1, IL-6, TNF-a and cytotoxins, to control their own activity and The activity of other immune cells.

In veterinary medicine, related experiments have shown that feeding horses with echinacea can increase the phagocytic ability of neutrophils and the number of peripheral lymphocytes, and effectively stimulate the immune activity of horses. Plant extracts can be used as a blood supplement for horses. It can increase the number of hemoglobin, the number of red blood cells and some physiological and training indicators. Feeding chickens with echinacea root products as feed additives can significantly increase the weight of the experimental group and reduce the infection of coccidia.

3. Treat wounds, ulcers, inflammations and other skin diseases