ArticleEvidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM2012
Safety and Efficacy Profile of Echinacea purpurea to Prevent Common Cold Episodes: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial.
Article in Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04103099 (Evaluation of the Impact of the HLNatural, Inc. Immune Support Product in Reducing the Length of Cold Symptoms in Adults Suffering From the Common Cold), which is not on this map. Cited by 43 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Evaluation of the Impact of the HLNatural, Inc. Immune Support Product in Reducing the Length of Cold Symptoms in Adults Suffering From the Common Cold
Who cites it
43 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 82 citations in OpenAlex.
- Select Dietary Supplement Ingredients for Preserving and Protecting the Immune System in Healthy Individuals: A Systematic Review.Nutrients · 2022Pooled it
- Medicinal plants--prophylactic and therapeutic options for gastrointestinal and respiratory diseases in calves and piglets? A systematic review.BMC veterinary research · 2016Pooled it
- Echinacea for preventing and treating the common cold.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2014Pooled it
- Echinacea reduces antibiotic usage in children through respiratory tract infection prevention: a randomized, blinded, controlled clinical trial.European journal of medical research · 2021Trial
- Trial
- Elderberry Supplementation Reduces Cold Duration and Symptoms in Air-Travellers: A Randomized, Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial.Nutrients · 2016Trial
- Immune system evaluation of Echinacea Purpurea root extract in female Harlan Sprague Dawley (Hsd:Sprague Dawley SD) rats.Food and chemical toxicology : an international journal published for the British Industrial Biological Research Association · 2026Article
- From Phytochemical Diversity to Clinical Translation: Preparation-Dependent Bioactivity ofInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Herbal preparations traditionally used in upper respiratory tract infections: UHPLC-DAD-ESI-MS/MSBMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2026Article
- H5N1 Avian Influenza: A Narrative Review of Scientific Advances and Global Policy Challenges.Viruses · 2025Review
- Respiratory virus-induced bacterial dysregulation in pediatric airway tissue and the dual actions of Echinacea in reducing complications.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2025Article
- Unveiling Moroccan Nature's Arsenal: A Computational Molecular Docking, Density Functional Theory, and Molecular Dynamics Study of Natural Compounds against Drug-Resistant Fungal Infections.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Echinacea Reduces Antibiotics by Preventing Respiratory Infections: A Meta-Analysis (ERA-PRIMA).Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Volatile Composition, Antimicrobial Activity, and In Vitro Innate Immunomodulatory Activity ofMolecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- ECHOPvir: A Mixture of Echinacea and Hop Extracts Endowed with Cytoprotective, Immunomodulatory and Antiviral Properties.Nutrients · 2023Article
- COVID-19 Therapeutic Potential of Natural Products.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- Common cold.Frontiers in allergy · 2023Review
- Reduction of Viral Load in Patients with Acute Sore Throats: Results from an Observational Clinical Trial with Echinacea/Salvia Lozenges.Complementary medicine research · 2023Observational
- Novel Echinacea formulations for the treatment of acute respiratory tract infections in adults-A randomized blinded controlled trial.Frontiers in medicine · 2023Article
- In vitro screening of anti-viral and virucidal effects against SARS-CoV-2 by Hypericum perforatum and Echinacea.Scientific reports · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
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 rate cold-related issues in a diary throughout the investigation period. Nasal secretions were sampled at acute colds and screened for viruses. Results. A total of 293 adverse events occurred with Echinacea and 306 with placebo treatment. Nine and 10% of participants experienced adverse events, which were at least possibly related to the study drug (adverse drug reactions). Thus, the safety of Echinacea was noninferior to placebo. Echinacea reduced the total number of cold episodes, cumulated episode days within the group, and pain-killer medicated episodes. Echinacea inhibited virally confirmed colds and especially prevented enveloped virus infections (P < 0.05). Echinacea showed maximal effects on recurrent infections, and preventive effects increased with therapy compliance and adherence to the protocol. Conclusions. Compliant prophylactic intake of E. purpurea over a 4-month period appeared to provide a positive risk to benefit ratio.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.