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03.02.2021

Echinacea purpurea better flu virus inhibitor than oseltamivir

If you have the flu, Echinacea purpurea can shorten the duration of infection as much as the pharmacological virus inhibitor oseltamivir. This is evident from a Czech study from 2015, in which 420 test subjects participated. The study also found that Echinacea purpurea had significantly fewer side effects than oseltamivir.

Study
The researchers divided the subjects, all of whom had recently contracted influenza, into 2 groups. One group received 2 capsules of oseltamivir every day for 5 days. Each capsule contained 75 milligrams of active substance. The subjects then took placebo capsules for an additional 5 days. You normally only use Oseltamivir [structural formula on the right] for 5 consecutive days.

Oseltamivir is an inhibitor of the enzyme neuraminidase. Neuraminidase is on the surface of viruses. The more active that enzyme is, the better the virus can penetrate cells and multiply.

Oseltamivir, developed by Roche and marketed as Tamiflu, is a controversial drug. It shortens the duration of flu by 17 hours, but 11 percent of users experience side effects such as nausea, diarrhea and vomiting.

The subjects in the other group were given Echinacea in the form of Echinaforce Hotdrink from A Vogel Bioforce for 10 days. [vogel.com] Vogel sponsored the study.

The main ingredient of Echinaforce Hotdrink is an alcohol-based extract of both the roots and above-ground parts of Echinacea purpurea, but it also contains an elderberry extract. Prominent bioactive compounds in Echinaforce are rutin and dodecatetraenoic acid isobutylamide.

On the first 3 days of the trial, the subjects were given a 5-milliliter supplement, diluted with hot water, 5 times a day. For the remaining, 7 days the subjects received a supplement 3 times a day.

Results
Flu symptoms decreased equally in both groups. The differences shown below were not significant.

The fever dropped equally quickly in both groups. In that respect too, the supplement worked just as well as the pharmacological agent.

Side effects
The differences between the side effects reported by the two groups were significant. In the Echinacea group they were rare, in the oseltamivir group they were more frequent. Five subjects in the oseltamivir group had so much nausea and vomiting that they dropped out of the study.

Source:
Curr Ther Res Clin Exp. 2015 Apr 20;77:66-72.

More:
Echinacea keeps immune system up & running in times of severe stress 18.05.2018
Echinacea protects air travellers 18.11.2012
Echinacea and Cat's Claw work better when combined 15.08.2011

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