In a new study of more than 700 people who came down with colds, echinacea pills were not measurably better than placebo at speeding recovery time or reducing the severity of runny nose, sore throat, cough, and other symptoms.
Echinacea has flunked similar tests before. Over the past eight years, several high-quality studies in which cold sufferers were randomly assigned to receive echinacea or placebo have arrived at the same conclusion: The herb has no discernible impact on colds. (This type of study is considered the gold standard for medical research.)
Education, politics, and anything else that catches my attention.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Echinacea
Someone who used to love me also used to swear by echinacea during cold season. Oh-for-two, I guess:
Labels:
math/science
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1 comment:
Nice to see you don't have faith in magical thinking. ;)
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