Will Echinacea Help Prevent Or Shorten The Length Of A Cold?

Dr. Ronald Turner answers the question: 'Will Echinacea Help Prevent A Cold?'

By
Ronald Turner, M.D., Professor of Pediatrics, University of Virginia School of Medicine
September 25, 2008, 10:13 AM ET
1 min read

— -- Question: Will echinacea help prevent or shorten the length of a cold?

Answer: There's really no good evidence that echinacea either prevents a common cold illness or has any effect on the severity of symptoms or duration of symptoms once you have the illness. There have been a number of studies of echinacea. Some have purported to show some modest benefit. However, I think the weight of the evidence is that Echinacea has no benefit, either on incidence of illness or severity of illness.

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