| LE Magazine December 1998
 Preparing for Flu Season with Echinacea
The healing properties of echinacea, the purple coneflower, are becoming better known as people turn increasingly to natural remedies to fight colds, the flu and other infectious diseases. But the history of echinacea goes far back.
Echinacea is one of the most widely used herbs in the United States, and with good reason. Long known for its healing properties among American Indians, the benefits of the purple coneflower are now helping treat many at the first sign of the sniffles, fever or other symptoms of as colds and flu.
It has been posited by herbal expert Michael Tierra that if it were not for the discovery of the wonder drugs, such as penicillin, echinacea would be one of the herbs of choice for the treatment of all infections and inflammatory conditions.
Echinacea grows in the United States and in some parts of Southern Canada. Native Americans were the first to use the plant; in fact, archeological digs of American Indian sites dating back to the 1600s have contained samples of echinacea. Of the hundreds of herbs commonly used by the Indians, several stand out, echinacea being one of them that they revered highly. They used it for snake bites, alleviating tooth aches, sore throats, coughs, infections, and numerous other afflictions and diseases. It has been used by the various tribes of Indians, such as the Cheyenne, Choctaws, Comanche and Crow, among many others. The Indians liked to take a piece of the root and suck on it all day.
Echinacea appears to start stimulating the immune tissue in the mouth as soon it is taken, and according to German researchers, it has been shown to do just that in various studies.
Though the Europeans knew nothing about the potent properties of echinacea, botanists from the 1690s in Europe were well aware of the purple coneflower. In 1794, a botanist named Moench named the genus echinacea, from the Greek echinos (sea urchin, or hedgehog), referring to the plant's sea urchin-like cone. The Europeans did not know much about the medicinal properties of the plant until Indians began to share their experiences and knowledge about this herb.
However, it was a 19th century German, H.C.F. Meyer, living in Pawnee, Neb., who was most responsible for spreading the word about echinacea. He was convinced of its benefits and tried to get the medical doctors of the time to recognize its usefulness. By the early years of this century, it had become the most popular herb among both "eclectic" and regular medical doctors. The eclectic movement flourished in the mid-19th century, and specialized in the integration of Native American herbs and homeopathic medicine, as well as the current scientific knowledge of the day.
Echinacea was the prime anti-inflammatory medication used by eclectic physicians until their passing earlier in this century. These doctors used it as a digestive stimulant, a blood purifier, and for many other complaints. The plant's immune-stimulating properties were recognized by 1914, and by then eclectics also knew that it stimulated phagocytosis-immune cells that disarm and recycle waste and bacteria in the body.
Dr. A.L. Nourse noted in the American Journal of Clinical Medicine in 1914, "So far as my own experience is concerned, I will state that for conditions requiring strengthening of the reparative forces of the body-raising the opsonic index-I know of no greater value than Echinacea.... [It's] good for anything requiring the police-powers of the individual to be increased." The "opsonic index" noted by Nourse measures the level of antibodies present in the blood that can render bacteria and other cell matter susceptible to phagocytosis-their engulfment and destruction by cells.
In addition to enhancing the body's ability to dispose of infected and damaged cells, harmful chemicals, and bacteria, echinacea stimulates leukocytes-white blood cells that help fight infection. Its antiphlogistic/anti-inflammatory effect helps to reduce redness, soreness, and other symptoms of infections. Echinacea has been shown to have mild antibiotic activity against Streptococci and Staphylococcus aureus. Its interferon-like action appears to fight viruses as well. Echinacea also stimulates the growth of healthy, new tissue.
As can be inferred from all of this, echinacea increases the body's immune defense. One of the main actions of echinacea is to inhibit the activity of the enzyme hyaluronidase. This enzyme is normally used by pathogens to destroy hyaluronic acid, the cementing tissue between cells, allowing passage into sensitive tissues. Interestingly, a mechanism very similar to the hyaluronidase system has been proposed as a possible substrate for the generation of rheumatism and tumor formation, and the beginnings of cancer.
Echinacea may be more effective than cortisone in protecting the body's immune system. Streptococcal infection spreads rapidly in guinea pigs pretreated with cortisone, but is contained by echinacin. It has also been found that 0.04 mL of fresh plant extract possesses a hyaluronidase-inhibitory action equal to 1 mg of cortisone.
Echinacea also has been shown to be involved in the regeneration of cellular connective (granulomatous) tissue destroyed during infection. In one study, fibrin grafts were transformed, via amino acids, into components of the connective tissue substance-a transformation helped by echinacea. Compared with pure fibrin grafts, echinacea-fibrin grafts exhibited increased healing tendency of wound areas. New connective tissue cells appeared more rapidly and on a larger scale. The echinacea stimulates the breakdown of fibrin into substances (mucopolysaccharides) that are transformed into new connective tissue.
United States Department of Agriculture researchers have also discovered a tumor-inhibiting property in echinacea. The tumors inhibited included Walker's carcinosarcoma and lymphocytic leukemia. It was inactive in lymphoid leukemia.
And, as the Indians and the eclectic physicians knew, echinacea can counteract inflammation and fever. This is called antiphlogistic action. In a study of the antiphlogistic effect of echinacea, it was found the echinacin B was more active in the later phase of the inflammatory response. The substance also inhibited ear dermatitis induced by an irritant.
Rabbits treated with echinacea initiallyh experienced greatly increased endogenous levels of properdin, a chemical thought to be involved in resistance to viral and bacterial infection.In addition, extracts of echinacea, and echinacin, protect cells against virally induced canker sores, influenza and herpes by inducing an interferon-like mechanism.
German researchers have found that maximum stimulation came between three to six days after the first dose of echinacea is taken. This is why for symptoms of colds and flus it needs to be taken right away.
There are nine species of Echinacea that grow wild in this country (all east of the Rockies), only three having a history of use and clinical testing. Of Echinacea angustifolia, Echinacea purpurea, and Echinacea pallida, the first two seem to be of equal benefit; the last seems to have similar benefits, but the constituents break down faster and the roots seem to contain less of the important immune active amides.
Echinacea. It began as a natural therapy used by primitive peoples in touch with the earth. Today, it is an "alternative" therapy that, backed by years of sound scientific research, is a central defense for protecting the immune system.
-Amber Needham
Further Reading
- Immune modulating properties of root extracts of different Echinacea species. Beuscher N.; Bodinet C.; Willigmann I.; Egert D. Schaper/Brummer GmbH and Co.KG, Bahnhofstrasse 35, 38259 Salzgitter Germany
- Zeitschrift fur Phytotherapie (Germany), 1995, 16/3 (157-162+165-166)
- Echinacea, Houghton P. Department of Pharmacy, King's College, London United Kingdom Pharm. J. (United Kingdom), 1994, 253/6806 (342-343)
- Host-resistance increasing activity of root extracts from Echinacea species. Bodinet C.; Willigmann I.; Beuscher N. Schaper and Brummer, D-38251 Salzgitter Germany Planta Med. (Germany), 1993, 59/7 SUPPL. (A672-A673)
- Echinacea combinations; efficacy and acceptability in 'flu' and nasopharyngeal inflammations. Ammann M.; Suter K. Sempacherstr. 30, CH-6003 Luzern Switzerland Dtsch. Apoth. ZTG (Germany), 1987, 127/16 (853-854)
- Papilloma virus infections of the skin. Gross G. Universitats-Hautklinik, D-7800 Freinburg i. Breisgau Germany Direct characterization of caffeoyl esters with antihyaluronidase activity in crudeextracts from Echinacea angustifolia roots by fast atom bombardment tandem mass spectrometry. Facino R.M.; Carini M.; Aldini G.; Marinello C.; Arlandini E.; Franzoi L. Colombo M.; Pietta P.; Mauri P. Imstituto di Chimica Farmaceutica, (Italy), 1993, 48/10 (1447-1461)
- Anti-inflammatory activity of Echinacea angustifolia fractions separated on the basis of molecular weight Tragni E.; Galli C.L.; Tubaro A.; Del Negro P.; Della Loggia R. Institute of Pharmacological Sciences, Centro di Biologia e Tossicologia Cosmetologica, University of Milan, Milan Italy Pharmacol. Res. Commun., 1988, 20/SUPPL. 5 (87-90)
- Macrophage activation and induction of macrophage cytotoxicity by purified polysaccharide fractions from the plant Echinacea purpurea. Stimpel M.; Proksch A.; Wagner H.; Lohmann-Matthes M.-L. Infect. Immun., 1984, 46/3 (845-849)
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