EChinacea
Place in Therapy
Place in Therapy
Echinacea is widely used for the treatment of the common cold symptoms, including sore throat. Although evidence surrounding the use of echinacea to reduce the severity and duration of common cold symptoms is largely conflicting, it does overall suggest efficacy and benefit <1>. Unfortunately, evidence surrounding the use of echinacea for the treatment of sore throat alone is largely lacking and extrapolated from the evidence demonstrating echinacea’s beneficial therapeutic effect for treatment the common cold in general. On the basis of extrapolation, echinacea does appear to be beneficial for treating sore throat, however, additional investigation is required to confirm or refute this claim. In terms of safety, echinacea is well tolerated with the most common side effects are gastrointestinal (i.e. nausea and vomiting) and rash <1>. Overall, given the lack of and conflicting evidence surrounding echinacea, it might be effective for the treatment of sore throat. However, more efficacious therapy options are available. As such, although it is safe, echinacea should be reserved for use after more efficacious therapeutic options such as analgesics or topical sodium channel blockers such as benzocaine due to its lack of proven efficacy. It is important to note that of the evidence that exists for echinacea to treat sore throat, it is only effective if therapy is initiated within the first day of symptom onset. Echinacea may also be effective as adjunctive therapy but caution is required when doing so due to the potential of drug interactions. Furthermore, it is important to realize echinacea may work synergistically with other herbal ingredients such as sage to provide symptomatic relief of acute sore throat. However, additional investigation is again required to confirm this hypothesis. Thus, the bottom line surrounding echinacea for the treatment of acute sore throat is that it is safe and maybe effective for the treatment of sore throat.
Reference
1. Natural Standard. Echinacea http://www.naturalstandard.com.proxy.lib.uwaterloo.ca/databases. Accessed February March 5, 2013.
Echinacea is widely used for the treatment of the common cold symptoms, including sore throat. Although evidence surrounding the use of echinacea to reduce the severity and duration of common cold symptoms is largely conflicting, it does overall suggest efficacy and benefit <1>. Unfortunately, evidence surrounding the use of echinacea for the treatment of sore throat alone is largely lacking and extrapolated from the evidence demonstrating echinacea’s beneficial therapeutic effect for treatment the common cold in general. On the basis of extrapolation, echinacea does appear to be beneficial for treating sore throat, however, additional investigation is required to confirm or refute this claim. In terms of safety, echinacea is well tolerated with the most common side effects are gastrointestinal (i.e. nausea and vomiting) and rash <1>. Overall, given the lack of and conflicting evidence surrounding echinacea, it might be effective for the treatment of sore throat. However, more efficacious therapy options are available. As such, although it is safe, echinacea should be reserved for use after more efficacious therapeutic options such as analgesics or topical sodium channel blockers such as benzocaine due to its lack of proven efficacy. It is important to note that of the evidence that exists for echinacea to treat sore throat, it is only effective if therapy is initiated within the first day of symptom onset. Echinacea may also be effective as adjunctive therapy but caution is required when doing so due to the potential of drug interactions. Furthermore, it is important to realize echinacea may work synergistically with other herbal ingredients such as sage to provide symptomatic relief of acute sore throat. However, additional investigation is again required to confirm this hypothesis. Thus, the bottom line surrounding echinacea for the treatment of acute sore throat is that it is safe and maybe effective for the treatment of sore throat.
Reference
1. Natural Standard. Echinacea http://www.naturalstandard.com.proxy.lib.uwaterloo.ca/databases. Accessed February March 5, 2013.