In November 5th, 2004 - A product of extract of échinacée (Echinacea purpura), standardized and sold under the name of Echinilin, would have allowed to decrease the symptoms and the duration of the cold, according to the results of one étude1 of the University of the Alberta, in the Canadian West.

To verify the efficiency of the product, the researchers selected at first 282 persons, from 18 to 65 years old and having contracted the cold on at least two occasions, during the winter preceding the study. The participants were all healthy and took no medicine.

Among these, 128 had the cold during the clinical attempt, led to insu double. They were aléatoirement divided into two groups: 59 were treated with the extract of échinacée, whereas 69 received a placebo. The participants of the first group had to take ten doses of the product during the day where appeared the first symptoms of the cold, then to minimize the posology to four doses a day during six subsequent days.

Throughout the week of processing, the participants of both groups had to note daily the dimension of their symptoms, according to a scale of ten points. To validate these subjective results, all met a nurse twice, so that she notes the symptoms in a objective way.

At the end, the researchers observed that the symptoms felt by the participants having taken the extract of échinacée have summer, 23,1 % less austere than those of the members of the group placebo. Furthermore, the product would have allowed to decrease the duration of the cold.

The results would have also revealed that the extract of échinacée turned out particularly effective to decrease the congestion and the nasal drainages, as well as to ease the sore throat.