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CNN Live Today
Daily Dose
Aired December 17, 2002 - 11:20 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: The popular herbal supplement Echinacea has been touted as a treatment for the common cold, but a small new study has raised questions about whether or not it really works.
Our medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here with some details in our Daily Dose of health news this morning.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: When you here Echinacea, everyone says, gosh. my mother swears by that, or my father or my husband or whatever. I, as you can tell from my voice, I don't swear by anything.
Let's talk about this new Echinacea study that was done at the University of Wisconsin. They took 148 college students, and they gave some of them Echinacea and gave some of them a placebo to see if it would work. And what they found is that the placebo, the sugar pill, which was nothing, and the Echinacea worked just as well as each other. There was no difference. It wasn't any better.
This adds to the whole potpourri, no pun intended, of studies on Echinacea. There have been a few studies show it really does work, it really does reduce the severity and duration of a person's cold, but other studies have shown that it really doesn't do much, it maybe helps a tiny bit, and then you have this study, as well as others, that say it doesn't do anything.
HARRIS: So what is a consumer supposed to do with this news then?
COHEN: Right, it's hard to know. Because you know what, herbs are unregulated. You go into a store, you get all these different dosages, you get all these different types, so it's hard to know.
The bottom line here, is with all of these things, is you have to say, is there any danger to taking this supplement, and what experts tell you is that there have been no known disasters with Echinacea. You don't find people keeling over from taking Echinacea.
So if you really think it works for you or you really want to find out if it's going to work for you, go to the store, you can see there's just rows and rows of Echinacea. Look at all the different kinds and try them. You might not want to take it long term, like for more than eight weeks, but you can try it, and at the very first sign of getting a cold. You don't want to wait. As soon as you get a cold, you want to try it.
Now it's interesting, because there are several different kinds of Echinacea.
HARRIS: Brings me to my next question to you, is that I've seen it, and just like in that display you have there on tape, you look at the shelves, and there's eight, four, five, 10, 12 different kinds of it. What exactly is Echinacea? What's in it?
COHEN: Echinacea is an herb, and some of the formulations, what they're giving you is they're giving you the root of that herb, and some other formulations they're giving you the parts that actually grow, that part of the herb. Other supplements would be giving you an extract from the herb. So there are lots of different kinds. It is unclear which works best. I hate having to say that. I hate having to say that there are no answers, but there really aren't. It hasn't been studied in that way. You as a consumer can try different ones and see what works best.
HARRIS: How about zinc? I know just as many people who swear by Echinacea swear by zinc is working. Is there any conversations that prove that that work?
COHEN: There really have been some really good studies on zinc to show that it works -- and maybe I should be taking some; maybe I wouldn't be in this condition now -- that really does show that it works, that shows that it reduces the severity and the duration of people's colds. Others studies aren't so sure, but there are some pretty good studies out there on zinc, and you can zinc and Echinacea combos, you know, two for the price of one.
HARRIS: In the meantime, you take this little...
COHEN: Thank you, I appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 17, 2002 - 11:20 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: The popular herbal supplement Echinacea has been touted as a treatment for the common cold, but a small new study has raised questions about whether or not it really works.
Our medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here with some details in our Daily Dose of health news this morning.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: When you here Echinacea, everyone says, gosh. my mother swears by that, or my father or my husband or whatever. I, as you can tell from my voice, I don't swear by anything.
Let's talk about this new Echinacea study that was done at the University of Wisconsin. They took 148 college students, and they gave some of them Echinacea and gave some of them a placebo to see if it would work. And what they found is that the placebo, the sugar pill, which was nothing, and the Echinacea worked just as well as each other. There was no difference. It wasn't any better.
This adds to the whole potpourri, no pun intended, of studies on Echinacea. There have been a few studies show it really does work, it really does reduce the severity and duration of a person's cold, but other studies have shown that it really doesn't do much, it maybe helps a tiny bit, and then you have this study, as well as others, that say it doesn't do anything.
HARRIS: So what is a consumer supposed to do with this news then?
COHEN: Right, it's hard to know. Because you know what, herbs are unregulated. You go into a store, you get all these different dosages, you get all these different types, so it's hard to know.
The bottom line here, is with all of these things, is you have to say, is there any danger to taking this supplement, and what experts tell you is that there have been no known disasters with Echinacea. You don't find people keeling over from taking Echinacea.
So if you really think it works for you or you really want to find out if it's going to work for you, go to the store, you can see there's just rows and rows of Echinacea. Look at all the different kinds and try them. You might not want to take it long term, like for more than eight weeks, but you can try it, and at the very first sign of getting a cold. You don't want to wait. As soon as you get a cold, you want to try it.
Now it's interesting, because there are several different kinds of Echinacea.
HARRIS: Brings me to my next question to you, is that I've seen it, and just like in that display you have there on tape, you look at the shelves, and there's eight, four, five, 10, 12 different kinds of it. What exactly is Echinacea? What's in it?
COHEN: Echinacea is an herb, and some of the formulations, what they're giving you is they're giving you the root of that herb, and some other formulations they're giving you the parts that actually grow, that part of the herb. Other supplements would be giving you an extract from the herb. So there are lots of different kinds. It is unclear which works best. I hate having to say that. I hate having to say that there are no answers, but there really aren't. It hasn't been studied in that way. You as a consumer can try different ones and see what works best.
HARRIS: How about zinc? I know just as many people who swear by Echinacea swear by zinc is working. Is there any conversations that prove that that work?
COHEN: There really have been some really good studies on zinc to show that it works -- and maybe I should be taking some; maybe I wouldn't be in this condition now -- that really does show that it works, that shows that it reduces the severity and the duration of people's colds. Others studies aren't so sure, but there are some pretty good studies out there on zinc, and you can zinc and Echinacea combos, you know, two for the price of one.
HARRIS: In the meantime, you take this little...
COHEN: Thank you, I appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
