Echinacea study flawed

Here’s something new: The media got one right for a change. Unfortunately it was just a fleeting moment in one small corner of the media. But still, I was surprised.

Earlier this month, newscasters and newspapers reported on a study that found echinacea to have no beneficial effect on upper respiratory infection. What amounted to a press release went out on the wires – “Echinacea Fails!” – that sort of thing. The release was basically read aloud by “reporters” who didn’t ask any important questions, like: Was the dosage high enough? (It wasn’t). Was any effort made to determine if echinacea improved immune system response? (There wasn’t).

And so it went. And millions of people ended up getting the message that echinacea is supposedly ineffective, without ever knowing that the study was flawed.

But if you live in Baltimore, and if you had your television tuned to WBAL-TV around 9:15 AM on Saturday morning a couple of weeks ago, then you were treated to a realistic look at the details of this study.

The local news that morning featured a live interview with an herbalist and teacher from Tai Sophia Institute for the Healing Arts, located just west of Baltimore. Unfortunately I didn’t catch her name, and later in the day I couldn’t find a word about the interview on the WBAL web site. But it was refreshing to see someone on television set the record straight.

And I picked up a useful tip for testing echinacea products.

The herbalist noted that echinacea produces a slight tingling sensation on the tongue. Her suggestion: Open an echinacea supplement capsule and tap some of the herb on your tongue. If it tingles, you know you’ve got genuine echinacea.