News / Herbs / Immune Care

National Institutes of Health to Study Echinacea

May 2007: The Iowa Center for Research on Botanical Dietary Supplements at Iowa State University, created by the NIH, is dedicated to researching Echinacea and will be receiving significant funding from the NIH to do so.

The rationale behind this center is that the herbals - generally marketed for immunity and anti-inflammation, has little research. The center hopes to find something like a fingerprint of the biologically active chemicals in the herb. The goal is to improve understanding of the extracts' health supporting properties, so as to improve supplements.

In the case of Echinacea, the center has been able to isolate components with anti-inflammatory properties.

In studying the nine different species of Echinacea, the researchers found some species work better than others, suggesting that it will be possible to get an improved preparation that will enhance the supplement's benefit to human health.

Researchers have found that compounds such as polyphenols contribute to Echinacea’s antiviral properties.

This suggests that there is no single compound or even a subset of compounds that are responsible for health benefits. But rather, a complex chemical profile is likely contributing to the health effects. This would result in an improvement of the supplement rather than identifying chemicals for us as drugs.