Looking for the cure for the common cold; try Echinacea

According to researchers at the University of Connecticut, taking Echinacea at the first signs of a cold reduces the duration and even the risk of developing it. They pooled information from 14 studies involving almost 3,000 patients. They found that using Echinacea decreased the risk of developing a cold by a whopping 58%. The also found that if you used Echinacea early on in a cold you shortened the length of the cold by 2 days. The analysis of studies was presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Clinical Pharmacology in 2006.

Echinacea may improve autoimmune inflammation of the eye in Uveitis

Uveitis is inflammation of the uvea of the eye. The uvea includes the iris, the ciliary body and the choroid. Fifty-one patients with low-grade autoimmune Uveitis were enrolled in this pilot study. All of the patients depended on steroid drugs to treat their condition. Thirty-two of the patients on steroids had Echinacea purpurea Extract added to their therapy twice a day (150mg twice/day). The other patients remained solely on steroids. 28 out of the 32 patients on Echinacea with steroids had their Uveitis settled and were able to decrease the number of days requiring steroid drug therapy by months compared to those not using Echinacea and their vision improved. The study is published in the December 2006 issue of the Journal of Pharmacology and Therapeutics.