Weird echinacea question?

Question

Where is the person in this video getting his information about echinacea: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hq2SPIB5Kd8

I have looked everywhere and I have found no studies linking echinacea to malformed white blood cells.

I do know that you have to take echinacea in increments: 6 days on, 6 days off, etc. in order for it to work effectively (because it works by tricking your body into thinking you have been poisoned, so obviously once it starts to recognize the echinacea it will no longer think its poison).

also, what does everyone think about his claim that herbs contain chemicals that we don't know about that can be harmful? Don't prescriptions fall into that same category? At least with herbs the chemicals are naturally found in the plant and not synthetically added.

Answer 1

I believe in only trusting educational or medical websites when I am interested in any medication, prescribed, over the counter, herbal, or other.  No research articles that I have read on echinacea discuss abnormal white blood cells.  Most believe that echinacea is safe to take for a few (no more than seven) weeks in a row.  

The only chemicals that could be in echinacea is from the farms where they are grown or something in the processing plant.  Any medication is subject to problems during processing.

I would caution anyone thinking of using echinacea, or any herb, to read up on who should not take it.  Information found at http://www.personalhealthzone.com/echina... gives a great overview of what medications should not be taken along with echinacea, as well as some people who should not use it.

The man in the film was correct that transplant patients should not take it.  It boosts the immune system and we take medication to supress ours, so that our bodies do not reject our new organs.

Answer 2

QUOTE:also, what does everyone think about his claim that herbs contain chemicals that we don't know about that can be harmful? Don't prescriptions fall into that same category? At least with herbs the chemicals are naturally found in the plant and not synthetically added."

It doesnt matter where they came from or how they were added..  If you self medicate with natural herbal chemicals they can be harmful...  

What are you using echinacea for?  If your using it for colds, the fact remains that echinacea does not work..  Also you cannot boost your immune system.  That is just another catch phrase to get you to buy echinacea.

Answer 3

There are a lot of people out there with weird theories about things, and many of them that make their own conclusions from some minor information they heard (whether it's right or not). I've never heard of what he was talking about either and there are millions of people world-wide that use it on a semi-regular basis with great effects. It would be interesting to see his factual data behind it, though.

As an aside, you are right that you should take Echinacea only short-term (including the option to do on a week and off a week as you mention)... but it's not because your body sees it like a poison. It's actually because Echinacea is essentially too powerful.

If you took it too long without a break, it can make your immune system too strong to the point where it will start attacking things that are healthy in your body (very commonly starting with the beneficial bacteria that live in your intestinal tract).

As far as the claim that herbs have chemicals in them... he's partially right. We know about virtually all of them (from herbs that have been researched), but most commonly, it's not a high enough dose to worry about. There are some herbs that have larger amounts of harmful chemicals in parts of them that need to be removed (like those in soy).

However, he's probably referring more to metals... like those in extremely trace amounts in the soil. For example, the soil under your feet and the water in the lakes and rivers have minute trace amounts of metals like Lead and Mercury which can get small amounts into all plants... but it's not enough to hurt you in general. Some people worry about them too much, but to get the quantities of the metals you would need to reach toxic levels, you would overdose on the nutrients in the plants (vitamins, healthy minerals in higher quantities, Chlorophyll, etc).

Prescriptions actually fall under a different category. Typically, they don't have any "harmful chemicals" in them, but most commonly, the actual impact of the drug on your system is what causes the problems. But you are right that with herbs, they are all naturally occurring.

I hope I answered your questions well enough without rambling too much ;-)