Echinacea: "don't take if...".

To: herb.franklin.oit.unc.edu
Subject: Re: echinacea questions
From: Henriette Kress <hetta.saunalahti.fi>
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2000 15:46:22 +0200

edbaud.bbs.slv.org wrote to herb.franklin.oit.unc.edu:
>From the package of Celestial Seasonings Echinacea Cold Season tea, "Warning RECOMMENDED FOR ADULTS ONLY.

What else is in their tea, that they had to add this warning?

>Do not use for more than 6-8 weeks consecutively.

That one's from the Commission E monographs. And it's taken from thin air, there are NO problems with long-term use of Ech. A thorough critique of the Commission E monographs can be found on Jonno's page, here: http://www.teleport.com/~jonno [up-to-date URL found on the "links" page]

>Take only when needed. Echinacea should not be used by anyone with tuberculosis, leukoses, collagenosis, multiple scerosis, AIDS, HIV infections and other autoimmune diseases.

And that one's purely theoretical. The theory being, "Ech boosts your immune system. If you have an auto-immune problem your immune system is attacking you. Ergo, don't use Ech."

In practice that's simply not so, because above theory doesn't go deep enough into what Ech does and how different auto-immune problems work. My take on it? So, you have an autoimmune problem, and an infection that Ech would be tailormade for? Try it and see if your autoimmune problem gets worse. If it does, let's try some other herbs instead.

>Do not use if you have allergies to the daisy family (Asteraceae)

In fact, you can use the -root- of Ech even if you're allergic to an Artemisia, or yarrow, or any of the other allergy-inducing Compositae.

>or if you are pregnant or nursing."

If the choice is between Ech and a prescription drug I know which I would take.

Cheers
Henriette

From: edbaud.bbs.slv.org
Date: 26 Jan 1999 09:31:18 mdt

Cold Season tea also contains mint and eucalyptus.

Fred

From: Henriette Kress <hetta.saunalahti.fi>
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2000 17:58:11 +0200

>Cold Season tea also contains mint and eucalyptus.

In which case it's contraindicated to kids under 2 years or so. Those kids can't metabolize menthol.

To: herb.franklin.oit.unc.edu
Subject: Re: echinacea questions
From: "Giles" <gil.alltel.net>
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2000 15:56:26 -0600

Henriette's answer here is backed up by anyone who has actually worked with the plant.
Not as a commercial concern, but in real life. Disregard the warning from Celestial Seasonings. If one truly works with the plants they recommend, as Henriette obviously does, a lot of what is passed around as information is nonsense.

>A thorough critique of the Commission E monographs can be found on Jonno's page here: http://www.teleport.com/~jonno

And this is wonderful site. One I send people to who bring up this same old tale that is based on misinformation.