The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 278 No 7458 p761
30 June 2007

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Echinacea in common cold

Echinacea can reduce both the incidence and duration of the common cold, a meta-analysis of 14 studies indicates (The Lancet Infectious Diseases 2007;7:473).

Researchers found that the herb reduced the likelihood of developing a cold by 58 per cent (P<0.001) and reduced a cold’s duration by 1.4 days (P=0.01).