ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Echinacea is Good for What Ails You

Updated on May 27, 2018

If you've ever seen gardens with purple-pink flowers that bloom in the late summer to mid-autumn, you've seen echinacea. It's a favorite of gardeners because of its tolerance to the elements. It also attracts butterflies! But it's more than just ornamental. While you may recognize it by the common name of "purple coneflower," it's also one of America's most popular herbal treatements.

How Is It Used?

Echinacea has been used for many generations to treat everything from toothaches to snake bites. Nineteenth century herbalists recognized its value as an immune system booster, and also used it to reduce the frequency and duration of colds and flu, speed the healing of wounds, lessen inflammation and combat infections.

Photo by Sarah Casha
Photo by Sarah Casha

Did You Know?

  • Echinacea is a family of nine flowering plants indigenous to North America.
  • Echinacea has been used by Native Americans for hundreds of years as an antiseptic, pain killer and for the treatment of snakebites.

Echinacea used to be an American best-seller During the early 20th century, because of its positive affects on diverse maladies. Around 1930, however, modern doctors decided it had no value. As a result, it fell out of favor until the 1980s, when people started becoming interested in herbal remedies again. Today, it's one of the best-selling herbal extracts on the market. There are varieties: Echinacea purpurea and Echinacea angustifolia.

Studies have shown different results, but there's evidence that taking echinacea can help cold and flu symptoms and strengthen the immune system. It's best to take it at the first sign of a cold or flu, because it is most effective as a preventative.It can also shorten the duration of an illness, so taking it at any time during your illness may help.

Echinacea is also recommend to combat allergies and sinus problems. Much like with colds and flu, it's a good idea to take it early in allergy season -- before allergens are everywhere. It shouldn't be taken all the time though. It's best to take it for three weeks and then take one week off, because the body will adjust to it and it will lose its effectiveness.

How Safe Is It?

There are no known serious side-effects from taking echinacea, other than allergic reactions or mild nausea in very rare cases. This is because echinacea works doesn't destroy germs or act invasivly. Because it activates your body's natural resources to strengthen your immune system, the kind of side-effects that sometimes happen with pharmceuticals such as antibiotics aren't a problem.

The only caveat to this is that people with auto-immune diseases might have to be careful taking echincea. The evidence is inconclusive, but it's probably a good idea to not take it if you have an autoimmune disease, such as multiple sclerosis, lupus or scleroderma, or you're HIV-positive.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)