Mountains of research exist, and more is being compiled, on herbal medicines. This work increases our understanding of how herbal compounds work, and we can find ways to enhance their efficacy. Echinacea is a prime example. Canadian researchers have uncovered basic truths about this immune-boosting herb, truths that can help you stay cold-free.
 
“Picking” the Best Echinacea

Grinding up dried herbs may be alright for culinary herbals, but it is definitely not the way to ensure potency, purity or efficacy of echinacea. Most medicinal herbs lose a large percentage of their active phytochemical ingredients when dried. Science shows that a fresh herb extract, from whole herb, created with double extraction (both water and alcohol) is a better source of the potent phytochemicals echinacea has to offer.
           
At state-of-the-art laboratories, leading supplement manufacturers use High Pressure Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) to measure levels of key active phytochemical compounds in a herb. Standardization is the process of testing, blending and re-testing an extract to ensure consistently optimum levels of the herb’s active ingredients.        
           
Your best choice in an echinacea product, for colds and for year round immune support, is a standardized product. But hold on... echinacea contains several healing compounds, including polysaccharides, cichoric acid and alkylamides. Levels of each of these key actives can vary from plant to plant and can be affected by length of growing season, amount of sunlight, rainfall and other factors. A fully tested E. Purpurea product is standardized for all three of these key actives.
 
Choosing Evidence-Based Products
 
Phase I and Phase II human clinical trials, conducted by Factors R&D Labs, examined the three key phytochemical compounds in E. Purpurea and their synergy. The research showed that an echinacea extract with standardized levels of all three compounds (polysaccharides, cichoric acid and alkylamides) reduced the severity and duration of cold symptoms and speeded recovery by as much as three times the norm.¹ While one or another of the herbal actives could stimulate immunity, a combination of all three was more than three times as effective.² This potent “triple standardized” extract has become the “gold standard” for echinacea products and a basis for tinctures, cough syrups and encapsulated products.
 
Wise Shoppers Know
 
Immune support? The savvy herbal shopper will choose a full-spectrum fresh herb extract (from organic E. Purpurea), standardized for three key actives, proven in clinical trials and produced according to Good Manufacturing Practices (guidelines set out by Health Canada). 
 
References:  

1. V. Goel, et al., "Efficacy of a standardized Echinacea preparation (Echinilin) for the treatment of the common cold: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial", Journal of Clinical and Pharmaceutical Therapeutics (2004), 29, 75-83
2. Roos, G., Waiblinger, J., Zschocke, S., Liu, J.H., Klaiber, I. Kraus, W., Bauer, R., "Standardisierung von Echinacea purpurea-Preßsaft auf Cichoriensäure und Alkamide," Z. Phytother, 1997, 18, 270-276