Echinacea - Echinacea angustifolia / purpurea

Introduction

A History of Healing

Native Americans often referred to Echinacea as a 'sacred herb', but the names they would have used in their own dialects have been lost. The Plains Indians used Echinacea medicinally more than any other plant and they may well have chosen names to reflect its 'cure-all' status.
Although its Native American names have not survived, Echinacea gained many common names when white settlers learned of its use about 200 years ago.

These names provide insight into its appearance and its use in the past. Purple Coneflower, for instance, simply describes the species E. purpurea; Missouri Snakeroot reflects the plants' use to treat rattlesnake bites, as well as the fibrous appearance of E. purpurea's roots; Purple Kansas Cornflower conveys one of the areas where this plant can be found growing wild; Indian Head recalls its use by Native Americans. Other common names include Sampson Root, Black Sampson and Red Sunflower.

Traditional Uses

Native Americans, especially the Plains Indians, used various species of Echinacea, both internally and externally, to treat a range of conditions. One of its main external applications was to treat poisonous insect bites and snakebites. They also used it for healing boils and all kinds of skin irritations and to bathe burns and other external skin problems. It was taken internally for breaking fevers, for complaints such as sore throats, toothache, mumps and even headaches and for major ailments such as smallpox and measles. They also added the juice to the water sprinkled on coals during traditional 'sweats'.

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Historical Usage

A German physician named Dr. H. C. F. Meyer; who was living in Nebraska in the 1870's, formulated his own medicinal version of Echinacea and called it 'Meyer's Blood Purifier'. A champion of the plants' healing properties, Dr. Meyer typified the 19th and early 20th century interest in the herb, which derived from European interest in the uses to which Native Americans put it.

Today's natural healers recognise that the Native Americans were renowned for their attention to nutrition and of course, their use of herbs, in which Echinacea featured prominently. Their healing methods also included sweating and fasting.
The Cheyenne and Winnebago tribes have records verifying the widespread use of Echinacea across the nation and archaeological exploration of sites dating from the 17th century has produced evidence of its use for a variety of ailments.

According to historical evidence, different tribes used this plant for different reasons: the Cheyenne used it to treat sore mouths and gums, the Dakota used it for bowel problems and tonsillitis and the Delawa used it for gonorrhoea.

White settlers gained their plant healing knowledge from the local tribes who lived around their settlements.

The Native Americans showed the white settlers how to use fresh Echinacea, picked in the summer, as a general infection fighter and the settlers developed it as a tincture for winter use.

Echinacea in Western Medicine

Echinacea was brought to the forefront of Western herbal medicine by the Eclectics, a group of doctors who based their medicine on the use of herbs. The Eclectics came together in the early 19th century; they were prominent for a century from the 1830's. Schools of that era still survive in the United States and Europe. Echinacea also became more prominent under the auspices of a well-known Eclectic doctor and author called John King, who wrote the famous King's American Dispensary. Several American herb companies making tinctures from Echinacea were famous in their day. One such firm was Lloyd Brothers.

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Anatomy of Echinacea

The whole Echinacea plant can be used for therapeutic purposes. Different parts are processed and preserved in different ways, depending on the use. Echinacea angustifolia is the most commonly grown and manufactured species.

Roots

Echinacea angustifolia has a vertical taproot, whereas Echinacea purpurea has branched fibrous rootlets.

Chemical Constituents

Polysaccharides, including inulin, a water-soluble carbohydrate; phenolic compounds: caffeoylechinacoside and cynarin; many alkylamides, including echinacein; essential oils such as caryophyllenene and humulene; alkaloids: tussilogin and isotussilagin, plus behenic acid; carbohydrates: sucrose, pentosans and fructose.

Shelf Life of Roots

Dried, cut or shredded root lasts up to 1 year: dried whole root lasts for 1-2 years.

Shelf Life of Leaves

Whole leaf lasts 6-12 months; shredded leaf lasts 6-9 months.

Chemical constituents

Phenolic compounds; verbascoside, caftaric acid, chlorogenic and isochlorogenic acids; flavonoids: luteolin, quercetin and rutoside; essential oils: vanillin, germacrene D; hydrocarbons, N alkanes, betain hydrochloride.

Flowers and Seeds

Echinacea angustifolia has large, single, daisy-like flowers at the end of stems or branches. These flowers have narrow, strap-shaped petals that are indented with two or three notches at the tips. The flowers are quite short and spread rather than droop; their colouring varies from rosy pink to pale purple. The flowers have a prominent seed-bearing 'cone', which is browny orange with scattered yellow pollen. The seeds, which erupt from the cone in the fall are medium size and brown in colour.

Chemical Constituents

Phenolic compound: chicoric acid; numerous miscellaneous alkylamides; essential oils, including vanillin; considerable amounts of vitamin C.

Shelf Life of Flowers and Seeds

Flowers last 6-12 months; seeds last 1-2 years, but they will last much longer with suitable storage facilities.

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Echinacea in Action

This wonderful, all-round herb, can be used to treat the young and elderly alike. It is able to boost the immune system to fight many viral, bacterial and fungal-based diseases and is a known lymph cleanser and herbal antibiotic. There are not many conditions that this immune system stimulant cannot help.

How Echinacea can Help

Ideal as a cold or flu aid, this herb can be taken when you first feel shivery, right through the illness and for a week afterward in order to aid recovery.
Useful for coughs and other more deep-seated or chronic bronchial and upper respiratory disorders including asthma and whooping cough.
Alleviates any signs of enlarged glands and lymph nodes and any attendant sore throat or tonsillitis.
Gives quick relief from food poisoning and eases the severity of the symptoms.
Helps in the treatment of psoriasis, skin ulcers, boils, abscesses, eczema, infected wounds, bites and burns, both by external application as an ointment and internal use.
Useful in cases of candida and other fungal-based diseases.
Helps in the treatment of urinary tract infections such as cystitis and urethritis.
Helps to treat pelvic inflammatory disease and other infections of the female and male lower reproductive systems.
Assists recovery from chronic diseases such as post-viral fatigue syndrome (formerly known as ME), and may aid recovery from some cancers (except where white blood cells are excessively produced or compromised in some way, for example with leukaemia and autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis).

How Echinacea Affects the Body

Echinacea should make the whole mouth tingle quite strongly and make it feel slightly numb. The effects starts quite gently, increases to the point where extra saliva is created and then dies down after several minutes. This process suggests that Echinacea stimulates the immune tongue tissue situated under the tongue. The initial effect will be stronger with E. angustifolia than with E. purpurea.
Echinacea will then make its way to the ileum of the stomach, where it stimulates the Peyer's patches (immune tissue). These patches in turn trigger 'immune' stations's located throughout the body, which creates all-round protection. Such immune stations include the bone marrow, where immune system cells are created and all the lymph notes and vessels that carry white blood cells and help to filter and purify the blood. The spleen will also be activated.

Effects

Continuously produces white blood cells in large amounts to help fight general infection.
Creates large killer cells called macrophages or 'big eaters' along with other types of immune system fighter cells.
Stimulates the growth of new, healthy tissue.
Protects cells from invasion or damage by pathogens, bacteria or viruses.
Increases the body's overall ability to dispose of bacteria, infected and damaged cells, toxins and harmful chemicals.
Stimulates the adrenal cortex and produces an increased amount of cortisol. Cortisol is a steroid hormone that helps the metabolism of carbohydrates, aids the body's normal responses to stress and eases inflammation and the accompanying pain.

Caution

Echinacea stimulates the body rather than supporting it. In fact, after prolonged use, it can cause the immune system to under produce some of the disease-fighting elements. For this reason it should only be taken in short bursts or cycles, coupled with herbal tonics and good nutrition. You should also always keep to the recommended dose.

Summary

Echinacea helps to treat a wide variety of surface conditions effectively, as well as a range of deeper-seated diseases of the immune system. Surface conditions include those a more superficial nature, such as a cold, where Echinacea's extra immune system helps speed recovery. In a deep-seated condition, such as post-viral fatigue syndrome (ME), where immunity is compromised, the herb's ability to reactivate an immune system response can help the body to fight the spread of the disease. However, if the body's immune system is excessively depleted, Echinacea alone will not be able to reactivate it.

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Proven Results

Some of Echinacea's healing properties have been tested scientifically and shown to work.

Clinical studies of the use of Echinacea, undertaken in 1989, showed an increase of 50-120% in immune system function over a five-day period.
Other studies, conducted with 4,500 patients who have inflammatory skin conditions (including psoriasis), showed that 85% of patients had their symptoms relieved with topical applications of Echinacea salve.

Laboratory experiments in 1985 showed that white blood cells stimulated by Echinacea increased their infection-fighting activity. This led to an increase in the consumption of yeast cells by 20-40%, proving Echinacea's usefulness in the treatment of fungal infections such as candida (thrush).

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When to Avoid Echinacea

Echinacea is generally a very safe herb and is well tolerated by most people of different ages and races. Currently, it is believed that no part of the plant is toxic.

However, due the broad and non-specific nature of the way it stimulates the immune system, Echinacea should not be given to people with progressive systematic and auto-immune disorders such as lupus (SLE), collagenosis and related disorders. It should also (according to the German Kommission E) not be used with tuberculosis. Other conditions for which Echinacea is not recommended are multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and leukaemia.
Echinacea may also counteract some aspects of chemotherapy, where the chemotherapy is being given to suppress the function of the immune system. If you are having this type of chemotherapy, avoid Echinacea.

Allergic Reaction to Echinacea

In the spring of 1998, an allergy specialist warned that very occasionally people with allergies who take Echinacea at the same time as drinking fruit juice could trigger an allergic response, even anaphylactic shock. One of the people who sustained such an adverse reaction had been taking Echinacea for many years, on its' own or with water. On just one occasion she put it in fruit juice and reacted immediately.

Anaphylactic shock is a serious, life-threatening emergency and the sufferer must have an injection of adrenaline as soon as possible. If this happens to someone you know, call an ambulance or take the person to the nearest hospital emergency department immediately. An anaphylactic reaction to Echinacea may start with a burning in the mouth and throat, tightness in the chest and diarrhoea. The symptoms may stop at this point or proceed to more dangerous levels.

Caution

If you have kidney disease, restrict your use of Echinacea to 10 days at a time. This will help to avoid possible imbalances caused by the herb stimulating the production of too many salts and minerals.

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Natural Medicine for Everyone

Echinacea is believed to be safe even for those people considered to be especially vulnerable - pregnant and breast-feeding women, children and the elderly.

Pregnancy

According to Herbology through the Reproductive Cycle (American College of Nurse-Midwives, 1994), Echinacea is safe for people of all ages and may be used in moderation during pregnancy.

It suggests that 'As with most anti-microbials, it is probably wise not to use Echinacea for months at a time, but rather during times of illness or exposure to sickness'.

Since pregnant women are advised not to use antibiotics, Echinacea is an excellent alternative and will help both mother and baby to flourish. It can help minimise or shorten many illnesses.

Children

It's quite safe for children of all ages to use Echinacea, provided you don't mix it with fruit juice (see Caution). Using a dropper bottle, you can give any liquid form of Echinacea a few drops at a time, to a baby or toddler who is no longer being breast-fed. To treat a baby that is being breast-fed, the mother should take Echinacea.

Tinctures (with added liquid organic honey), decoctions (sweetened in a similar way) or pre-made syrups are also fine. Giving Echinacea to children instead of routinely prescribed antibiotics will greatly enhance the child's immune system - not only in the short term but also for life. This is because the body will be left to fight its' own battles, giving the immune system the chance to recognise invading cells and strengthen its' own fighting response. However, some serious illnesses may still require antibiotics, so when in doubt, consult your doctor.

Case Study: A Bad Bite

Fifteen year-old Sarah loved dogs, but when she patted a strange dog in the street one day, it responded with a vicious bite. Her mother always had Echinacea at home and doused the wound in liberal amounts of the tincture. It stung but went straight to work on preventing any infection. During the wait in the emergency room, more Echinacea was poured over the bite, which eased both Sarah's pain and worry.

Elderly People

It is also safe for older people to take Echinacea. It is a wonderful herb to have at hand for use as needed, particularly because the immune system often weakens during the ageing process

Caution

It is usually safe to take Echinacea alongside prescription medicines, but check with your physician first. Echinacea is not recommended for people being treated with chemotherapy.

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How Echinacea Works

Echinacea is composed of a number of highly effective active ingredients, which work in different ways on the body's systems.

Echinacea includes the following ingredients: Echinacoside: a compound with high antimicrobial abilities. Echinacoside is found mainly in E. angustifolia. It is the herb's most active ingredient and gives the strong tingling sensation and numbing metallic effect in the mouth.

Polysaccharides one of these, inulin, increases production of T-cells and other natural killer cells that stimulate the immune system.

Betaine HCL: a digestive enzyme that helps to stimulate digestion.
Flavonoids (quercetin and rutocide): these work as antioxidants by neutralising damaging atoms and reducing the risk of a number of serious diseases. Flavonoids are partly responsible for the efficiency of macrophrages - these are scavenger cells that remove bacteria from the blood.
Nutrients, including small amounts of aluminium, calcium, copper, chlorine, iron, magnesium, potassium, vitamins A and E (useful to immunity) and particularly high levels of vitamin C.

Other chemical components include:
Alkaloids such as tussilagin, very helpful for throat disorders and cynarin, a bitter substance that helps the liver.
Essential oils: caryophylene, vanillin and humulene, which are anti-bacterial and stimulate the digestion process.
Tannins: these reduce infection by forming a protective 'crest'.
Proteins, which carry useful steroids and oxygen.
Fatty acids, which are needed to sustain energy levels and act as the body's building blocks
Varying Ingredients

Some of the chemical constituents mentioned here and found only in the roots, others in the parts of the plant growing above ground; some are present only when the herb is fresh or dried. Climate and season can also make a huge difference: for example, inulin concentrations are much higher in the fall and winter than in the spring, so it's best to harvest roots during these seasons. On the other hand, the fructose content is higher in the summer and the fall.

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Main Effects

Promotes cellular immunity.
Stimulates levels of properdin, which kills bacteria and viruses.
Eases inflammation.

Stimulates the production of healthy new tissue, internally and externally and temporarily strengthens the barrier against invasive organisms that break down tissue.

According to herbalist Christopher Hobbs, the Echinacoside content of the herb helps to balance undesirably high amounts of harmful bacteria, fungi and viruses and generally increases resistance to infectious diseases.

In 1989, two controlled studies involving 100 flu patients showed that Echinacea shortened the duration of the flu and eased the symptoms. (Vorberg and Schneider 1989, Dorn 1989, information courtesy of Christopher Hobbs).

Research Results

Most of the research into Echinacea over the last 20 years has focused on the herb's ability to stimulate the immune system and findings clearly indicate that its' activity in the bloodstream has a value in the defense against tumor cells. Studies in humans have shown that Echinacea helps white blood cells to attack foreign micro-organisms and toxins in the bloodstream.

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