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Echinacea
Originally published in Natural Living MagazineSupport your immune system
The '90s have brought about a new way of thinking. The majority of the population is starting to consider the health of the planet by recycling more often and using more environmentally friendly cleaning products. People are taking an interest in their own health as well by taking new steps in order to prevent disease.
In the '60s, people were motivated by a more natural way of life and they chose herbal medicines because they came from Mother Nature rather than a lab. The '90s movement towards herbal remedies is taking a more pragmatic approach in that people are becoming disenchanted with modern medicine. They are weary of the many side effects of prescription drugs and want to avoid irreparable surgery.
This movement towards a more natural way of building health and preventing disease has brought us back to one of the most valuable plant medicines to date: Echinacea.
Echinacea, or purple coneflower, is a beautiful North American plant that grows from as far south as Texas and as far north as here in Canada. The root for its name, echinos, comes from the Greek word for hedgehog which refers to the plant's spiny seed head.
There are many species of Echinacea. The two most commonly used commercially are purpurea and angustifolia. The roots are the source of their medicinal value. Their taste has an unmistakable sweet and acrid flavor which is followed by a substantial tingling or numbing sensation. Ideally, the roots should not be picked before they are three- to four-years-old when they reach full maturity.
Echinacea is one of the most widely used herbs to date. Native American tribes used the herb for more illnesses than any other plant. Some of their uses for Echinacea included treating toothaches, because of the numbing quality, as well as snake bites, burns, coughs, colds, swollen glands, tonsillitis, many types of skin diseases, and as an eye wash. With the influx of Europeans, new diseases were introduced to these tribes and the uses of Echinacea grew in order to treat diseases such as tuberculosis, smallpox, and a host of sexually transmitted diseases which include syphilis and gonorrhea.
Today, this popular herb is still a favorite among Herbalists, Naturopaths, and Homeopathic Physicians. It also ranks in the top 10 of herbal remedies sold in health food stores with hundreds of preparations available to the general public including capsules, liquid extracts, powders, and teas.
The most commonly used forms of Echinacea are the capsule form and the liquid extract form. The important difference between the two is that when Echinacea is in a powder form, it contains all the properties of the whole plant and is used as a tonic for the immune system, either augmenting and suppressing the immune system, depending on need. The liquid extract form usually does not contain the suppressing factors and is mostly stimulating in its function. Neither form is better than the other; they simply have better qualities for different symptoms.
One may think that taking a product that has an immuno-suppressive factor would be detrimental to your health. Since Echinacea powder has both suppressive and stimulating qualities, it is used more as a tonic for the immune system. In the case of allergies for instance, you would need a suppressive factor for your immune system. Allergic reactions are a case of the immune system getting out of hand by producing too many white blood cells for the allergen at hand. When this happens, these extra white blood cells produce too much histamine and other substances in the bloodstream. As a tonic, Echinacea can help counter this reaction by suppressing white blood cells in the presence of allergens and stabilizing the immune system as a whole. It is for this tonic effect that Echinacea capsules and teas are recommended on a daily basis over a period of time in order to stabilize the immune system.
When extracting the active properties from Echinacea, many of the immuno-suppressive factors are lost. This does not necessarily mean it is a bad preparation. The best time to take the extract of Echinacea is with the acute conditions of colds, flus, and infections. Even though you may be taking Echinacea in a powder or capsule form for its tonic effect, there are times that a powerful germ can take over. The throat is usually the first area to be hit, and a good dose of Echinacea extract directly in the throat works wonders and quickly knocks out the infection. The earlier you use Echinacea extract, the better the results will be. Studies have shown that one teaspoon taken every three to four hours at the onset of a cold or other infection will work best. After seven days of use, the extract does not seem to have the same stimulating effect on the immune system that it did at the beginning; a maximum of seven to 10 days' use of Echinacea extract is recommended. Taking the extract on a regular basis is not recommended because the stimulating effect does wear off and because you should not stimulate any part of your body on a continual basis since it can unbalance your whole system. Good health means keeping all bodily systems in proper balance.
Besides being an excellent herb for the immune system, Echinacea has many other beneficial effects on the body. It has been used for its antiviral, antifungal, and antibiotic properties. Therefore, it is a valuable treatment for candida albicans, or common yeast problems. Researchers have found Echinacea to have anti-inflammatory properties and to facilitate the regeneration of connective tissue and skin. Whether damage has been done due to injury, infection, animal bites or other wounds, Echinacea is one of the best herbs for speeding the healing process.
By working as an immune regulator, blood purifier and skin regenerator, Echinacea has been used with excellent results for inflammatory skin conditions such as eczema, psoriasis, and herpes simplex. It is a well-known fact that the widespread use of antibiotics in this country is enabling many diseases that we once thought to be eradicated to come back stronger than ever, due to their development of a resistance to antibiotics. This resistance is a direct result of the overuse of antibiotics. By taking a tonic such as Echinacea in order to enable the body to mend itself and keep itself healthy, you could dramatically reduce the number of visits to your doctor and lower overall health care costs.
By Sharie Hohn, Symptomatologist and Master Herbologist
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