Echinacea Review By Consumer Reports Highlights Wal-Mart, Target Brands

Echinacea consumers should choose products that provide the lowest-priced "phenols" - compounds showing the actual presence of echinacea in the dose - when purchasing the herbal remedy, Consumer Reports says in its February issue.

"Cost per 10 mg echinacea compound" was one standard used to rate 19 different echinacea supplements after laboratory tests determined the actual amount of phenols in each product. Cost per compound was calculated by using the amount of phenols in the product as established by lab tests and the price of the bottle.

At the top of CR's list of best picks were Wal-Mart's private label Spring Valley Echinacea, with a cost of $0.05 per 10 mg of echinacea compound, and Target's private label Origin Echinacea, which followed close behind at $0.06 per 10 mg. Both brands "supply phenols, and thus echinacea, at the lowest cost for any given dose," CR says.

Although Rexall Sundown's Sundown echinacea contains slightly fewer phenols for the money, CR points out, the product also offers the lowest daily cost because its minimum dose is lower than that of any other product.

The magazine acknowledges that savings from lower-priced phenols are "modest" since users are expected to take the remedy primarily when affected by a cold and not on a daily basis. Nevertheless, CR says "our tests and investigations found no evidence that the more expensive echinacea remedies are better choices than the cheaper ones."

According to CR, the amount of echinacea present "varied substantially from product to product, even from bottle to bottle of the same product." In addition, three unnamed products were lower in phenols than their labels claimed they were.

Testing allowed CR to classify products as carrying a "low," "average," or "high" amount of phenols in the dose. However, the magazine could only advise consumers to "consider" the dosage of phenols, since "no one knows the optimal daily dose of phenols, or even the desirable range."

Products demonstrating an "average-high" number of phenols in the dosing size were Nature's Bounty Echinacea, Sav-On-Osco Echinacea and Origin Echinacea Goldenseal.

Nature's Valley Echinacea, Safeway Select Echinacea, GNC's Herbal Plus Echinacea Root, Nature's Plus Herbal Actives The Energy Supplement and Solaray Echinacea Goldenseal showed "low" levels of phenols.

In addition to lab tests that measured phenols and verified the labeled species, CR commissioned independent labs to test for spoilage and contaminants.

According to the tests, CR says "four products contained amounts of lead that, while small, exceeded a California standard designed to encourage manufacturers to reduce the lead content of calcium supplements."

Products that met the lead standard contained no more than 1.5 mcg of lead in the daily dose. Although the magazine notes that "those modest amounts of lead by themselves are unlikely to cause harm," it points out that "any lead that can be avoided generally should be."

Although echinacea is purported to stimulate the immune system and thus aid in the treatment of the common cold, CR says "most studies have found that echinacea doesn't help prevent colds." A recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that echinacea was no more effective than a placebo in treating colds in 500 children (¹ (Also see "Echinacea Study Shows Mixed Results In Respiratory Infections" - Pink Sheet, 8 Dec, 2003.), p. 12).

However, CR says evidence from some trials in adults has shown that if the botanical is taken within the first few hours of symptoms, it can shorten colds by one to two days or reduce symptoms by up to 40%.

CR recommends that consumers disregard variations such as type of pill (powder or extract), species, or the part of the plant the ingredient comes from. "There's little or no reliable data on whether any of those variations affects echinacea's performance or safety."

CR additionally advises choosing products that contain only echinacea instead of combination products, since it found "little reliable evidence that goldenseal or any of the other herbs helps fight colds, and no evidence that such combinations work better than echinacea alone."