Herbal Medicines—Are They Effective and Safe during Pregnancy?

Since the teratogenicity of Thalidomide has been proven, herbal products are more commonly used in pregnancy to not only relieve morning sickness but also to fight infections. These products are frequently considered as natural and therefore harmless. However, herbs contain a number of active substances that, when used during pregnancy, can affect the development of the fetus. Often, pregnant women do not consult the usage of herbal medicines with a physician. The access to these products is easy and treatment of certain ailments with the use of herbs is common in many countries. The aim of the present literature review was to discuss available data regarding the efficacy and safety of cranberry, chamomile, Echinacea purpurea, garlic, ginger, Ginkgo biloba, and peppermint, which are used to counteract the most common ailments during pregnancy, i.e., infections and pregnancy-related ailments (e.g., nausea and vomiting, dizziness, and headache). Analysis of available data showed that ginger is one of the most extensively analyzed herbal remedies. The dose of ginger below 1000 mg per day may help to relief hypereremesis gravidarum, and such an amount of ginger did not increase frequency of adverse effects for either woman or developing fetus. Data regarding other herbs are most often heterogeneous and give conflicting results with no clear conclusions. However, all herbal products should be used with a special caution in pregnancy. Further high-quality human studies should be determined to confirm the safe doses of herbal products which could be used by pregnant or breast-feeding women.

Neuroprotection of chicoric acid in a mouse model of Parkinson's disease involves gut microbiota and TLR4 signaling pathway

Chicoric acid (CA), a polyphenolic acid obtained from chicory and purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea), has been regarded as nutraceutical to combat inflammation, virus and obesity. Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a...

Echinacea as a Potential Force against Coronavirus Infections? A Mini-Review of Randomized Controlled Trials in Adults and Children

Echinacea purpurea was shown to broadly inhibit coronaviruses and SARS-CoV-2 in vitro. This review discusses the available clinical evidence from randomized, blinded and controlled human studies. Two RCTs with results on enveloped viruses, respectively coronavirus infections during prevention treatment were detected. Incidence and/or viral loads were measured by RT-PCR and symptom severity was recorded. Jawad et al. (2012) collected nasopharyngeal swabs from adults (N=755) over 4 months of continuous prevention. Overall, 24 and 47 enveloped virus infections occurred, including 21 and 33 coronavirus detections [229E; HKU1; OC43] with Echinaforce extract [2400mg daily] and placebo, respectively (p=0.0114). Ogal et al. (2021) administered the same extract [1200mg] or control for 4 months to children (4-12 years) (N=203). Echinacea reduced the incidence of enveloped virus infections from 47 to 29 (p=0.0038) whereas 11 and 13 coronavirus detections [229E, OC43, NL63] were counted (p>0.05). Respiratory symptoms during coronavirus infections were significantly lower with area-under-curve AUC=75.8 (+/-50.24) versus 27.1 (+/-21.27) score points (p=0.0036). Importantly, viral loads in nasal secretions were significantly reduced by 98.5%, with Ct-values 31.1 [95% CI 26.3; 35.9] versus 25.0 [95% CI 20.5; 29.5] (p = 0.0479). Results from clinical studies confirm the antiviral activity found for Echinacea in vitro, embracing enveloped respiratory pathogens and therefore coronaviruses as well. Substantiating results from a new completed study seems to extrapolate these effects to the prevention of SARS-CoV-2 infection. As hypothesized, the testified broad antiviral activity of Echinacea extract appears to be inclusive for SARS-CoV-2.

Echinacea purpurea Alleviates Cyclophosphamide-Induced Immunosuppression in Mice

Echinacea purpurea (EP) has been widely used to treat upper respiratory infections, influenza, and the common cold. It can also exert various pharmacological activities, such as anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic effects. However, the potential of EP to modulate immune reactions remains unclear. Therefore, we evaluated the immunostimulatory effects of EP in cyclophosphamide (CP)-induced immunosuppressed mice. In this study, EP extract (12.5, 25, or 50 mg/kg) was orally administered to cyclophosphamide-induced immunosuppressed BALB/c mice. Then, indexes of immune organs, including the spleen and thymus, were recorded. Splenocyte proliferation and natural killer (NK) cell activities were measured by lactate dehydrogenase assay. Subsets of T cells, such as CD4+ and CD8+, were measured by flow cytometry, and immuno-cytokines, such as interleukin (IL)-2, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, and interferon (IFN)-γ, were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and real-time polymerase chain reaction. The immunosuppressed mice showed decreased thymus and spleen indexes and immune cell activities. Treatment of EP elevated the indexes of immune organs, splenocyte proliferation, and NK cell activities in CP-induced immunosuppressed mice. Simultaneously, administration of EP reversed the CP-induced decrease in T-lymphocyte subsets (CD4+ and CD8+) and immunocytokines (IL-2, TNF-α, and IFN-γ). Taken together, these findings suggest that EP could be used to enhance health and immunity in immunosuppressed conditions.

Fertilization of purple coneflower (Echinacea Purpúrea L.) in the conditions of the Central chernozem region

The modern pharmaceutical industry uses Echinacea purpurea plants in the production of about 30% of all medicines. Many studies have been conducted to assess the effects of biological and immune activity of Echinacea purpurea on animals and humans (Sharayevskaya et al., 2010). Due to the small distribution area of this valuable crop, research aimed at its use as a double yielding crop is relevant. Plants are deficient in readily available forms of mineral elements after mowing. Studies were conducted to determine the effect of «AgroMaster» fertilizer grade 13-14-13 on the growth and development of Echinacea plants. We studied single and double application of the fertilizer at a dose of 2,0 and 4,0 kg per hectare. Growth and development processes of Echinacea purpurea plants were characterized by different intensity before and after cutting in experimental variants. The fertilizer had a significant impact on the biometric parameters of plants. In particular, the dynamics of plant growth in height had a positive trend in all variants with the use of fertilizer. At the same time, the optimum dose of fertilizer (2,0 kg per hectare) with double treatment of crops was revealed. Single treatment of crops with the minimum (2,0 kg per hectare) and maximum (4,0 kg per hectare) had no prolonging effect on Echinacea purpurea plants. Thus, the use of AgroMaster fertilizer of 13-14-13 grade in the crops of Echinacea purpurea is justified, with the advantage of double treatment of crops at a dose of 2,0 kg per hectare.

Echinacea purpurea for the Long-term Prevention of Viral Respiratory Tract Infections during COVID-19 Pandemic: A Randomized, Open, Controlled, Exploratory Clinical Study

Introduction: SARS CoV2 vaccination is effective in preventing severe COVID 19, but efficacy in reducing viral load and transmission wanes over time. In addition, the emergence of novel SARS CoV2 variants increases the threat of uncontrolled dissemination and additional antiviral therapies are urgently needed for effective containment. In previous in vitro studies Echinacea purpurea demonstrated strong antiviral activity against enveloped viruses, including SARS CoV2. In this study, we examined the potential of Echinacea purpurea in preventing and treating respiratory tract infections (RTIs) and in particular, SARS CoV2 infections. Methods: 120 healthy volunteers (m,f, 18 to 75 years) were randomly assigned to Echinacea prevention or control group without any intervention. After a run-in week, participants went through 3 prevention cycles of 2, 2 and 1 months with daily 2400mg Echinacea purpurea extract (Echinaforce, EF). The prevention cycles were interrupted by breaks of 1 week. Acute respiratory symptoms were treated with 4000 mg EF for up to 10 days, and their severity assessed via a diary. Naso/oropharyngeal swabs and venous blood samples were routinely collected every month and during acute illnesses for detection and identification of respiratory viruses, including SARS CoV2 via RT qPCR and serology. Results: Summarized over all phases of prevention, 21 and 29 samples tested positive for any virus in the EF and control group, of which 5 and 14 samples tested SARS-CoV-2 positive (RR=0.37, Chi square test, p=0.03). Overall, 10 and 14 symptomatic episodes occurred, of which 5 and 8 were COVID 19 (RR=0.70, Chi-square test, p>0.05). EF treatment when applied during acute episodes significantly reduced the overall virus load by at least 2.12 log10 or approx. 99% (t test, p<0.05), the time to virus clearance by 8.0 days for all viruses (Wilcoxon test, p=0.02) and by 4.8 days for SARS CoV2 (p>0.05) in comparison to control. Finally, EF treatment significantly reduced fever days (1 day vs 11 days, Chi square test, p=0.003) but not the overall symptom severity. There were fewer COVID-19 related hospitalizations in the EF treatment group (N=0 vs N=2). Discussion/Conclusion: EF exhibited antiviral effects and reduced the risk of viral RTIs, including SARS CoV2. By substantially reducing virus loads in infected subjects, EF offers a supportive addition to existing mandated treatments like vaccinations. Future confirmatory studies are warranted. Keywords: Echinacea purpurea, ethanolic extract, COVID 19, SARS CoV2, antiviral, prevention, randomized clinical trial Clinical Trials registration Nr: NCT05002179