Dietary supplements echinacea

Another popular herbal dietary supplement that has a long history of use for medicinal purposes is ginseng. Much like Echinacea, three primary species of ginseng exist for therapeutic consumption Panax ginseng (Asian ginseng), Panax notoginseng and Panax quinquefolius (American ginseng). These herbal varieties can be readily authenticated... 

Over the past few decades, the use of natural products as drugs and dietary supplements has raised an increasingly important question What impact does it have on biodiversity The widespread popularity of some natural products has resulted in their rapid destruction in the environment. One of the best-documented examples of this pattern is the decimation of wild echinacea resources throughout the United States. Sales of the plant in 2002 amounted to more than 32 million, and manufacturers are eager to obtain as much as they can from American sources. As a result, the plant is rapidly being depleted from its natural habitat, which ranges across large parts of the Midwest. 

Echinacea is sold as a dietary supplement in the United States and as a natural health product in Canada. However, Health Canada does support the use of Echinacea in food products thus functional foods could be developed for the Canadian market. In the United States and Canada, there are no restrictions on the species/varieties used in products. In Germany and many European countries, Echinacea products are sold as drugs in pharmacies (Bauer, 2000). In addition, not all products are approved for use in all countries. For example, E. purpurea aerial parts and E. pallida roots are approved in Germany whereas E. angustifolia and E. purpurea roots are not (Blumenthal, 1998). 

The regulation of Echinacea products in the United States would fall under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA). In the United States, statutory 403 (a)(1) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act prohibits labeling that is false or misleading. Under DSHEA, a structure/-function claim can be made, provided the claim meets the criteria set forth in statutory 403(r)(6). Structure/function claims are permissible if a specific disease is not targeted, unless reviewed by FDA. A structure/function claim such as supports the immune system would be acceptable whereas alleviates the common cold or flu would not be acceptable for Echinacea because the claim targets a specific disease state (i.e., cold or flu). 

A retrospective analysis of aU adverse events related to herbal medicines and dietary supplements reported to the California Poison Control System has given data on the risks of the adverse effects of herbal medicines (112). Between January 1997 and June 1998, 918 calls relating to such supplements were received. Exposures resulting in adverse reactions occurred most often at recommended doses. There were 233 adverse events, of which 29% occurred in children. The products most frequently implicated were zinc (38%), Echinacea (8%), witch hazel (6%), and chromium picolinate (6%). Most of the adverse events were not severe and required no treatment hospitalization was required in only three cases. 

Echinacea is regulated as a dietary supplement in the United States (40). The Homeopathic Mother tincture is a Class C over-the-counter drug official in the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States (41), Official Compendium (1992). E. angustifolia powdered and powdered extract, E. pallida powdered and powdered extract, E. purpurea root, powdered root extract, and powdered extract have monographs for their identity, quality, and other... 

The standardization of Echinacea products based on cichoric acid and alkamides has been proposed (Bauer 1999a,b Perry et al 2000, 2001). The CADs are also commonly used as marker compounds and labeled as phenolics on many dietary supplements. The main reason for standardization is that the level of the active components varies based on plant material, age of the Echinacea, and method of preparation. However, the specific compounds responsible for the immune-enhancing activity of Echinacea are not fully understood. Echinacoside has been used to standardize many preparations, but the lack of immune-enhancing activity of this component... 

Echinacea is regulated as a dietary supplement in the United States. German Commission E has approved E. pallida root and E.purpurea herb (above-... 

Gange, C.A., C. Madias, E.M. PeUx-Getzik, A.R. Weintraub, and N.A. Estes, 3rd. 2006. Variant angina associated with bitter orange in a dietary supplement. Mayo Clin. Proc. 81(4) 545-548. Gurley, B.J., S.F. Gardner, M.A. Hubbard, et al. 2004. In vivo assessment of botanical supplementation on human cytochrome P450 phenotypes Citrus aurantium. Echinacea purpurea, milk thistle, and saw palmetto. Clin. Pharmacol. Ther. 76(5) 428-440. 

A survey of dietary supplement use by pregnant women in California indicated that Echinacea (species not specified) was the most commonly used supplement, with 8.9% of respondents reporting use during pregnancy (Tsui etal.2001). 

Li, W., Y. Sun, J.F. Fitzloff, and R.B. van Breemen. 2002b. Evaluation of commercial ginkgo and echinacea dietary supplements for colchicine using liquid chromatography-tandem mass sjjectrometry. Chem. Res. Toxicol. 15(9) 1174-1178. 

The purple coneflower (Genus Echinacea), indigenous only to North America, was widely used for many medicinal purposes by the American Indians of the Great Plains and subsequently adopted by white settlers. An extract of . angustifolia (narrow-leaved purple coneflower) was made available to medical practitioners by Lloyd Brothers Pharmacists Inc., at the end of the nineteenth century, and became widely used in the USA by eclectic physicians for infectious and inflammatory diseases [5]. With the introduction by the FDA of stricter requirements for testing of drugs, the use of Echinacea declined in the 1930 s, but its use in self-medication has seen a renaissance in recent years. Since 1994, herbal remedies have been defined as dietary supplements in the USA which has allowed manufacturers to make general claims about their efficacy. 

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