The Benefits of Echinacea and Goldenseal in Natural Cold Remedies
By Amelia Bentrup
Have you seen goldenseal and echinacea on the shelves of your local health food store? I'm sure you've heard about the benefits of echinacea. Wondering what the benefits of goldenseal are? With cold season quickly approaching, I bet you're looking for natural cold remedies that work. You may be wondering how echinacea and goldenseal can help you recover faster from the common cold.
One of the benefits of goldenseal is that it helps you feel better without the use of over the counter medication. Colds make your nose feel icky,...it's either constantly running or totally stuffed up and uncomfortable. The beauty of goldenseal is that it is a mucous membrane "alternative"...this means that it moderates mucous membrane flow in the body. It will increase mucous flow in areas with deficient flow and decrease flow in areas with excessive flow. This provides welcome relief when your nose is driving you crazy. Goldenseal is particularly beneficial for sinus infections and other upper respiratory infections.
Other benefits of goldenseal include its anti-microbial properties...another very useful property when you are fighting illness. Berberine and hydrastine are the active anti-microbial components of goldenseal.
Goldenseal is often combined with echinacea, in fact you can even buy goldenseal-echinacea combinations. However, if you can't find echinacea and goldenseal combined; take one 300 mg capsule of echinacea and one 500-mg capsule of goldenseal three times each day. Both goldenseal and echinacea work best when started at the first sign of a cold. Do no use either herbal supplement for longer than 10 days.
Some of the many health benefits of echinacea are its anti-viral, immune-boosting and anti-inflammatory properties. These are all properties you definitely want in an herbal supplement. Echinacea is often recommended for bronchitis, strep throat and influenza.
Scientific studies have shown some controversy over the efficacy of echinacea as a natural cold remedy. Much of the inclusiveness of those studies is likely due to the fact that the studies didn't use a consistently standard echinacea product. The quality and strength of herbal remedies vary quite a bit. A 2004 study published in the Journal of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics and a 2006 study published in the Journal of Clinical Therapeutics showed that echinacea is in fact an effective treatment for the common cold. In fact, echinacea is even useful for treating canine upper respiratory tract infections. These studies can be found at http://www.greenmedinfo.com/search/node/echinacea.
Echinacea and goldenseal are both available in the form of teas, extracts, or encapsulated powders. Encapsulated powders are the most common form, however, make sure the powder is a powder extract and not just dried herb. Extracts concentrate the active components, making them much more effective.
Amelia Bentrup is the owner and editor of [http://www.my-home-remedies.com], a researched collection of natural home remedies for many common ailments. Visit [http://www.my-home-remedies.com/natural-cold-remedies.html] for more information about treating a cold naturally. You will also find safety information and guidelines for both echinacea and goldenseal along with many other herbs. Copyright: you may freely republish this article provided the text, author credit, active links and this copyright notice remain intact.
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