Do not use Echinacea excessively for colds

Cold time: Do not use Echinacea & Nasturtium excessively

11.10.2012

Cold, cough, hoarseness - the cold period is upon us. When it gets started, many like to take so-called immune stimulants such as Echinacea and Nasturtium, as well as vitamins and trace elements. Although they can help in principle against a weakening defense, excessive precautionary use sometimes does more harm than good. This is indicated by the HNOnet NRW, an association of established ENT doctors in North Rhine-Westphalia.

„Preventive immune stimulants also pose the danger of overlooking the underlying causes of immune deficiency“, explains Dr. Uso Walter, ENT doctor from Duisburg and chairman of the HNOnet-NRW. „Today, there are many diseases such as allergies in which the immune system reacts incorrectly and thereby favors infections.“ Therefore, the most important goal is always to recognize possible causes and to treat them specifically. While herbal medicines and regulative therapies can be usefully used, the immune defense is not fundamentally bad just because of a cold.

In autumn and winter, cold fingers, toes, nose and ears favor colds as they weaken the local immune system and invading viruses easily play. But also dry air through mucous membranes, which are otherwise responsible for the removal of pathogens from the nose, are a cause of colds. Appropriate clothing and adequate moisturization of the mucous membranes therefore protect better than immune stimulants from colds. Nevertheless, an absolute protection is not possible and snuff & Co. belong in the winter time simply to life. Before the dangerous real flu reliably protects a flu vaccine in the fall.

Image: avatfilm