Yahoo Lifestyle People are using elderberry to treat cold and flu. Experts say think twice.
Americans catch an estimated 1 billion cases of the cold each year. For centuries, people have been looking for an elixir to remedy runny noses and sore throats.
Elderberry supplements - marketed for boosting the immune system - have recently become one of the most popular herbal supplements in the country. According to the Nutrition Business Journal, consumers spent an estimated $175 million on elderberry pills, syrups and powders last year.
But do they work?
A handful of small, often industry-funded studies show elderberry supplements may reduce the duration and severity of a cold or flu, but there’s no evidence the supplements can protect someone from catching a respiratory illness. In a review of the research, one group declared the results to be “uncertain” and said more studies are needed.
Two small studies, one of which had industry funding, found elderberry supplements may shorten flu symptoms by four days compared with a placebo. Another industry-funded study found international travelers who caught a cold recuperated faster and had fewer symptoms if they took elderberry supplements before, during and after their flights.
Michael Macknin, a professor emeritus of pediatrics at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, said he thought the research was so encouraging, he conducted his own study, which published in 2020.
He found no evidence that elderberry supplements helped adults and children in the emergency room with the flu.
“I was shocked,” Macknin said of the results, adding that he thought his study would be a “slam dunk.”
Macknin now tells patients “not to waste their money” on elderberry supplements “until there’s more information,” he said.
“I mean, I went out and bought elderberry for myself,” he said. “And then when I finished the study, I threw out all the elderberry I’d bought.”
Elderberry supplement labels say “supports immune health,” but the claims have not been verified by the Food and Drug Administration and the products have not been proved effective “for any health purpose,” said D. Craig Hopp, deputy director of complementary and integrative health extramural research at the National Institutes of Health.
Elderberries grow in bunches on shrubs or trees and are rich in antioxidants and vitamins.
The berries contain anthocyanins, deep red, blue or purple pigments that have been associated with health benefits including lower blood pressure. Elderberry appears to have antiviral properties when studied in the lab. But Matthew Badgett, an internal medicine physician at the Cleveland Clinic, said a more robust study is needed to see whether there are benefits outside the lab.
“Something that works in a petri dish, for a large number of reasons, doesn’t always work in the human body,” said Badgett, who was not involved in the 2020 Cleveland Clinic study.
A larger study is in the works.
Jessie Hawkins, founder and president of the Nutraceuticals Research Institute, a supplements research company, is conducting an elderberry clinical trial in which hundreds of adults take the capsules for 90 days during cold and flu season.
“It’s really the study that elderberry has needed to have done for a long time,” Hawkins said.
Elderberries are safe to eat when cooked. Raw elderberries, as well as their leaves and stem, can cause diarrhea, nausea and vomiting because they contain “cyanide-producing substances,” according to NIH.
But Andrew Thomas, an associate research professor at the University of Missouri who has worked with elderberries for 30 years, said you’d have to eat a lot of raw elderberries to cause harm.
“I wouldn’t eat huge amounts of raw elderberries, especially because they don’t taste good,” said Thomas, who co-authored a study on the safety of American elderberries.
Elderberry supplements appear to be safe for adults who take it for short periods, said L. Susan Wieland, lead author of a 2021 review on the subject and an adjunct associate professor at George Washington University’s School of Medicine and Health Sciences.
Part of the challenge for consumers is figuring out how much elderberry is in each brand’s supplement, Hawkins said.
“If you were to walk into a CVS or a Walgreens or whatever and pick up 10 different elderberry supplements, there’s not a standard way they disclose how much actual elderberry is in there,” Hawkins said. “That part is a mess.”
Kori Flower, chief of general pediatrics and adolescent medicine at the University of North Carolina’s Department of Pediatrics, said parents often ask if their children can take a supplement to protect against getting sick. She tells them the best way to boost your immune system is to eat a healthy and wide-ranging diet, exercise, sleep, get vaccinated and wash your hands.
“When it comes to preventing infections like colds and flu, there’s just no substitute for hand-washing and vaccines,” she said.
Related Content
Actually, Sarah McBride does have an agenda
‘There was nothing you could do’: The two days when fire swallowed Los Angeles
