Once caught, a cold or flu is notoriously hard to shake. Many people find relief with echinacea, an herb that appears to improve the body's ability to fight infection, thereby cutting short the bug’s duration and intensity. But women and physicians alike have been reluctant to use and/or prescribe echinacea during pregnancy. Avoiding medicinal herbs -- especially during the first trimester -- has been the gold standard of mainstream medicine for the past 100 years.
But researchers at the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine noted that "since at least half of all pregnancies are unplanned, many women inadvertently use echinacea in their first trimester." The researchers designed a study which followed 206 women who used echinacea during pregnancy, half of whom used it in the first 12 weeks -- when basic organs are being formed.
These women were compared with closely matched women in a control group who didn't take echinacea. When pregnancy outcomes were analyzed, the scientists reported no more birth defects, miscarriages or other complications in the echinacea group than in the control group.
"Naturopathic medicine is safe and effective," says Dr. Harry Adelson, a naturopathic researcher at Yale/Griffin Prevention Research Center. "In order for the world to recognize this, more well-constructed scientific studies such as this one are needed."
