The deregulation of the marketing of dietary supplements with health claims has increased interest in evaluating the clinical effectiveness of these products. Clinical trials of herbal treatments pose challenges of limited preclinical data, lack of product standardization and characterization, and difficulties of blinding, which are substantially different from those in studies of conventional medications. These issues must be recognized and addressed if studies of herbal remedies are to provide useful information.
Barnes, P.M., Powell-Griner, E., McFann, K., & Nahin, R.L. ( 2004). Complementary and alternative medicine use among adults: United States, 2002. Advance Data from Vital and Health Statistics, 343, 1-19, Hyattsville, Maryland: National Center for Health Statistics. 2004.
2.
Barrett, B.P., Brown, R.L., Locken, K., Maberry, R., Bobula, J.A., & D’Alessio, D. (2002). Treatment of the common cold with unrefined Echinacea: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Annals of Internal Medicine, 137, 939-946.
3.
Bauer, R. ( 1999). Standardization of Echinacea purpurea expressed juice with reference to cichoric acid and alkamides. Journal of Herbs, Spices & Medicinal Plants, 6, 51-62.
4.
Caruso, T.J., & Gwaltney, J.M. , Jr. (2005). Treatment of the common cold with Echinacea: A structured review [see comment]. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 40, 807-810.
5.
Gwaltney, J.M., Jr. , & Druce, H.M. (1997). Efficacy of brompheniramine maleate for the treatment of rhinovirus colds. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 25, 1188-1194.
6.
Gwaltney, J.M., Jr. , Park, J. , Paul, R.A., Edelman, D.A., O’Connor , R.R., & Turner, R.B. (1996). Randomized controlled trial of clemastine fumarate for treatment of experimental rhinovirus colds. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 22, 656-662.
7.
Linde, K., Barrett, B., Wolkart, K., Bauer, R., & Melchart, D. ( 2006). Echinacea for preventing and treating the common cold [update in Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2000;(2):CD000530; PMID: 10796553]. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2000, CD000530.
8.
Lindenmuth, G.F., & Lindenmuth, E.B. (2000). The efficacy of Echinacea compound herbal tea preparation on the severity and duration of upper respiratory and flu symptoms: A randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled study. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 6, 327-334.
9.
MacKenzie-Cook, P.D. ( 2006). Challenging the new orthodoxy in integrative medicine [see comment]. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine , 12, 679-683.
10.
Sampson, W. ( 2005). Studying herbal remedies [comment]. New England Journal of Medicine, 353, 337-339.
11.
Turner, R.B. ( 2001). The treatment of rhinovirus infections: Progress and potential. Antiviral Research, 49, 1-14.
12.
Turner, R.B., Bauer, R., Woelkart, K., Hulsey, T.C., & Gangemi, J.D. ( 2005). An evaluation of Echinacea angustifolia in experimental rhinovirus infections [see comment]. New England Journal of Medicine, 353, 341-348.
