Elderberry, Echinacea, Cranberries: Miracle Cures or Just Hype for Your Cold and Flu?
In the United States alone, each year, Americans experience millions of cases of influenza and hundreds of millions of colds. What about elderberry supplements? In a test tube, elderberry extracts can inhibit pathogens, including the flu virus. In a petri dish, it can rev up the production of flu-fighting molecules from human immune system cells, like tumor necrosis factor, as much as nearly 45-fold. Elderberry juice can help mice fight off the flu. But what about actual people?
The first clinical trial was published back in the 1990s: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial to treat flu-like symptoms. Researchers found that the odds for improvement before the fifth day in those in the treated group were more than 20 times the odds of the participants in the control group (p < 0.001). Two subsequent double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trials showed similar accelerated healing in the elderberry groups, as you can see here and at 1:54 in my video.
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