ABSTRACT
ECHINACEA products represent the most popular herbal immunostimulants in North America and Europe (Griinwald and Biittel, 1996). In recent years, Echinacea products have been the best-selling herbal products in natural food stores in the U.S. with 11.9% (1996: 9.6%) of herbal supplement sales in 1997 (Richman and Witkowski, 1997; Brevoort, 1998). In North America, mainly encapsulated powders from roots and aerial parts and also tinctures and extracts from the roots and aerial parts are used. Most products are sold as dietary supplements (U.S.) or as natural health products (Canada). In some European countries, the situation is different. In Germany, most Echinacea products are registered as drugs and are sold in pharmacies. Most of them contain the expressed juice of Echinacea purpurea aerial parts, or hydroalcoholic extracts of E. pallida or E. purpurea roots (Bauer and Wagner, 1Ç90). Clinical studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of the expressed juice from aerial parts of E. purpurea as adjuvant in the therapy of relapsing infections of the respiratory and urinary tracts, as well as the hydroalcoholic extracts of E. pallida and E. purpurea roots in the therapy of common cold and flu (Bauer and Liersch, 1993; Melchart et al., 1994; Bauer, 1998a, 1998b; Melchart and Linde, 1998).
