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Article: Herbal Remedies' Quality Often Is Guesswork.(composition of echinacea and other herbal medicines vary)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- USA TODAY
- Article date:
- December 1, 2000
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 Society for the Advancement of Education. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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What do you get when you buy a bottle of the herbal cold remedy echinacea? You really don't know, maintains James Simon, professor of new use agriculture and natural plant products, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N.J., because of the lack of consistency in herbs and medicinal plants.
Echinacea, for example, is taken by many individuals to combat cold symptoms. However, there are several different species used commercially in the U.S.--the two most common being Echinacea purpurea and Echinacea angustifolia--and product labels often give little information about which are in the herbal remedy or what parts of the plant were used.
"The different species ...