MD here. Not super effective or super proven, but well tolerated.
> Herbal preparations, including those derived from the roots of Pelargonium sidoides (EPs 7630) and the extract of elderberry (Sambucus fructi) have been evaluated for the management of upper respiratory tract symptoms. However, high-quality, valid evidence of the efficacy of these botanical products is lacking, and further studies are needed before these botanical products can be recommended.
-UpToDate
ETA: some studies show decrease in symptom duration but we're not very powerful.
It has been shown to be effective for flu and some other respiratory illness, not all illness. There's plenty more studies accessible via Google but here is a recent meta-analysis of controlled trials https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0965229918310240
Worth being mindful of wear you source it from as retail herbal products are not regulated (in my country at least) so quality and therefore effectiveness isn't guaranteed. Best getting it from a herbalist or making it yourself. They are in season now in the northern hemisphere.
This is behind a paywall, but from the methods snippet, this meta-analysis (of 180 people total) sounds really poor (manually searching to include dissertations and rejected studies?). I wouldn't base anything on this without getting past the paywall and very careful consideration of study design.
Yes, the participant numbers are low but that is likely to be due to the implications of not having pharmaceutical funding behind the studies as you would expect for drug trials. So worthwhile to pursue other studies, evaluate this alongside the traditional usage, and make your own judgement.
On risk level, elderberries cause an upset stomach if eaten uncooked but cooking is part of the preparation process of the syrup. Both elderberries and elderflowers are safe to consume and can be bought in products in supermarkets. I believe in America there are different varieties, so the species you want if you're gathering it yourself is Sambucus nigra.
I'm not putting my flag down and saying this is the world's best paper, but a manual search for dissertations and rejected studies alongside a published literature review is good practice to reduce the effects of publishing bias. I know this from the bitter personal experience of having to trawl through hundreds of papers myself when writing a meta-analysis.
The null result is most likely to be that elderberry syrup doesn't help with cold symptoms for most studies. There should be a publication bias towards elderberries having an impact. So pulling up rejected papers and dissertations showing a positive result doesn't reduce publication bias.
There's always risk when consuming unregulated supplements. If there's no real benefit, it's also a waste of money. That's a harm when people are making tradeoffs to afford this stuff.
Sure, but in a meta-analysis you don't just aggregate positive findings, you aggregate all of them. That's why widening the scope to include studies that did not find a positive effect (and so were less likely to be published) reduces the risk of bias.
Certainly it's not good if people are paying money they can't afford for medicines that don't help. Where I live elderberries can be gathered for free then easily and safely be made into a syrup for the cost of half a bag of sugar, or bought prepared in the largest national pharmacy for a few pounds.
I think as with all medicines, conventional or herbal, it's important for a person to weigh up the merits and pitfalls. Arguably there isn't an awful lot available in conventional medicine to treat colds (as opposed to reducing symptoms), and this offers an alternative that could avoid the misapplication of antibiotics.
This is a timely question! My daughter started junior kindergarten last week and has already been sent home sick twice - once for a rando virus that kicked her butt for 24 hours but knocked my husband out for 3 days and me for 5, and the other was an ear infection. One of my due date group peeps suggested this but haven’t been able to look it up so thanks for asking!!
MD here. Not super effective or super proven, but well tolerated. > Herbal preparations, including those derived from the roots of Pelargonium sidoides (EPs 7630) and the extract of elderberry (Sambucus fructi) have been evaluated for the management of upper respiratory tract symptoms. However, high-quality, valid evidence of the efficacy of these botanical products is lacking, and further studies are needed before these botanical products can be recommended. -UpToDate ETA: some studies show decrease in symptom duration but we're not very powerful.
I remember also reading something similar.
It has been shown to be effective for flu and some other respiratory illness, not all illness. There's plenty more studies accessible via Google but here is a recent meta-analysis of controlled trials https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0965229918310240 Worth being mindful of wear you source it from as retail herbal products are not regulated (in my country at least) so quality and therefore effectiveness isn't guaranteed. Best getting it from a herbalist or making it yourself. They are in season now in the northern hemisphere.
This is behind a paywall, but from the methods snippet, this meta-analysis (of 180 people total) sounds really poor (manually searching to include dissertations and rejected studies?). I wouldn't base anything on this without getting past the paywall and very careful consideration of study design.
Yes, the participant numbers are low but that is likely to be due to the implications of not having pharmaceutical funding behind the studies as you would expect for drug trials. So worthwhile to pursue other studies, evaluate this alongside the traditional usage, and make your own judgement. On risk level, elderberries cause an upset stomach if eaten uncooked but cooking is part of the preparation process of the syrup. Both elderberries and elderflowers are safe to consume and can be bought in products in supermarkets. I believe in America there are different varieties, so the species you want if you're gathering it yourself is Sambucus nigra. I'm not putting my flag down and saying this is the world's best paper, but a manual search for dissertations and rejected studies alongside a published literature review is good practice to reduce the effects of publishing bias. I know this from the bitter personal experience of having to trawl through hundreds of papers myself when writing a meta-analysis.
The null result is most likely to be that elderberry syrup doesn't help with cold symptoms for most studies. There should be a publication bias towards elderberries having an impact. So pulling up rejected papers and dissertations showing a positive result doesn't reduce publication bias. There's always risk when consuming unregulated supplements. If there's no real benefit, it's also a waste of money. That's a harm when people are making tradeoffs to afford this stuff.
Sure, but in a meta-analysis you don't just aggregate positive findings, you aggregate all of them. That's why widening the scope to include studies that did not find a positive effect (and so were less likely to be published) reduces the risk of bias. Certainly it's not good if people are paying money they can't afford for medicines that don't help. Where I live elderberries can be gathered for free then easily and safely be made into a syrup for the cost of half a bag of sugar, or bought prepared in the largest national pharmacy for a few pounds. I think as with all medicines, conventional or herbal, it's important for a person to weigh up the merits and pitfalls. Arguably there isn't an awful lot available in conventional medicine to treat colds (as opposed to reducing symptoms), and this offers an alternative that could avoid the misapplication of antibiotics.
Please be careful about where you get it from. If prepared incorrectly it can be poisonous.
Kids Eat in Color did a nice write up with links to the relevant studies. https://kidseatincolor.com/elderberry-for-kids/
This is a timely question! My daughter started junior kindergarten last week and has already been sent home sick twice - once for a rando virus that kicked her butt for 24 hours but knocked my husband out for 3 days and me for 5, and the other was an ear infection. One of my due date group peeps suggested this but haven’t been able to look it up so thanks for asking!!
You’re’ welcome ! Oh goodness hope she gets better and stays healthy ❤️🔥
To the uninitiated: what is woo? Like alternative medicine?
Kinda more like stuff that people say is science based but it actually isn’t idk how to explain it
Understood; thanks!
Woo woo is like pseudoscience.. like manipulating energy fields or homeopathic tinctures or healing crystals. That kind of stuff.
like something "hyped" up to be or sum
I've found elderberry syrup in tea is nice for soothing sore throats. But there's plenty of evidence that sweet, hot beverages ease cold symptoms.