 | Echinacea, botanical | Echinacea supplements | Echinacea properties |
To the genus Echinacea, family of the Composite Tubuliflorae, belong 9 species native to the temperate zones of North America; those of health interest are three: Echinacea pallida, Echinacea angustifolia and Echinacea purpurea .
Echinacea species are also cultivated in Europe. The drug, cited by FUI (Italian official pharmacopoeia), consists of the root, but sometimes the whole plant is also used in the herbal and cosmetic fields. In any case, let's consider echinacea as the proper drug, ie the dried hypogeum, in whose phytochemical composition three categories of chemical classes are identified:
- lipophilic fraction: it contains the typical components of the essential oil (mono and sesquiterpenes) with low molecular weight and polyacetylene compounds, with high molecular weight, with double or triple bonds.
- Fraction of medium polarity: containing the phenylpropanoid glycosides, among which prevails the echinacoside, the flavonoids, the cinnamic acid, the quinic and caffeic acid; they are all cinnammic acid, glycosylated and low molecular weight derivatives. To this fraction, soluble in alcohol or in hydro-alcoholic mixtures, the beneficial properties of echinacea were attributed, so that the echinacoside is a specific marker to define the commercial title of the drug, or its quality from the functional point of view.
- Hydrophilic fraction: containing heteropolysaccharides and inulines or fructans (homogeneous polysaccharides of fructose), which are accumulated in vacuoles as a supplementary reserve to starch; they are typical of specific botanical families, such as Composite, Campanulace and Xantalaceae.
The main activities attributed to the drug concern the immunostimulant action, due not so much to the echinacoside (as it was believed in the past), but to the hydrophilic fraction. Echinacea is considered an adaptogenic drug: this term refers to those drugs that stimulate the body to react in certain stress conditions. There are different categories of adaptogenic drugs, Echinacea belongs to the category of adaptogenic immunostimulant drugs. Echinacea-based herbal products are therefore recommended for seasonal changes and early flu symptoms.
Echinacea, like all drugs that stimulate the reactivity of the immune system, is not recommended for people suffering from autoimmune diseases, or in cases of immune system hyperactivity.
Echinacea also has antiviral and antioxidant properties ascribed to the medium polarity fraction. Echinacea also has secondary actions - which however do not characterize it - consisting of sedative, antibacterial, antifungal and vulnerary action.
