Having type 1 diabetes? Are you considering taking echinacea to prevent colds? Here’s why you should first speak with your doctor or a diabetic expert
Question:
I generally take echinacea in the winter to prevent colds, but I’ve read that people with type 1 diabetes shouldn’t use it. Is this true in any way?
Answer:
Diabetes specialists emphasize echinacea’s capacity to stimulate the immune system, according to endocrinologist Dr. Sultan Linjawi of Diabetic Living. According to Dr. Linjawi, there is fear that it can speed up the course of some autoimmune illnesses.
The concern is that echinacea may hasten the death of pancreatic beta cells in people with type 1 diabetes. Or that it might make it more likely for you to develop new autoimmune diseases.
The final conclusion? If you intend to use complementary therapies, discuss your plans with your doctor or a diabetes specialist. There are numerous medicine, herb, and vitamin interactions that could be harmful to your health. Additionally, they can make your recommended medications less effective.
Positive effect on the immune System
Numerous studies have revealed that this plant may support your immune system’s ability to fight viruses and infections, which may speed up your recovery from illness (8, 9, 10).
Echinacea is frequently used to either prevent or treat the common cold because of this.
In fact, a review of 14 studies revealed that echinacea supplementation may reduce the likelihood of getting a cold by more than 50% and shorten its duration by 1.5 days (11).
Numerous research on the subject, nevertheless, have a weak design and offer little genuine value. Due to this, it can be difficult to determine if echinacea use has any beneficial effects on colds vs random events (12).
In conclusion, echinacea may increase immunity, but it is unknown how it may affect the common cold.
May lower blood sugar levels
This includes heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and a number of other chronic illnesses.
Research in test tubes suggests that echinacea plants may aid in lowering blood sugar levels.
An Echinacea purpurea extract was demonstrated in a test-tube investigation to inhibit enzymes that break down carbs. If you ate this, it would lower the quantity of sugar that entered your blood (13).
By activating the PPAR-y receptor, a popular target of diabetic medications, echinacea extracts were found to increase cells’ sensitivity to the effects of insulin in additional test-tube tests (14, 15).
A risk factor for insulin resistance, excess blood fat is eliminated by this specific receptor. As a result, cells respond to insulin and sugar more quickly (16).
Research on how echinacea affects blood sugar in humans is still inadequate.
May reduce feelings of anxiety
Nearly one in five American adults suffer from anxiety, which is a widespread problem (17).
According to research, echinacea plants contain substances that may help people feel less anxious. Alkamides, rosmarinic acid, and caffeic acid are a few of these (18).
Three out of five echinacea samples reduced anxiety in a mouse research. In addition, unlike higher doses of conventional treatments, they did not cause the mice to become less active (18).
Another study discovered that Echinacea angustifolia extract significantly decreased anxiety in rats and people (19).
However, there are currently very few studies on echinacea and anxiety. Before echinacea products are suggested as a potential treatment, more research is required.
Anti-inflammatory properties
Your body naturally promotes healing and defends itself by inducing inflammation.
Inflammation can occasionally become out of control and persist longer than intended and necessary. This could increase your risk of developing chronic illnesses and other health issues.
Echinacea chemicals reduced significant inflammatory markers and inflammation-related memory loss in a mouse research (20).
Adults with osteoarthritis who took a supplement containing echinacea extract for 30 days noticed a significant decrease in swelling, chronic pain, and inflammation.
Interestingly, echinacea extract-containing supplements were effective for these adults even though they did not respond well to traditional non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medicines (NSAIDS) (21).
May help treat skin concerns
In a test-tube experiment, researchers discovered that the anti-inflammatory and antibacterial characteristics of echinacea inhibited the growth of Propionibacterium, a common acne-causing bacteria (22).
Another study on 10 healthy adults aged 25 to 40 found that using skin care products with echinacea extract increased skin moisture and decreased wrinkles (23).
Similar to this, it has been demonstrated that a cream containing Echinacea purpurea extract can lessen eczema symptoms and aid in repairing the skin’s thin, protective outer layer (24).
Echinacea extract doesn’t seem to have a long shelf life, making it challenging to use in industrial skin care products.
Your immune system is it compromised by type 1 diabetes?
Blood glucose levels are typically closely regulated. However, blood glucose levels are unusually high in diabetes.
The ‘beta cells’ in the pancreas produce the hormone insulin, which typically lowers blood glucose levels. However, type 1 diabetes is characterized by an improperly directed “autoimmune” response to the pancreatic beta cells that make insulin, which results in inadequate insulin production. High quantities of glucose build up in the blood without insulin.
Our immune system defends our body against outside microorganisms. Normally, there are a lot of protections in place to stop it from damaging the body’s own tissues. These protections fall short in type 1 diabetes, and immune cells preferentially kill beta cells.
In Australia, type 1 diabetes affects more children than any other chronic (long-term) illness. Australia has more than 120,000 people with type 1 diabetes. Over the past 30 years, type 1 diabetes has become more common in Australia.
Type 1 diabetes is typically discovered in children or young adults. Even with lifetime access to the best care, people are more vulnerable to catastrophic issues such
- kidney illness (diabetic nephropathy)
- Blindness and eye illness (diabetic retinopathy)
- nerve injury (diabetic neuropathy)
- Blood vessel injury can cause nerve damage, which can cause major issues in the hands and feet.
- A heart attack and a stroke
Echinacea supports the immune system in what ways?
One of the most widely used herbs in America right now is echinacea. Native Americans gave the medicinal herb echinacea its name because of the prickly scales that mimic the enraged hedgehog’s spines on its enormous conical seed head (echinos is Greek for hedgehog).
Native Americans may have used echinacea for more than 400 years to treat wounds and illnesses as well as a general “cure-all,” according to archaeologists who have discovered evidence of this. Echinacea has been used historically to treat blood poisoning, diphtheria, syphilis, malaria, and scarlet fever. Although this herb was widely used in the 18th and 19th centuries, its use started to diminish in the US once antibiotics were developed. In Germany, echinacea preparations gained popularity during the course of the 20th century. In actuality, Germany has been the site of the majority of echinacea scientific research.
Today, individuals take echinacea to lessen the severity of the common cold and flu and to lessen symptoms including fever, coughing, and sore throats (pharyngitis). Echinacea is another plant that many herbalists advise taking to help the body fight infections and strengthen the immune system.
General Uses
Echinacea may include active ingredients that improve immunological function, ease pain, lessen inflammation, and have hormonal, antiviral, and antioxidant effects, according to a number of laboratory and animal studies. Because of this, qualified herbalists may suggest echinacea as a treatment for slow-healing wounds, ear infections, athlete’s foot, sinusitis, vaginal yeast (Candida) infections, ear infections, otitis media, hay fever, and slow-healing wounds. Echinacea and cichoric acid may help suppress colon cancers, according to preliminary laboratory studies. According to one study, using echinacea extract before contracting the herpes simplex virus (HSVI) may have an antiviral effect on the recurrence of cold sores.
Common Cold
It is debatable if echinacea aids in the prevention or treatment of the common cold. According to certain research, the herb can hasten your recovery. Others claim that echinacea has no effect at all on a cold. According to several clinical studies, persons who take echinacea as soon as they start to feel unwell have milder colds and experience less symptoms than those who do not. In a study of 95 patients who had fever, runny nose, scratchy throat, and other early signs of the flu and cold, it was discovered that those who drank many cups of echinacea tea daily for five days felt well more quickly than those who drank tea without the herb.
Echinacea decreased cold risk by 58 percent and cold duration by 1 to 4 days, according to a study of 14 clinical trials. Some experts, however, contest these results, arguing the research had a number of flaws. Clinical trials have used a variety of echinacea formulations. It’s crucial to get a high-quality echinacea supplement and to start taking it as soon as a cold starts, numerous times each day for the first few days. For advice, consult your health care practitioner.
Is everyday use of echinacea safe?
The more frequent echinacea adverse effects are as follows:
- headaches
- dizziness
- feeling unwell
- belly pain
- constipation
- skin repercussions (redness, itchiness and swelling)
- Children are more likely to have them.
Echinacea use for longer than 8 weeks at a time may cause liver damage or immune system suppression. If you are taking medications known to have an adverse effect on your liver, herbalists advise against taking echinacea.
If you use any additional medications, herbs, or supplements, check with your doctor first.
Using echinacea safely
If you want to substitute echinacea for your cancer therapy, let your doctor know. Additionally, if you are considering taking it concurrently with your cancer therapy.
In some people, it may not be safe to use in conjunction with other cancer treatments.
Echinacea may impair the effectiveness of some chemotherapy medications, including etoposide.
Sometimes pharmacists and medical professionals advise lymphoma patients not to consume echinacea. This is so that it won’t affect how they’re being treated.
Researchers discovered that echinacea and etravine were safe to ingest together in HIV-positive individuals.
If any of the following apply to you before consuming echinacea:
- are breastfeeding or pregnant
- have a medical condition like autoimmune illness, HIV, or AIDS that impairs your immune system
- are medicating to weaken your immune system because it might fight them
- are under 12 years old
- There is a possibility of allergic responses including skin rashes, according to the medical health regulatory association (MHRA).
Always discuss the use of complementary or alternative cancer therapy with your doctors and nurses. They could affect how well your other therapies work.
Your treatment team can point you in the direction of further resources if they don’t have the knowledge you need.
In whom should echinacea not be taken?
Consult your doctor before using echinacea if you regularly take other medications. Additionally, if you smoke, use illegal substances, drink alcohol or caffeine-containing beverages, you should disclose this to your doctor. These might impact how echinacea functions.
If you have an autoimmune ailment (like lupus), an infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, echinacea may not be beneficial to you (AIDS). Before beginning to use echinacea, you should discuss with your doctor if you are pregnant or nursing.
Echinacea allergy risk may be increased if you have a history of allergies to daisies, ragweed, marigolds, chrysanthemums, or other related plants.
Do medicines and echinacea interact?
The purple coneflower is another name for the genus of native North American plants known as echinacea. An extract derived from the root of the herb Echinacea purpurea is the most popular herbal product in the country. Commercial echinacea preparations are often not standardized to any specific component because the plant’s active ingredient has not been discovered. The variability of the products utilized in different studies makes it challenging to evaluate the echinacea study literature. The herb is frequently used for this purpose and has been suggested as a preventative therapy for upper respiratory infections. However, it appears from the available research that taking preventive echinacea has little to no effect on the frequency, severity, or duration of upper respiratory infections. The evidence for treating upper respiratory infections seems to point to a slight favorable impact. Echinacea has not been associated with any significant herb-drug interactions, and the few and mild side effects that have been documented include nausea, dizziness, and gastrointestinal distress.
The purple coneflower is another name for the genus of plants known as echinacea, which are indigenous to the Midwest of North America. Three of the nine species of echinacea—Echinacea purpurea, Echinacea angustifolia, and Echinacea pallida—are used to make echinacea preparations. The preparation that is used the most frequently in this nation is a liquid extract prepared from E. purpurea root. There are many different trade names used to market echinacea.
Native Americans were the first to employ this plant medicinally, using E. angustifolia to cure everything from respiratory ailments to snakebites. Echinacea was employed as a blood purifier and a dizziness remedy during the 19th century. Up until the invention of current antibiotics, it was utilized as a cold and flu cure as well as an anti-infective. Echinacea is one of the top three plants sold in the US thanks to its recent revival as a remedy for upper respiratory infections (URIs). 1
Is Covid at a high risk for type 1 diabetes?
This material will be updated as new pieces of scientific data are made available and is based on what is currently known about COVID-19.
A: There is insufficient evidence to determine if people with diabetes are more prone than the general population to contract COVID-19. Instead of having a higher probability of contracting the virus, the issue that diabetics confront is that they are more likely to have worse complications if they do. Additionally, the likelihood that someone will have such catastrophic COVID-19 consequences increases the more health disorders they have (for instance, diabetes and heart disease). Additionally, older individuals are more likely to experience problems from the virus.
While the number of deaths is increasing as the virus spreads, we anticipate a decline in the fatality rate as we become more adept at spotting and treating it.
Do those who have diabetes have an increased risk of developing severe COVID-19 complications?
A: Serious COVID-19 problems are more likely to occur in diabetics. Generally speaking, when exposed to any virus, people with diabetes are more prone to experience more severe symptoms and problems.
If your diabetes is in control, there is probably less chance that you will become seriously ill with COVID-19. Like other viral infections, COVID-19 could make it more likely for you to become critically unwell if you also have heart disease or other issues in addition to diabetes since having many illnesses makes it more difficult for your body to fight the infection.
Infections with viruses can also cause internal edema or inflammation in diabetics. Blood sugar levels that are above target can also cause this, and the inflammation that results could lead to more serious consequences.
A: The CDC keeps updating its webpage with new COVID-19 information as it becomes available. They are currently stating that there is a greater risk of developing a serious illness from COVID-19 in individuals of any age who have specific underlying medical disorders, such as type 2 diabetes.
According to the CDC’s current information, type 1 or gestational diabetes may raise a person’s chance of developing a serious illness from COVID-19. We don’t understand how underlying medical disorders enhance the risk for severe sickness from COVID-19 as well as we’d like to because it’s a novel disease.
It’s critical to keep in mind that individuals with any kind of diabetes can differ in age, the number of complications they have had, and their level of diabetes management. Regardless of the kind of diabetes they have, persons who already have health issues related to diabetes are more likely to experience worse outcomes if they catch COVID-19 than people with diabetes who are otherwise healthy.
A: People with diabetes are more likely to develop diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), which is a typical complication of type 1 diabetes, when they are ill with a viral infection.
It can be difficult to control your fluid intake and electrolyte levels, which is crucial for treating sepsis. Some of the most severe problems that some COVID-19 patients have experienced include sepsis and septic shock.
Be sure to discuss with your diabetes care team when to check for ketones and when to call your doctor if you have them. Learn the symptoms of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). Know what to do if you get sick.
A number of studies have indicated that adults are more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes after getting COVID-19. It has been demonstrated that children and teenagers with COVID-19 have an increased chance of getting diabetes more than 30 days after contracting the virus.
A: Everyone, even diabetics, is finding COVID-19 to be a more serious sickness than seasonal flu. When dealing with this virus, all of the usual procedures to prevent infection that have been extensively documented are much more crucial.
Diabetes patients are urged to heed the CDC’s advice to ensure they are taking all reasonable precautions to safeguard both themselves and others. This year, like in previous years, people with diabetes should get vaccinated against the flu, but it’s crucial to note that this year’s flu vaccination won’t protect against COVID-19.
A: COVID-19 patients have described a wide variety of symptoms, from minor discomfort to serious disease. 2 to 14 days after virus contact, symptoms may start to show. Keep an eye out for the following possible COVID-19 symptoms:
- cold or fever
- Cough
- respiratory issues or shortness of breath
- Fatigue
- Body or muscle aches
- Headache
- new changes in flavor or odor
- unwell throat
- runny or congested nose
- nausea or diarrhoea
- Diarrhea
Once you dial:
- Have a copy of your glucose reading.
- Have a readout of your ketone accessible.
- Use a 1-liter water container to keep track of your fluid intake and report
- Be specific about your symptoms (for instance, are you feeling sick? Nose congestion only?)
- Ask questions about controlling your diabetes.
What actions should I take if I notice any of the emergency warning signs?
A: Seek immediate medical care if you experience COVID-19 emergency warning signals. Emergency warning indicators in adults include:
- respiratory issues or lack of breath
- persistent chest pressure or pain
- new ambiguity
- difficulty waking up or staying awake
- pale-colored lips or face
A: Healthy family members in the home should take precautions for those with underlying medical disorders, such as diabetes, as though they were a substantial risk to them. For instance, they must make sure to:
- Anytime they must leave the house, they should wear a mask over their mouth and nose.
- They should regularly wash their hands, especially before feeding or tending to the vulnerable individual.