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Background on the
Echinacea
alkylamides
(alkamides, isobutylamides)
Alkylamides
E. angustifolia
0.01 – 0.15
E. pallida
not present
E. purpura
root
0.01 – 2.77
E. purpurea
tops
0.02 – 0.53
Total alkylamide concentrations in % of dried plant part
References: Wills and Stuart 1999.
Food Chem
. 67(4): 385-388; Qu
et al
. 2005,
Hort Science
. 40(5): 1239-1242; Blaschek. In: Wichtl – Teedrogen und Phytopharmaka,
2016.
Significance (or implications)
▪
Echinacea dietary supplement sales ranked 3
rd
in the conventional (mass market)
channel, and 7
th
in the natural channel in the US in 2015
▪
Recent Cochrane review suggests no treatment effect, but consistently positive
trends in prophylactic trials
▪
Echinacea adulteration:
Parthenium integrifolium
, various
Echinace
a spp.,
unidentified materials
Reference: Karsch-Völk et al., 2015.
Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
2014, Issue 2. Art. No.: CD000530