Reporting effectiveness of an extract of three traditional Cretan herbs on upper respiratory tract infection: Results from a double-blind randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Compared with placebo the essential-oil extract of three Cretan aromatic plants provided no detectable statistically significant benefit or harm in the patients with upper respiratory illness, although descriptive differences were identified in favorable direction mainly in the virus-positive population.

Post-market outcome of an extract of traditional Cretan herbs on upper respiratory tract infections: a pragmatic, prospective observational study

“…Sixteen pharmacies, purposively selected, participated as recruiting sites. The preparation of the extract is extensively described elsewhere [ 4 ].…”

“…Upon presenting at the pharmacies, eligible patients were invited to complete an anonymous questionnaire (Additional file 1 : Questionnaire.doc), developed based on the Wisconsin Upper Respiratory System Survey (WURSS-21), which assessed symptoms’ severity [ 6 ]. This tool has been previously used with reliable results [ 4 ]. Symptoms were recorded at the day of visit at the pharmacy (day 1), as well as at the fourth (day 4) and seventh (day 7) day of extract intake, via phone calls performed by the pharmacists.…”

“…), dictamnus ( Origanum dictamnus L.) and sage ( Salvia fruticosa Mill., Salvia pomifera L.), on the treatment of upper respiratory tract infections. The results indicated amelioration in the severity of symptoms, with 90% of treated patients being symptom-free at the last day of observation [ 4 ]. The extract was released in the market in 2015, in the form of nutritional supplement (extracts at a dilution of 15 ml/L in extra virgin olive oil, formulated as 0.5 ml soft-gel capsules, for a daily dose of two capsules).…”

Financial crisis and primary health care in Greece. Is it time for family medicine?

“…Even with a theoretical framework that was designed a few years back, practice-based research and networking remains restricted [17]. Multiple research projects have already been implemented in examining effectiveness of various interventions carried-out in the primary care setting either through national or European funded projects [18,19]. Networking for research is still lacking and funding for collaborative research from EU is limited in Greece with some exceptions, where the University of Crete and the Cretan practice-based research network is involved (http://fp7restore.eu/, http://euwise.com/, http://www.otcsociomed.uoc.gr/joomla/).…”

Ethnomedicinal Wisdom

“…Ginseng, a well-known medicinal herb, has been used in traditional medicine for thousands of years, and was found to be effective for treating influenza (Yoo et al, 2012) and HIV (Park et al, 2014); while in a clinical trial, Ginseng was found to help in curing HBV infection (Choi et al, 2016). Ethnopharmacological use of essential oil extract of three traditional Cretan aromatic plants in Eastern Mediterranean region and Near East claimed to be effective in the prevention and treatment of upper respiratory tract infections of bacterial and viral etiology (Duijker et al, 2015). While an Egyptian plant Nigella sativa extract tested against influenza patients showed better activity in people who cannot be treated with interferon-alpha (Barakat et al, 2013).…”