What is Echinacea?

You may have noticed that many of our immune support honey products have an added ingredient called Echinacea. You may have also wondered what exactly that is and why we add it!

Echinacea, commonly known as ‘Coneflower,’ is a beautiful flowering plant originally native to the prairies of the United States, particularly thriving in the grasslands of Oklahoma and Missouri. These regions benefit from humid summers and mild winters, conditions ideal for echinacea. However, despite differences in climate, echinacea can successfully be grown in the UK under the right conditions. It adapts well to the UK’s cooler climate if planted in well-drained soil and a sunny to partially shaded location. While it may present some challenges, with proper care, UK gardeners can enjoy the vibrant flowers and enduring central cones of echinacea throughout the winter.

Being a plant that's native to America it's use as a herbal medicine can be traced back to native American tribes who used the plants extensively for centuries to treat a whole range of illness and health issues. Echinacea is thought to be among the world’s most important medicinal plants and believed to possess antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral properties.

Today, echinacea is mainly used as a supplement to boost the immune system and there has been the most research in that area, showing its usefulness in helping to prevent colds, upper respiratory infections and influenza. Research has found that echinacea may also play a role in reducing inflammation by amplifying the antioxidant effects of linoleic acids. By stimulating the immune system it can also offer relief from cold and flu symptoms.

The usefulness of echinacea to treating infection is likely due to its ability to block the inflammatory response, thereby suppressing symptoms like excess mucus. It appears that the extracts of echinacea roots are most likely to exhibit anti-inflammatory activity, likely due to the presence of alkyl-amides and their anti-inflammatory nature. Echinacea also contains a variety of flavonoids, a group of plant metabolites known for their potential health benefits as well as other compounds that have been shown to support anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant activities. We add echinacea to our daily immune support products, to work along with essential vitamins and extracts to help provide the best natural support for your immune system that we can.

Summer does sadly feel well and truly over now and as the weather turns colder and wetter it's very important to keep on top of our daily health. There's always a lot of cold and flu viruses around that we'll need to fight off over the coming months and a healthy immune system is an important part of that. Our immune support honey products with echinacea can play an important part in making the best defence against colds and flu this winter. If you are already suffering then it can help relieve those annoying symptoms too!