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Listers,

This is part 2 of my summary relating to Nature's Way
echinacea/goldenseal combo and a problem I developed with itching
mostly on the arms, legs, and feet.

I shall limit this post to info on goldenseal and put the echinacea
info in the next one.

Parenthetically, my sweetie is now suffering through the cold I am
just about over, and is taking the Nature's Way with no ill effects.
No good ones, either. If anything, he's sicker than I was. So that's
my clinical sample of two. Onward:

Two people said they had experienced itching similar to what I
described. One said he thinks his has to do with milk allergy. The
second person thinks her case might be attributable to the effects of
goldenseal on 'pathological bacteria' in the gut which causes
itchiness when it dies off.

Thus prompted, I did what I should have done in the first place and
searched the web for research. As a journalist, I have some
experience is sifting fact from pseudofact and I have to say that
none of the material I found in a few hours' time seems to me to be
definitive. Perhaps the fault is my lack of background in the
subject. The German Commission E is frequently cited for its research
on the effects and side-effects of herbals but I think it is safe to
say that there is not a lot of good information on the issue, at
least not yet.

However, for whatever it is worth, here is what I found:

Eating the fresh goldenseal: plant can cause inflammation of the mucous tissue

In high doses, goldenseal can irritate the skin, mouth, throat, and vagina.

Goldenseal stays in the system a long time and accumulates. Large
doses may interfere with B vitamin absorption

But Kroeger's (!!) herbal info site claims Goldenseal has superb
anti-inflammatory properties. Not necessarily a contradition, I
suppose, but certainly confusing.

Evidently there is such a thing as a 'standard dose', which one site
described as:
one 250 to 500mg capsule of an extract standardized to 8-12%
alkaloids (approx. 5% Hydrastine) and taken 3x a day.

There is no way to tell, from the Nature's Way bottle, whether the
dose is anything like that.

Echinacea post follows.

Mary B.
NYC

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