How Much Echinacea Should You Take? A Sensible Range

With echinacea, more isn't more. Here is the working range practitioners and studies tend to agree on, and the signs you have gone past it.

The working range

Short courses at the first signs of a cold work best; it isn't a daily tonic.

Stay at food level: a few cups of tea, a spoon of powder, the amounts a cook would use. Concentrated extracts compress several servings into one capsule, so follow the label rather than free-pouring.

What the studies used

The caution list is short but real: there is concern that allergic reactions could be severe in some children. Before giving echinacea to a child, talk with the child’s health care provider.

Signs you have overdone it

Echinacea is slightly cool in nature. Push a warming herb hard and you feel flushed, restless, dry-mouthed; push a cooling herb and digestion turns sluggish. Either way, the fix is the same: stop, let things settle, restart at half the amount.

Federal Regulation of Herbal Products Depending on what’s in them, how they’re intended to be used, and how they’re administered (orally or topically), herbal products are regulated in a variety of ways. Many herbal products intended for oral use are marketed as dietary supplements.

None of this replaces a practitioner who can look at your tongue, feel your pulse and ask awkward questions. Use this as background, not as a prescription.