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According to http://realfarmacy.com/diy-flu-syrup/, "Elderberry Beats the Flu, Prevents Colds, and Strengthens Your Immunity." As with all dietary advice I find on the internet, I'm hesitant to believe this claim (and I'd be very surprised if the claim wasn't at least overhyped). Does Elderberry really have the claim properties?

Rob Watts
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  • One thing I noticed is in the abstract of the cited research - "Symptoms were relieved on average 4 days earlier and use of rescue medication was significantly less in those receiving elderberry extract compared with placebo... These findings need to be confirmed in a larger study." - on one hand 4 days is a HUGE difference that makes it sound implausible, but mentioning that a larger study is needed does make it sound slightly more plausible. Has a larger study been done? – Rob Watts Feb 22 '18 at 16:48
  • I would like to see the answer to this, because it's something my mother always used to say. She also used to cook up elderberry syrup and feed it to us. – RedSonja Feb 23 '18 at 09:46
  • Found some useful links - https://www.superfoodly.com/does-sambucol-black-elderberry-really-work-for-colds-flu/ and https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28198157. I'll turn them into an answer if nobody else does before I get off work. – Rob Watts Feb 27 '18 at 17:02

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There is limited research on the treatment of Elderberries.

However, It is officially listed as a treatment option by NCBI

Note: The presence of this link is evidence of notability rather than effectiveness.

NCBI then links elderberries to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health

  • Although some preliminary research indicates that elderberry may relieve flu symptoms, the evidence is not strong enough to support its use for this purpose.

  • Researchers funded by the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) are studying the antioxidant effects of extracts from elderberry and their possible relevance to the body’s defense against infection.

Citation from realfarmacy.com :

There is not enough research to substantiate these claims.

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RustlerSteakHouse
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    Echinacea is also listed as a treatment option, but if you follow a couple links down (https://nccih.nih.gov/health/tips/flucold.htm) it says "Echinacea has not been proven to help prevent or treat colds" - so it appears that the list is not treatments that have been proven to work. Also, that study is cited by "realfarmacy" and is rather suspect to me - it's a small study of 60 people, and it's the product they use (Sambucol) was developed by someone from their same university. Doesn't invalidate the study, but does make it suspect. – Rob Watts Feb 27 '18 at 17:01
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    @RobWatts I believe anything written or cited by *realfarmacy* is pure fluff. But anything published by NCBI is legit. I don't see what Echinacea not being proven to help or prevent colds has to do with anything. Not to get more off topic but I do drink tea with Echinacea when my throat hurts and it definitely immediately relieves irritation, however it definitely doesn't cure anything. – RustlerSteakHouse Feb 27 '18 at 17:07
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    NCBI didn't publish it - they've just included it in their index of research. – Rob Watts Feb 27 '18 at 17:12
  • @RobWatts [Department of Virology, Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel.](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15080016) Seems pretty legit to me, what's your problem with it? – RustlerSteakHouse Feb 27 '18 at 17:13
  • @RobWatts Did you even look at the [references](http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/147323000403200205?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori:rid:crossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub%3dpubmed) used by Hadassah Medical School? – RustlerSteakHouse Feb 27 '18 at 17:17
  • As I mentioned, the study uses Sambucol, which was created by a professor at that university. That indicates to me that the people who did the study are somewhat likely to have a vested interest in the product succeeding (it could be something like wanting to increase their university's prestige or knowing the professor will help make sure their paper gets published), which can bias a study even when they're trying to be neutral. – Rob Watts Feb 27 '18 at 17:27
  • @RobWatts Surely bias exists in any study. However, he seems to be pretty respected in his field. Adding to credibility is the NCBI which is pretty picky about what they add. I'm sure if they believed there to be an issue of bias they wouldn't post it at all. They aren't the type of organization to EX: put homeopathic nonsense up as fact. – RustlerSteakHouse Feb 27 '18 at 17:34
  • @RobWatts if you look at Hadassah Medical School's citations you can see that it's not just their research. For example: https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/cpb1958/38/5/38_5_1329/_article Unless there's collusion with japan or something. – RustlerSteakHouse Feb 27 '18 at 17:40
  • Have you tried clicking on that "European Elder (Elderberry)" link? (Here, try it. [European Elder (Elderberry)](https://nccih.nih.gov/health/euroelder)) Particularly note the "What Have We Learned?" section. It's clear NCBI isn't saying "use elderberry"; it's simply linking to a site describing the stuff, presumably for people who have heard it was good for the flu and were doing their due diligence. – cHao Feb 28 '18 at 18:30
  • @cHao That's a good point. But I find it odd that the US National Library of Medicine actually lists it as a treatment option which seems to contradict U.S. Department of Health & Human Services "actions of individual ingredients are unclear." So I'm not sure what to take from that. To US Gov organizations with different views? – RustlerSteakHouse Feb 28 '18 at 18:41
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    They *don't* "actually list it as a treatment option". They simply include it in a list of remedies that people have probably heard of. That implies that it's a common enough folk remedy to be mentioned, not that it actually works. – cHao Feb 28 '18 at 19:00
  • @cHao It's listed right next to over the counter decongestant. Is that a folk remedy too? I'm not saying that elderberries cure or treat anything. But it's listed right there under treatments so NCBI thinks so – RustlerSteakHouse Feb 28 '18 at 19:13
  • No, it's a remedy common enough to be notable. Note, OTC remedies don't "beat the flu" or "prevent colds" either. They only treat symptoms. – cHao Feb 28 '18 at 19:20
  • @cHao right it's under treatments. I never said it cured anything – RustlerSteakHouse Feb 28 '18 at 19:21
  • @cHao How's this answer look now? – RustlerSteakHouse Feb 28 '18 at 19:28
  • But you're implying, by including it in your answer to this particular question, that it's inclusion in the list constitutes some kind of claim of effectiveness. – cHao Feb 28 '18 at 19:28
  • @cHao I'm just saying that's how it's listed there on their website now. I'm saying that there's not enough research to full say it's a cure or not. Is that fine? – RustlerSteakHouse Feb 28 '18 at 19:30
  • The implication is still there. If you want to keep the list quote, I'd suggest you (1) actually make it a link to the elderberry page, and (2) be more explicit that the presence of that link is evidence of notability rather than effectiveness. – cHao Feb 28 '18 at 19:40
  • @cHao I added (2) that but I don't see what's wrong with my link? It does link to elderberry – RustlerSteakHouse Feb 28 '18 at 20:09
  • Right now it's not even a link. What i'm suggesting is that "European Elder (Elderberry)" link to https://nccih.nih.gov/health/euroelder the way it does on the flu page. – cHao Feb 28 '18 at 20:18
  • @cHao I've added the elderberry link from National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health – RustlerSteakHouse Feb 28 '18 at 20:43
  • Looks better :) – cHao Feb 28 '18 at 22:55
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    I've changed your conclusion as in medicine the "null hypothesis", the default option we take on something we don't know, is that of the plant being useless. Thus, a lack of research should be summarized as "there's no evidence to say it's effective", not "there's some credibility". In fact, lack of research points exactly in the opposite direction: no one is experimenting on it because no one thinks it's effective enough. – Sklivvz Mar 02 '18 at 08:29