Thursday, January 31, 2002

Herbal treatment for hayfever

A herbal extract is as effective as conventional medicines for treating hayfever, research has suggested.

A team of Swiss researchers found that not only is the extract, butterbur, as effective as antihistamines for treating hayfever, it does not have the sedative effects often associated with the drugs.

The researchers gave 125 hayfever patients either butterbur extract tablets or a commonly-used non-sedating antihistamine called cetirizine.

After two weeks, the treatments had achieved similar effects.

However, even though cetirizine is considered a non-sedating medicine, it still produced more symptoms of drowsiness than the herbal remedy.

Writing in the British Medical Journal, the researchers said: "We believe butterbur should be considered for treating hayfever, particularly in cases where the sedative effects of antihistamines need to be avoided."

Source BBC News

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