The common cold wins again. For decades, cold sufferers have sworn by the herb echinacea as one of the few medical potions that could stand up to the annoying virus that brings on the winter sniffles, sore throats, and hacking coughs.

But in a study from the University of Virginia School of Medicine reported in the July 28 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, echinacea is no better than the equivalent of a sugar pill in either warding off the illness or lessening its symptoms.

The study, led by physician Ronald Turner from Charlottesville, with the help of colleagues from Charleston, S.C., and Graz, Austria, recruited over 400 healthy volunteers willing to be inoculated with rhinovirus, the culprit behind 30 to 50 percent of common colds. The volunteers were divided into separate groups to take three different preparations of echinacea extracts or placebo beginning either seven days before exposure to the virus or at the time of inoculation.

To respond to criticism laid on previous studies that the plant has many varieties and is a mix of so many different chemicals that it's not certain what's being evaluated, investigators prepared extracts of the root, chemically analyzed to contain the specific plant ingredients believed to be responsible for medicinal value, and administered them in standardized doses. And they evaluated only the species E. angustifolia, the variety used historically by American Indians and the one currently endorsed by the World Health Organization for the common cold.

More than half of the healthy subjects came down with colds regardless of treatment, and the severity and duration of their symptoms—even the weight of their nasal secretions—were all about the same. Despite suggestions from the laboratory that echinacea should strengthen the immune system and cut down on the inflammation that can make for red eyes and runny noses, the present study tells us that effect is not sufficient to stop the hardy cold virus from infecting the healthy human body. These findings should at least give pause to the faithful following who dose up on echinacea pills with the first winter's chill, a mighty number considering estimates that $300 million is spent each year on the herb in the United States alone.

The National Institutes of Health National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine funded the two-year study as part of its mandate to apply rigorous scientific testing to alternative remedies being practiced on the fringe of mainstream medicine. While echinacea aficionados should take stock of the results, the scientific medical types should not be too smug. At least not until science finds a better answer to the common cold.

As the director of the National Institutes of Health in 1992, Dr. Healy began the Office of Alternative Medicine, which became the current National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.