African Geranium Extract Reduces Common Cold Severity and Duration

Written by Angeline A. De Leon, Staff Writer. Pelargonium sidoides, commonly known as African geranium, significantly reduced the severity of symptoms and shortened the duration of the common cold.

The common cold is thought to be one of the most prevalent human illnesses, with more than one billion annual cases reported in just the U.S. ¹.  Rhinovirus is considered the most common viral infection agent and is associated with nasal congestion, headache, chills, and sore throat ². While treatment for the common cold usually involves the prescription of antibiotics, they have no effect on viruses although anti-virals may have some effect. Antibiotics are most often prescribed for select symptoms of the common cold. According to research, there is no actual evidence for their efficacy in alleviating cold symptoms ³. According to a 2013 review, use of antibiotics is not only associated with adverse side-effects, but can also increase antibiotic-resistant bacteria ⁴. A promising alternative to antibiotic treatment for the common cold is an herbal extract prepared from Pelargonium sidoides, commonly called African geranium ⁵.  In vitro studies report antiviral, antibacterial, and immunomodulatory effects associated with P. sidoides extract ⁶, and various randomized controlled trials suggest its efficacy in treating acute respiratory tract infections ⁷, tonsillopharyngitis ⁸, and even asthma attacks ⁹. In a 2018 study ¹⁰ published in Alternative Therapies, researchers at the University of New Mexico evaluated the effects of high-dose African geranium extract on illness severity and duration of the common cold.

A total of 207 adults (aged 18 to 55 years) with predefined cold symptoms for at least the past 24 to 48 hours completed a prospective, double-blind, parallel-group, placebo-controlled trial. Patients were randomly allocated to receive 60 drops of a liquid P. sidoides extract or placebo three times daily for a maximum of ten days. Researchers administered the cold intensity score (CIS) questionnaire assessing the intensity of 10 symptoms associated with the common cold and calculated the sum of symptom intensity differences (SSID) based on change in CIS between baseline and Days 3 and 5. Secondary outcome of interest was efficacy based on criteria such as changes in individual CIS symptoms, ability to work, activity level, and health-related quality of life, etc.

By Day 5, mean total CIS was seen to decrease for both groups, by 11.2 +/- 4.8 for the P. sidoides extract group and by 6.3 +/- 4.7 for placebo. Mean SSID from baseline through Day 3 to Day 5 was also significantly greater for the active treatment group vs. placebo (16.0 +/- 7.4 points vs. 8.3 +/- 7.6 points, respectively, p < 0.001). At the end of the intervention period, 90.4% of participants in the P. sidoides extract group were deemed clinically cured, compared to only 21.2% of the placebo group (p < 0.001). Analysis of secondary outcome measures revealed significantly higher combined remission and improvement rates for the P. sidoides extract group vs. placebo in symptoms related to weakness (86.6% vs. 46.2%, p < 0.001), exhaustion (87.5% vs. 51.0%, p = 0.0002), fatigue (86.1% vs. 58.6%, p = 0.0023), and chills (97.9% vs. 86.1%, p = 0.0170) by Day 5. Furthermore, duration of activity limitation was significantly lower for the treatment group vs. placebo (6.9 +/- 1.5 days vs. 8.8 +/- 1.4 days, p < 0.001), as was the number of absentee days from work (6.4 +/- 1.6 days vs. 8.3 +/- 2.1 days, p < 0.001).

Overall, results from the present study demonstrate the efficacy of African geranium extract in mitigating symptoms of the common cold and shortening the duration of the illness. At higher doses, P. sidoides extract was found to significantly reduce cold symptoms such as fatigue, chills, and weakness after 5 days of treatment, and after 10 days, was associated with over a 90% improvement. When investigators compared treatment effects using P. sidoides extract at a high dose (60 drops three times daily in the present study) vs. a lower dose (standard dose of 30 drops three times daily in their previous study ¹¹, they noted a 10% greater improvement in both primary and secondary outcome variables with the high-dose treatment. Therefore, high-dose African geranium extract is suggested as an effective, encouraging treatment option for the common cold. To further strengthen this study, it would be helpful to incorporate the use of objective measures of immune function (e.g., white blood cell count, C-reactive protein) to complement patients’ subjective evaluation of cold symptoms and to help determine whether the therapeutic effects of P. sidoides extract might be detectable even earlier than the first 5 days of treatment.

Source: Riley DS, Lizogub VG, Zimmerman A, et al. Efficacy and tolerability of high-dose Pelargonium extract in patients with the common cold. Alternative Therapies. 2018; 24(2): 16-26.

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Posted July 15, 2019.

Angeline A. De Leon, MA, graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2010, completing a bachelor’s degree in psychology, with a concentration in neuroscience. She received her master’s degree from The Ohio State University in 2013, where she studied clinical neuroscience within an integrative health program. Her specialized area of research involves the complementary use of neuroimaging and neuropsychology-based methodologies to examine how lifestyle factors, such as physical activity and meditation, can influence brain plasticity and enhance overall connectivity.

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