Echinacea

Interesting. Thank you

I think the jury is out as a preventative but it is probably helpful once infection starts.
Below is a (long) link to a paper about it. It also seems to depend what part of the plant is used in the preparation and so on.

If your friend is taking it all the time I suppose it does mean that she will take it when infected. 🤷‍♂️

I think using echinacea should really be a short term thing. It's counter-indicated I believe if your immune system isn't great and it can damage your liver.

I have an autoimmune condition and was advised against it.

d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/52753132/echinacea-libre.pdf?1492821702=&response-content-disposition=inline%3B+filename%3DInternational_Journal_of_Pharma_and_Bio.pdf&Expires=1761470542&Signature=e80W9Zoo028BgJAz8Sjkmcnr2MV9SyRtfO7TW6coF33~46U7ZVkEsFFnWNL0krkoBEA62y0ICbmm10SnCGAaB9jiYM6~NJc4esf-5McD~9fS~l0p4Hl-0lAozOY~7noVjNkWHktfHEM71nNfAXY-ds-C8fMJnj0tSEu0BH9QkuqFyPHr9jN2pIhAoIuTgstAYPtKP6arptYphbjBmE9gAXcD-5TH6LL2V0x0CQk2o9h1yA9wolVYnJ9cD6rBUw3b~3rLQ3LtHYH3PHe-Pe8Bv~1YrIHGw~1EEbzWcztwZC6uhCX4Ujl3jw6AW83v7NNWIHpXBj5W4so7oGXejgVEwg__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA

It absolutely works for me, I take it when I feel the start of a cold coming on. I still might get it but very mildly and only one or 2 days instead of it dragging on..
Being Dutch I was brought up with the stuff and wouldn't be without it. Much better than taking paracetamol etc

I’ve no idea and as I take prescribed medication I do take supplements as they are contraindicated so I really cannot comment on the effects of echinacea.
Perhaps Google it??