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The Anti-Viral Properties of Elderberries — The Science Behind the Folklore.
Herbal remedies get a rough ride within the media. Articles are written with such unashamed bias that a culture of smirking and ridicule has blossomed in society. Those brave enough to speak out about the efficacy of plant extracts are branded as flaky hippies, or met with an eye-roll and a sigh, followed by “Placebo, darling. Go see your doctor/pharmacist/specialist.”
For years, this damaging view of plant-based medicines has led people to believe that they can only be treated by drugs and chemicals cooked up in a lab and prescribed by doctors. Certainly, in some instances, that is correct. I wouldn’t suggest that anyone should completely ignore pharmacology in favour of teas and tinctures, but folk remedies have been in use for thousands of years. If they didn’t work, they wouldn’t have carried on using them.
Thankfully there are still some research scientists willing to look into the potent chemistry lurking in these plants that make them valuable as remedies. Take the common black elderberry bush, Sambucus nigra, it has been commonly used for coughs, colds and flu symptoms for centuries, and only in recent years has anyone attempted to discover why it works better than most cough syrups bought over the counter.