Elderberry among us
How often has an herb languished in obscurity for decades, if not centuries, even though the plant group is widely distributed in nature? One plant fruiting now, elderberry, perhaps best known in the Ozarks for the folk beverage, elderberry wine, has found a new home in the form of syrups and extracts, among other products on the shelves of natural food stores.
Extracts of black elderberry whether it be the European Sambucus nigra or American elderberry, Sambucus nigra subspecies canadensis, have emerged has a leading alternative for helping to prevent and shorten the duration of flu and upper respiratory tract infections. Move over, Echinacea.
Elderberries are not available as fresh berries. They have poor keeping qualities, therefore are immediately dried, extracted or frozen after cleaning on the same day of harvest.
If you look at the scientific literature on elderberry, the vast majority of studies that will result from a computer search relate to compounds called lectins. Lectins from elder species have special characteristics of binding to compounds in the blood. Hence, they are the subject of research for various tests used in blood typing, and other blood-related tests.
Black elderberry has long been used in European folk medicine, like its American counterpart, for treating colds and fevers. Modern interest in black elderberry extract stems from the research of an Israeli scientist, Dr. Madeleine Mumcuoglu. Dr. Mumcuoglu, as a researcher in immunology and hematology at Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem, began working on elderberry compounds in the 1980s. Her work in virology focused on elderberry compounds and their activity against influenza virus.
In 1992, Dr. Mumcuoglu and colleagues in Israel developed an elderberry extract standardized to contain three flavonoids. The preparation was used in a clinical study during a flu outbreak in Israel in 1993 which showed that the preparation reduced severity and duration of flu symptoms compared with placebo in a limited population sampling. Effectiveness relates to compounds in elder that inhibit the ability of flu virus to enter cells, hence disarming the viral infection capability.
I was surprised to learn just a week ago, that the largest commercial production operation for cultivating and extraction of elderberry is less than 50 miles from Eureka Springs in nearby Purdy, Mo. Just Google elderberry, Purdy, Missouri, and learn more about this fascinating plant.