She plans a career in pharmaceutical research. Immunostimulation was observed at the lower concentrations and immunosuppression was observed at the higher concentrations of echinacea. Echinacea, also known as purple coneflower, is endogenous to midwest North America. Echinacea is also a generic term used in research.
Researchers generally manufacture their own extracts from varying species and plant parts.
This makes it very difficult to compare echinacea study results from different labs. It is also impossible to correlate data from research manufactured echinacea with OTC preparations. However, several clinical studies on echinacea have reported different results. Roesler et al. studied the effect of their purified echinacea in healthy volunteers. These data suggest that echinacea increases acute inflammatory responses.