Enquête préliminaire sur l’intérêt de consommer des probiotiques, du cyprès et de l’échinacée en prévention des infections hivernales

INTRODUCTION: Winter is a good time for viral. Some plants and probiotic strains could give a better protection to our organism by strengthening the immune system. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this preliminary survey was to evaluate the possible preventive effect against infections of Cupressus sempervirens/Echinacea purpurea combination (plants known for their immune and anti-viral effects) in association with probiotics during the winter season. METHODS: It’s a declarative survey by questionnaire. The objective was to compare the occurrence of winter infections in two populations aged 18–65 years old in good health which used this complementation for at least 3 months period during winter period or not. RESULTS: The rate of incidence of flu (P = 0.012), common cold (P = 0.002) and throat infection (P = 0.0017) decreased in the group that took complementation compared to the group that didn’t take complementation. The occurrence of colds was also significantly reduced in a subgroup of subjects that are more sensitive to infections during winter and took the complementation compared to the same subgroup of subjects that didn’t take the complementation (36 vs 78% of colds, P = 0.004). CONCLUSIONS: The results show that consumption of both products for 3 months or more is associated to a lesser incidence of winter infections such as flu, cold and throat infection. It might be interesting to conduct a larger prospective study to determine the exact role of Lactibiane® and Phytostandard® of Cypressus-Echinacea in the prevention of these winter infections.