Echinacea-Based Dietary Supplement Does Not Increase Maximal Aerobic Capacity in Endurance-Trained Men and Women.

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Plant Extracts, published as a randomized controlled trial.

Secondly, to determine if any sex differences exist between male and female endurance-trained athletes.

Who Took Part

The study group was 8 men.

PubMed indexes the participants as young adults and adults, both men and women.

At the post-intervention visit, all measurements from the baseline visit were obtained once again.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized, single-blind and placebo-controlled study.

Because people in this Plant Extracts study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

In this single-blind Plant Extracts study one party knew the assignments and the other did not.

Some men received a placebo instead of Plant Extracts, giving a reference point.

At baseline, weight, body composition, and VO2max were measured.

Blood was drawn to measure EPO, ferritin, red blood cells, white blood cells, hemoglobin, and hematocrit.

At the mid-intervention visit, blood was collected.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Athletes, Biomarkers, Blood Cell Count, Dietary Supplements, Echinacea, Erythropoietin and Exercise.

Author keywords: VO2max, endurance athletes, red blood cells and sex differences.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, single-blind and placebo-controlled study of Plant Extracts in 8 men.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

Its findings take up roughly 5 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2016 (Journal of dietary supplements), a journal based in England.

More context: all human trials.