[A preliminary survey on the interest of eating probiotics, cypress and echinacea to prevent the apparition of winter infections].

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. © Springer Verlag 2011.