The past couple weeks have been rough around here! My whole family has been battling some kind of flu for over a week, and it’s made for a very long and difficult week! Just when I think we’re finally at the tail end of it- someone else gets sick or takes a turn for the worse. On top of that, my husband is out of town this week, so it’s been an emotional week to say the least!

One thing I keep thinking about as I’m up late coughing and snuggling sick children is how I can prevent this from happening again! Obviously, we can only prevent so much illness- we’re human, it’s a dirty world, and we’re just going to get sick from time to time. However, I’d like to have my family sick as little as possible, and I’m desperate for ways to ensure that happens!

We’re all familiar with the basic things- eating a healthful diet, drinking plenty of water, washing our hands, keeping our hands away from our faces- and we do all that! (Well- at least we try- for some reason my kids have an infatuation with putting everything on their face and in their mouth). One thing I’ve heard a lot about but knew nothing about is elderberry. I know more than one mom that swears by this stuff. So I decided to do some research to see what all the fuss is about!

So while it seems there has not been extensive research completed on the exact effects of elderberry, there have been a couple studies done that seems to show favorable results in regards to elderberry and colds/flus. More than one case showed that when patients took elderberry compared to a placebo, their symptoms were significantly reduced, and most times they recovered much quicker than those that had not taken the elderberry. (The results varied between studies, but most showed significant improvement within just a couple days versus 6-10 days of patients with the same illness taking a placebo).

So what’s the deal with elderberry? Why is it thought to be so effective? Well for one, it has antioxidants, which helps with inflammation- thus making it a great help with congestion. It also contains hemagglutinin protein- a special protein that can actually hinder a virus from replicating by protecting the cell wall, preventing it from entering the body’s cells. This means it can prevent infection or significantly reduce how long the infection lasts- which is exactly what we want to hear when it comes to influenza!

So while there may not be hundreds of studies to back up the use of elderberry to help fight colds- it seems there’s enough science for it to make sense, and the few studies that have been done have definitely been favorable! If nothing else- a little extra fruit in your diet isn’t really a bad thing, right?

Just be cautious and do your research when choosing a supplement- parts of the elderberry plant can be toxic- so you want a supplement that strictly uses the berry itself (and be sure they are cooked!). As with any other supplement or diet change, you’ll want to run it by your doctor first to make sure you’ve got the green light to go for it! And do your own research until you feel comfortable one way or the other ;).

Do any of you use elderberry? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this supposed miracle berry! Share in the comments below!