Elderberry Extract Outpatient Influenza Treatment for Emergency Room Patients Ages 5 and Above: a Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial

What this study found

Elderberry did not improve influenza outcomes versus placebo. Time to alleviation of all symptoms was 5.3 ± 3.6 days with elderberry and 4.9 ± 2.8 days with placebo (p = 0.57), and time to complete symptom resolution was 8.6 ± 3.9 days versus 8.7 ± 3.9 days (p = 0.87). Adverse events were generally mild and similar across groups, with dry mouth, constipation, rash, and bad taste the most common reported events. A post hoc analysis found longer illness in those taking elderberry without oseltamivir versus placebo without oseltamivir (7.3 ± 3.4 days vs 5.1 ± 4.2 days, p = 0.02), while…

Study & population

Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled outpatient trial in emergency department patients with laboratory-confirmed influenza.

Intervention

The active intervention was Sambucol® black elderberry liquid, providing fruit juice equivalent to 5.7 g Sambucus nigra per 15 mL dose, taken orally.

Key limitation

The elderberry arm was relatively small, and the main findings were null with no significant benefit on primary or secondary outcomes.

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