“Plants are an integral way to reweave the connection between land and people.” Robin Wall Kimmerer – Scientist/ Author

I begin this column with my own story. Yesterday I spent ‘gathering in’. Going to the places where medicine still grows wild. My relationship to the land is strengthened by these forays into marsh, mud, thorny blackberry canes, and prickly wild roses – scratches are part of the tale as I choose clumps of ripe purple berries, never worrying about taking too many because not even one Elderberry bush ripens her fruit at the same time! There are always plenty left to spread next year’s bounty and to feed the birds…when my basket was full, the cicada symphony was deafening and I was exhausted from the heat of the noonday star.

I came home, took an ice-cold bath in my brook pool, watched fish peering at my feet, and returned to the cabin porch completely refreshed and ready to begin the process of winnowing. Winnowing takes hours of repetitious work, as I stripped tiny purple berries from their tree-like branch clusters, thinking about how nature repeats her pattern of becoming on every plant and tree. At first, I watched the goldfinches hungrily nipping seeds from the feeder. After Hairy arrived, so did the nuthatches and chickadees and finally my adversary, ‘pig squirrel’, interrupted the bird feast by leaping on the tube and then insulting me with his resentful chatter as I caught him in the act and forced him to vacate the premises again and again!

Then I settled into winnowing, my mind ceased her ramblings and the joys of the afternoon – the moist water-scented air, the buzz of a hundred hummingbirds, and stalks of crimson bee balm, the sight of my two sleeping dogs stretched out on the couch, and the croak of a single croaking green frog became all there is….

It was dusk when I finished this first batch of berries just in time to walk the dogs into the coming cricket-filled night, scanning the clear horizon, my eyes tuned to tree spires as I walked up my now ever so peaceful road enjoying the goldenrod still shining in the twilight hour…I am part of what is, and that is enough.

Today I will tincture and bottle this bounty to gauge how much more I need. I gift this medicinal tincture to others who ask for it every year”.

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As some folks know, Elderberry is an ancient remedy used as a healing medicine for colds and respiratory issues.

In the spring of 2020 when Covid struck, I wrote an article that included these words:

“With the spread of the Coronavirus increasing exponentially each day it might be time to take a look at Elderberry, an herb that I have grown in my yard and wildcrafted around forest edges in Maine. I have used the berries to make a tincture for a number of years to help me reduce the chance of becoming ill with colds or the flu and it has worked effectively. When l  went to New Mexico I left the tincture home by accident. Because I feel it’s important to have a relationship with a plant in order for it to work most effectively I did not buy a commercial preparation and got the worst flu I have ever had. I also came down with infection after infection. Obviously, Elderberry is an effective home remedy for me.

Research Director Dr. Jessie Hawkins and coauthors (Complementary Therapies in Medicine) undertook the first meta-analysis to study Elderberry because so little research has been done by the scientific community as a whole.

How much this prevailing American scientific attitude has to do with the pharmaceutical companies and their outrageous pricing is an ongoing question for me.

Because the studies were varied, researchers were able to apply a random effects model to evaluate the effect of Elderberry. Calculations yielded a large mean effect; Elderberry does substantially reduce the duration of upper respiratory symptoms in colds and flu.

Additionally, the researchers learned that getting the flu vaccine didn’t significantly alter the effects of Elderberry. They also discovered that it not only reduces the symptoms of colds and flu, but that it works more effectively for flu symptoms than for cold symptoms.

Other Researchers performing in vitro studies confirm that Elderberry is active against human pathogenic bacteria as well as influenza viruses (HINI) In separate clinical trials, investigators also demonstrated that Elderberry reduced the severity and duration of cold and flu-like symptoms.

A recent study by a group of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering researchers from the University of Sydney’s Faculty of Engineering and IT has determined exactly how Elderberry can help fight influenza.

The group performed a comprehensive examination of the mechanism by which phytochemicals from elderberries combat flu by blocking key viral proteins responsible for both the viral attachment and entry into the host cells. The phytochemicals from the elderberry juice and  elderberry compounds directly inhibit the virus’s entry and replication in human cells. The words bear repeating; compounds in Elderberry are capable of stopping the virus from infecting cells. However, to the surprise of the researchers, they were even more effective at inhibiting/blocking viral propagation at several stages of the influenza cycle when the cells had already been infected with the virus.

They also discovered that Elderberry stimulated the cells to release certain cytokines, which are chemical messengers that the immune system uses for communication between different cell types to help them coordinate a more efficient response to an invading pathogen.

Additionally, the team also found that Elderberry’s antiviral activity is attributed to its anthocyanidin compounds – phytonutrients responsible for giving the fruit it’s vivid purple coloring.

In another placebo-controlled, double-blind study conducted by virologist Dr. Madeleine Mumcuoglu, 93 percent of the people taking Elderberry reported significant improvement in flu symptoms within 2 days of starting it, compared with the 6 days it took for the placebo group to see improvement.

A similar randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study performed in Norway demonstrated that Elderberry that was given to patients who reported having flu-like symptoms for less than 48 hours had similar results.

Researchers have also found that people who have taken Elderberry have higher levels of antibodies against the influenza virus, indicating that not only may Elderberry be able to treat flu symptoms it may also be able to prevent influenza infection.

Collectively, this research indicates that use of Elderberry presents us with an alternative to antibiotic misuse for upper respiratory symptoms due to viral infections. Additionally, Elderberry use is a potentially safer alternative to prescription drugs for routine cases of the common cold and influenza.”

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After Covid struck in March of 2020, the World Health Organization began an organized study of Elderberry as a result of earlier studies. This work continues today.

To paraphrase or quote directly from the World Health Organization:

Viral diseases have always played an important role in public and individual health. “Several studies were conducted to implement antiviral drug therapy, until the arrival of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. Since then numerous scientific investigations have considered some nutraceuticals as an additional treatment for COVID-19 patients to improve their clinical picture. In this review, we would like to emphasize the studies conducted to date about this issue and try to understand whether the use of nutraceuticals as a supplementary therapy for COVID-19 may be a valid and viable avenue. Based on the results obtained so far, quercetin, astaxanthin, luteolin, glycyrrhizin, lactoferrin, hesperidin, and curcumin have shown encouraging data suggesting their use to prevent and counteract the symptoms of this pandemic infection.”

The definition of nutraceuticals and their related products generally depends on the source. These products can be classified on the basis of their natural sources, pharmacological conditions, or chemical constitution.

The National Library of Medicine reports that “Elderberry may be useful against COVID-19 due to its capacity to stimulate the immune system and inhibit the replication of viruses, including human coronavirus NL63 (HCoV-NL63), which differs from COVID-19 but belongs to the same family of coronaviruses  It could be especially helpful during the initial stage of coronavirus infection or for preventing infection. By inhibiting replication of the virus, elderberries significantly increase the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, especially one which enhances the response of macrophages to a viral infection. A review by the Natural Standard Research Collaboration concluded that there is level B evidence in support of the use of elderberries to treat the flu which may be of significance for the prevention of COVID-19. The typical dose of 2:1 elderberry extract is 10–60 mL a day for adults and 5–30 mL a day for children”.

What this recent research suggests to me is that more and more evidence is coming in that indicates the efficacy of Elderberry in situations where we are now facing more challenges as these Covid-related viral infections continue to mutate. It’s not as if we are going to be able to eradicate mutations because they are an intrinsic part of how nature works. And most importantly, we have done nothing to stop the ROOT causes of the spread of these viral infections. For example, the International Pet Trade continues on as before under American capitalism, the cultural disease of our time. And Covid originated from illegal animal-human contact: Bats infected a civet cat that was then exported illegally.

I leave it to the reader to decide what choice s/he will make in regards to the information presented. Anyone steeped in the western medicine paradigm and not open to a ‘both and’ approach that includes alternate ways of treating disease will probably find this article ludicrous. Oh well.

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