Elecampane

Para qué se usa

• Tos

  Limitada

  In a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in 106 children aged 3–6, a syrup of acacia honey with mallow, elecampane, plantain and Helichrysum extracts reduced night and day cough scores and shortened cough over 8 days. Elecampane was one of five active ingredients, so its own contribution is unknown.²

• Infecciones bacterianas

  Limitada

  Hydro-ethanolic root extracts and their sesquiterpene lactones (alantolactone, isoalantolactone, igalan) inhibited Staphylococcus aureus in laboratory tests. No studies in people.¹

• Bronquitis

  Tradicional

  The British Herbal Pharmacopoeia lists it as an expectorant and antitussive for tracheal and bronchial catarrh, bronchitis and whooping cough; medieval Irish texts used it for coughs and 'consumption'. Not tested in trials.¹

Cómo se prepara

Las cantidades son las que registra la fuente citada, no una recomendación.

Seguridad

En las tradiciones curativas

• European folk medicine

  Áillean / Ellea (Irish)

  Medieval Irish medicine used it for the chest, coughs and consumption: the powdered herb was boiled with barley water, liquorice, cinnamon and sugar. For colic and difficult urination, a plaster of the herb boiled in wine and oil was laid on the navel. The name 'scab-wort' records its use on the skin.

  Tadhg Ó Cuinn, Irish materia medica (c. 1415)

• Western herbalism

  Helenii rhizoma

  Antitussive, antiseptic expectorant and diaphoretic; for catarrh of the airways, bronchitis, whooping cough and the cough of tuberculosis, often combined with horehound, coltsfoot or yarrow.

  British Herbal Pharmacopoeia

• Traditional Chinese Medicine

  Tu mu xiang

  One of three roots sold as 'mu xiang' (with Aucklandia lappa and Vladimiria souliei), which are easily confused in trade.

Compuestos activos

alantolactone and isoalantolactone

eudesmanolide sesquiterpene lactones (the 'helenin' mixture); anti-staphylococcal in vitro, widely studied in cancer cell lines; likely contact allergens

inulin

storage polysaccharide, up to 44% of the root with pectic substances

igalan

elemanolide sesquiterpene lactone; antibacterial in vitro

Historia

Legend says elecampane sprang from the tears of Helen of Troy, hence 'helenium'. Tadhg Ó Cuinn's Irish materia medica of about 1415 prescribed it for coughs and consumption, and it stayed in the British Herbal Pharmacopoeia as a chest remedy. In the 1980s the German Commission E rejected it, and later official monographs left it out.

Fuentes

1. 1.Kenny CR et al. From monographs to chromatograms: the antimicrobial potential of Inula helenium L. (elecampane) naturalised in Ireland. Molecules 2022;27:1406
2. 2.Carnevali I et al. Efficacy and safety of the syrup KalobaTUSS as a treatment for cough in children: a randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial. BMC Pediatr 2021
3. 3.Wei R et al. Aucklandia lappa, Vladimiria souliei, and Inula helenium: a comprehensive review of three confusable Muxiang varieties (2015–2025). J Ethnopharmacol 2026 (abstract)
4. 4.GBIF: Inula helenium L. (accepted name)

Referencia, no receta. Nada de esto es consejo médico. Las hierbas pueden interactuar con medicamentos y ser peligrosas en el embarazo; informa a tu médico o farmacéutico de todo lo que tomes.