Black elderberry for colds, flu, and sinus relief

We all know that concerning feeling of a tickle in the back of our throat.  While we hope that it’s a passing event from an environmental irritant or something we ate for lunch often times it’s an early sign of a cold or flu starting. 

What follows next might be a dry cough, slight body aches, headache, chills, sore throat, fever, or in the event of a cold the dreaded sniffling and sneezing.  The moment you feel that your throat tickle might turn into something more, you should immediately work on boosting your immune system to give your body its best chance at fighting off a cold or flu.  While boosting your immune system won’t “cure” a cold or flu, it will make the symptoms more tolerable and shave off a couple days of feeling bad.  The earlier you start treatment the better your odds are of shaving off down time. 

Our immune system is our bodies natural defense against infection.  When it detects a cold virus it begins sending white blood cells out to destroy the invading virus.  Essentially our body is a battleground, your immune system is your military command center, and white blood cells are the soldiers carrying out the orders.  Fighting an invading virus requires a lot of energy, which is why we are left feeling fatigued.  Black Elderberry (scientific name: Sambucus nigra) is the variety widely used today in many black elderberry syrups, wines, and even immune boosting gummies to help your body fight off and lessen the length of your next cold or flu.

Not all black elderberry syrups are the same...

It’s very important that you read the ingredient label of any product you are going to put into your body. There are many inferior products on the market (mostly sold at big box stores and corner drug stores) designed to give you the absolute minimum of healthy ingredients in the name of saving a couple dollars.

Gaia Herbs is one of my favorite black elderberry syrup brands currently on the market. The taste isn’t as wonderful as the cheaper brands that add fructose and artificial flavors, but it’s certainly better for you and has a generous 1903mg per teaspoon of black elderberry concentrate. The taste is reminiscent of overripe grapes before they turn into full raisin taste, and it stains purple if you get it on your clothes so do be careful.

Black elderberry is something to always keep on hand, you can take a teaspoon of it for daily wellness maintenance or you can increase the dosage if you happen to be exposed to someone suffering from a cold or flu. Being that it is anti-inflammatory and has antioxidant properties it can also help ease symptoms of sinus infections. As with any supplement check with your healthcare provider to make sure it won’t interfere with any medications you are currently taking, especially those with autoimmune disorders since elderberry stimulates the immune system. Overall, black elderberry is an amazing multipurpose gift from nature that our ancestors used and is still being used with great success today.

Gaia Herbs Black Elderberry Syrup

Don’t like liquid or have kids? Try the gummy version!
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