Elderberries have been harvested, cooked, eaten, and used medicinally for centuries. It’s been used medicinally for respiratory illnesses. As with many herbs, the scientific evidence for its effectiveness is lacking, but that doesn’t mean it’s worthless. Standardizing dosages, conflicts of interest, finding similar participants, getting people to take the supplement regularly, and accurate patient tracking are some of the challenges when studying herbal medicines like elderberry.
There are some studies being done, however. According to a 2021 review of studies, taking elderberry supplements may not prevent contracting respiratory viruses, but it could help reduce the duration and severity. After screening over 1,000 records, including 5 randomized trials, the conclusion was that elderberry may help, but more data is needed to fully understand its effectiveness (Wieland, et al, 2021).
Science is bearing out that there is some healthy activity, but we don’t have a good grasp of what that means as a supplement for fighting specific illnesses.
There are many different species and subspecies of elderberry, including the commonly known Blue or Black Elderberry, and Red Elderberry. Elderberry is native to temperate regions in North America and Europe. Of course, there are ornamental varieties too, but they may or may not be edible (Perez, 2020). There’s confusion around identifying elderberry plants because there are so many kinds. Blue Elderberry, Sambucus nigra, is the species commonly used for medicinal purposes and includes subspecies. So far, there isn’t enough scientific data to determine which species or subspecies has the most medicinal benefits.
Eating raw elderberries can make you sick. All elderberries need to be cooked to make them ingestible. The stems of elderberries have more cyanogenic glycosides in them than the berries, so if you’re harvesting or foraging, be sure to get all the stems out before using them.
I take elderberry tincture occasionally, especially during flu season. It is a harmless way to increase the odds of staying healthier, and it tastes good. I’ve also had elderberry pie but didn’t feel well after eating it. It’s possible the baker didn’t cook the berries long enough. Fair warning if someone offers you elderberry pie, or if you’re making it yourself.
Red Elderberry, seen in the video above, is native to North America. Red Elderberry is more cold-tolerant than the blue or black. It’s generally thought to have more toxins than Blue or Black Elderberry, but it’s been used as food and medicine too.
Resources
Wieland, L. S., Piechotta, V., Feinberg, T., Ludeman, E., Hutton, B., Kanji, S., Seely, D., & Garritty, C. (2021). Elderberry for prevention and treatment of viral respiratory illnesses: a systematic review. BMC complementary medicine and therapies, 21(1), 112. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12906-021-03283-5
Perez, Jenny. (2020). Food as Medicine Black Elderberry (Sambucus nigra, Adoxaceae). HerbalEgram. February, 2020. https://www.herbalgram.org/resources/herbalegram/volumes/volume-17/number-2-february/food-as-medicine/food-as-medicine-black-elderberry/?i=_TuiuFriB--U01uHyGWLmw
