Popular Kitchen Remedy Puts
Antibiotic To Shame, Research Reveals
Posted on: Tuesday, August 28th 2018 Written By: Sayer Ji, Founder This article is
copyrighted by GreenMedInfo LLC, 2018 Visit our Re-post guidelines
Fighting infection
with conventional antibiotics is becoming an increasingly hopeless affair. The CDC recently warned these
drugs are useless in combatting deadly 'super germs.' So what can one do? Your
kitchen holds the key.
Every day in this
country, all day long, patients and doctors reach for conventional antibiotics
when opportunistic infections present themselves. The fact that
most infections are self-limiting (the body has an immune system, we often
forget), and that antibacterial antibiotics are often administered for viral
infections, against which they are useless and even infection-promoting, is
rarely if ever acknowledged.
There is also the
problem that antibiotics themselves drive the growth of antibiotic resistant
subpopulations of bacteria, and as a result creating “super germs" against
which the conventional antibiotics are useless. This effect can adversely alter
the microbial substrate for our health for months, years, and perhaps for our
entire lifetime (and our progeny’s lifetimes).
The good news is
that doctors and their patients are starting to wake up. The concept
of taking a probiotic to promote health, for instance, is practically
mainstream knowledge now. There is even compelling research that viruses in our
body are essential to fight bacterial infections and cancer, and that viruses
are so important that we should consider taking proviriotics (substances that
feed their growth) to support our virally-base immunity. Watch Dr. Virgin’s
amazing NIH lecture below to learn about the health-promoting role of viruses
as members of the virome (the viral component of the microbiome) in the video
below:
To gain a greater
appreciation for the ongoing paradigm shift concerning "germs,"you can read my
article on how the discovery of the microbiome has demolished a key tenet of
Germ Theory, namely, that viruses and bacteria are primarily pathogenic in
nature: How The Microbiome Destroyed the Ego, Vaccine Policy, and
Patriarchy. Or, take a peak a my more recent article discussing
how human influenza is comprised of proteins and lipids derived from our own
bodies, precluding them from being classified fully as "other": Why The Only Thing Influenza May Kill Is Germ Theory.
The Rise of Natural Medicine for Treating Infections
And so, in the past
few years, interest in evidence-based, natural alternatives, which provide
safer and more effective relief, have increasingly expanded. Together, we
are re-learning and remembering the wisdom of the ancients: let food be your
medicine.
At
GreenMedInfo.com, we have indexed a broad range of natural substances that
have potent anti-microbial activity, including
commonly available and inexpensive ‘kitchen remedies’ like honey, garlic, lemon, to name but a few. In actuality,
thousands of natural substances have antimicrobial activity,
which unlike conventional drugs, are far more capable of restoring balance
within the microbiome. We have indexed hundreds of studies on this topic, all
of which can be found on our Research Dashboard dedicated to Antibiotic Resistant Infection.
Garlic Versus First-Line Antibiotic for Vaginal Infection
A relatively recent
study adds to the already impressive body of research in this field. Titled “Comparing the Therapeutic Effects of Garlic Tablet and Oral
Metronidazole on Bacterial Vaginosis: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial,”
medical researchers demonstrated the power of garlic in treating bacterial
vaginosis, one of the most common gynecological infections afflicting women of
reproductive age today.
Bacterial vaginosis
(BV) affects 29.2% of women aged 14-49, and 25% of pregnant women in the US,
according to CDC statistics. According to the study,
“This infection is
asymptomatic in 50% to 75% of cases and symptomatic cases present with
homogeneous gray-white vaginal discharge with fishy odor, especially after intercourse
or during menstruation”
It is believed that
BV results from reduced quantities of hydrogen peroxide producing lactobacillus
and increased anaerobic organisms such as Gardnerella
vaginalis, Mycoplasma hominis, and Prevotella species.
Antibiotics are notorious for lacking specificity in inhibiting only those
opportunistic strains that can cause harm, which is why it is no wonder that
the standard of care treatment of BV with metronidazole has a notoriously poor
success rate.[1]
Moreover,
antibiotics like metronidazole come with a wide range of side effects,
including nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, headache, dizziness
weight loss, and abdominal pain.
Even more
concerning is the fact that the drug has been identified as a potential
carcinogen both by the US National Toxicology Program (NTP)[2] and
the WHO International Agency for Research on Cancer.[3]
The new study
tested whether garlic could compete with metronidazole in treating BV. Garlic
was a logical choice, since it has been used as an anti-infective agent for
millennia, and has seen a tremendous amount of clinical validation in the past
ten years, as evidenced by the literature on our Garlic Research Dashboard. You can also read previous
reporting we have done on the topic of garlic’s immense value in addressing
infections, such as Judy Cohain’s article on “How to Treat a Vaginal Infection with a Clove of Garlic.”
Much of this research also demonstrates the potent anti-cancer properties of
this powerfully medicinal food. The
design of the new study involved giving two groups of 60 married women
(aged 18 to 44 years) either 500 mg garlic tablets comprised of 85.42% garlic
powder, or metradizole. Each dose of garlic powder contained the equivalent of
8.9-mg allein, a potent antimicrobial compound. Both drugs were taken
with meals at the dose of two tablets each 12 hours for seven days. The two
different treatments were evaluated using a diagnostic criteria showing active
infection known as Amsel’s criteria. Not surprisingly, garlic was found
superior to metronidazole at reducing infection at 70% and 48.3%, respectively.
Additionally, garlic was found to have far lower side effects.
The researchers
concluded:
“This study reveals
that garlic could be a suitable alternative for metronidazole in
treatment of BV in those interested in herbal medicines or those affected by
side effects of metronidazole.”
Isn’t that amazing?
Before the advent
of modern, conventional medicine, the world over used natural substances –
spices, foods, herbs – to prevent and reverse disease. In fact, so
important and valued were these that they were sometimes traded for their
weight in gold. Now we know that the ancients were not as “primitive,
superstitious, or pre-scientific,” as widely believed, we can appreciate
science that honors their wisdom. In fact, it was their use of these
substances that enabled them to survive thousands of years without modern
medicine, and it is the use of these substances that will now allow us to
survive modern medicine itself, which has become a primary cause of death.
For more
information on natural healing alternatives to common drugs view our database
sections titled, “The Superiority of Natural Substances versus Drugs,”
and “Natural Substances Equipotent To Drugs,” to
see research comparing natural versus synthetic approaches to prevent and treat
disease.
And of course,
please use our Research Dashboard, which contains research
on over 3,000 ailments that can prevented or treated naturally, as evidenced by
published, peer-reviewed research culled from the National Library of
Medicine’s database MEDLINE (accessible via pubmed.gov)
Also, learn more
about natural interventions for Bacterial Vaginosis here.
Looking for more
in-depth information on natural remedies used since ancient times? Watch
the upcoming docuseries on the topic by registering
here.
References
[1] Review Bacterial vaginosis: a review on
clinical trials with probiotics. Mastromarino P, Vitali B, Mosca L New
Microbiol. 2013 Jul; 36(3):229-38.
[2] "Metronidazole CAS No. 443-48-1" (PDF). Report
on Carcinogens, Twelfth Edition (2011). U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services, Public Health Service, National Toxicology Program.
Retrieved 2011-10-28.
[3] International
Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) (May 2010). "Agents Classified
by the IARC Monographs, Volumes 1–100" (PHP). World Health
Organization. Retrieved 2010-06-06.
Sayer Ji is founder of Greenmedinfo.com,
a reviewer at the International Journal of Human Nutrition and Functional
Medicine, Co-founder and CEO of Systome
Biomed, Vice Chairman of the Board of the National
Health Federation, Steering Committee Member of
the Global Non-GMO Foundation.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide
medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily
reflect those of GreenMedInfo or its staff.
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