By Jonathan Evans
Herbal Information Specialist for the Herbarium
It’s beginning to look like winter. We are buttoning up the house, turning up the heat, gathering with family and friends and sharing every germ we have with someone near and dear.
Now that cold and flu season is here, what does Mother Nature have to cure the colds and flu we are about to experience? Nothing!
Surprised to hear that?
With over two hundred rhinovirus strains and heaven knows how many flu viruses, nothing in the pharmaceutical industry or the natural products industry can cure a cold.
Natural cold & flu fighters
However, Mother Nature can offer a wide variety of remedies to help boost your immune response, shorten the duration of the cold and reduce symptoms dramatically. Here’s the list:
Vitamin C is one of the most famous and studied remedies. It thins mucous, reduces inflammation, activates immune response, stimulates production of phagocytes and lymphocytes while making them more active and mobile. Dosage ranges greatly and can depend of the form of vitamin C being ingested. Bowel tolerance is the key factor in determining how much to take. Usually a gram a day in divided dose is well tolerated.
The late, great Dr. Linus Pauling suggested upwards of 10 grams daily. One way to find out what you can tolerate when sick is to try 500 milligrams every hour or two. If you need it, your body will use it. If you notice a loose stool or tummy bubbling, reduce the dose.
Echinacea Angustifolia and purpurea is another wonderful remedy. It can increase antibody production, raise white cell counts and stimulate activity of key white cells. It helps to reduce the cold’s duration and relieves the symptoms.
Elderberry extract is a specific for fighting flu. Israeli researchers found a chemical in the berries that dissolve the protein spike on the virus, making penetration of the cell wall more difficult. Add vitamin C to elderberry and you have a very potent defense against the flu, and it tastes good!
One of the best products we have ever seen is a liquid called ACF, standing for acute cold and flu. This stuff has just about everything we have in the natural arsenal to fight colds and flu virus. Echinacea and Elderberry for antiviral and immune support, Osha root – an effective expectorant for bronchial congestion, Usnea, Goldenseal and Myrrh are legendary for their antibacterial qualities, vitamin C and zinc for healing and Colloidal Silver, a powerful antimicrobial agent. This product can knock out a cold before it even begins.
Drinking ginger tea can help with reducing pain and fevers and suppressing coughs. It has a mild sedative effect that helps you rest.
There are also several medicinal mushrooms that can help during this season. Reishi, Maitake, Chaga, Shiitake and Turkey Tail all have excellent antiviral and immune boosting qualities.
I hope these suggestions help you get through the cold and flu season easier this year.
About those weight-loss products
As we end this year, I would like to offer a couple of suggestions to keep you safe and to save you some cash.
Be aware of the push for weight loss programs that will be advertised with the new year, sure as God made little apples. I recently heard about two already out there that amaze me. One is using amino acids, which are fine, but the price tag is outrageous. The other uses HCG, and a starvation diet and runs about two thousand dollars. Before you go and spend thousands on something that really is not worth the money, look up HCG, and go beyond the glowing reports to some of the concerns. It is not a product that should be used, in my humble opinion.
There is another program being advertised that runs about $2,500. Folks, for 25 hundred bucks you can hire me to follow you around and smack you anytime you cheat on your diet.
And essential oils, again
Lastly, a word about ingesting essential oils. I have repeatedly stated that ingesting the oils is not safe,
that no legitimate aromatherapy researcher or expert endorses the practice, yet the multi-level marketing crowd continues to say it’s approved. The upline people have taken a kernel of truth and twisted it way out of proportion.
We have had two incidents recently involving oil consumption. One person was taking lemon essential oil, having been told it was a good source of vitamin C. He had a respiratory problem that the doctors could not explain, and it kept getting worse. Turns out the essential oil was irritating his throat and lungs. The other incident involved a doctor who had been using oils internally and undiluted externally. She has developed a rash that would not improve and now has a very unexplainable liver condition. She was a student in a class my wife was teaching in Detroit. Once she learned the truth about essential oil safety, she realized where the problem had stemmed from.
I have investigated claims that the FDA has approved internal use of the oils, that the Mayo Clinic is using oils internally. They are not, and the FDA has in fact sent warning letters to the Mid Level Marketers’s to stop claiming the action is safe and approved.
If you want some facts, I suggest you Google the Robert Tisserand Institute for real information and not a sales pitch. Buy your oils wherever you want but use them safely for heaven’s sake!
— Jonathan
Send questions on botanical remedies to: Natures Rx: Jonathan Evans at herbarium258@gmail.com, or by regular mail to: The Herbarium, 264 Exchange St., Chicopee, MA. 01013. If requesting additional info, include a self-addressed stamped envelope.
