Flu season mustard oils against bacteria and viruses

Flu Season: Mustard oils are effective against bacteria and viruses

03/06/2013

This winter, the flu epidemic in Germany is particularly strong, but also the number of respiratory diseases was, as the Robert Koch Institute Berlin reported, much higher than in recent years. And an end is still not in sight. Since antibiotics are indicated only exceptionally in these infections, which are usually caused by viruses, experts recommend herbal medicines for therapy. Mustard oils, for example, work against bacteria and viruses, and can help counteract the growing threat of antibiotic resistance.

Mustard oils are substances that plants produce for their own protection. Its antimicrobial effectiveness has been proven in recent years in numerous studies. Like Prof. Dr. Volker Mersch-Sundermann, University of Freiburg, reported in Munich that his investigations with mustard oils from nasturtium and horseradish root have shown that these substances themselves act against problematic germs such as penicillin-resistant pneumococci or the dreaded MRSA germs. „That means“, so the Freiburg doctor, „that the herbal combination is also a treatment option for the detection of resistant or multi-resistant pathogens“.

Mustard oils are present in plants in a preliminary stage and are converted in the body into isothyocyanates (ITC). ITCs have a broad spectrum of antibacterial activity and antibacterial activity comparable to those responsible for many respiratory infections and painful bladder infections. Unlike antibiotics, however, their bioactivity is also directed against viruses.

The good efficacy and tolerability of a combination of capuchin cress herb and horseradish root has been documented earlier in clinical studies (Arzneimittel. Forsch./Drug Res. 2006 56 (3): 249-257 and 57 (4): 238-246). The most recent, recently published study has therefore looked at the preventive effects of the herbal medicinal product (Curr Med Res Opin. 2012 Nov; 28 (11): 1799-807. Doi: 10.1185 / 03007995.2012.742048).

The result: 334 subjects participated in the double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study. In the group of volunteers, who took two tablets of the phytopharmaceutical three times a day for twelve weeks, 14 people contracted an infection during this period. There were twice as many in the placebo group, namely 27 people. (Pm)

Also read:
Naturopathy inhibits swine flu viruses
Medicinal Plant 2013: The Great Nasturtium
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Image: Thommy Weiss