Oregano Oil for Colds and Flus
Many believe it's better than echinacea
It sounds like it belongs on a spice rack, not in the medicine cabinet, but an oil from a common culinary herb is challenging echinacea's supremac y among herbal cold and flu remedies. Increasingly Canadians are reaching for oregano oil instead of echinacea to ward off cold and flu viruses.
At Noah's health food store in Toronto, oregano oil is selling better than echinacea for the cold and flu season, according to Mercy Deleonwho is in charge of the herbal department. Sales of oregano oil took offduring the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) last spring and it seems that people who tried it then are back for more to help control colds and flus this season. In the U.S., oregano oil sales took a jump after 9/11 terrorist attacks and the subsequent anthrax scare. Many believed that oregano oil's ability to kill germs would protect them from anthrax. Studies havesince shown that it doesn't kill the anthrax bacterium, but it does slow its growth.
The same research has shown that it kills staphylococcus, a bacterium that causes a type of pneumonia often associated with influenza. If staphylococcus gets in the blood stream it quickly becomes deadly. Since 2000, over a dozen research reports have been published on oregano's antibacterial properties. It has been shown to kill a variety of harmful bacteria, including Escherichia coli O157:H7, the bacterium that caused the Walkerton water disaster in May 2000 that made 600 people sick, killing 7, and left others permanantly injured.
Not only is oregano effective against bacteria, it also kills pathogenic fungi and even kills the water-borne mollusk that causes the debilitating tropical disease, schistosomiasis.
Oregano possesses a potent mixture of antimicrobial compounds. A current focus is on carvacrol, a thick oily substance that has strong antiseptic properties. But like most herbs, there are many other compounds in oregano that likely contribute to its medicinal effects.
Probably the most interesting development in recent years is an emerging
picture that oregano possesses potent antioxidant properties.
Antioxidants help to preserve the integrity of bodily structures,preventing the damaging effects of free radicals and other harmfulchemicals. Vitamins C and E are antioxidants, and now research is showing that oregano is also.
A class of compounds called phenols are thought to be responsible for oregano's antioxidant effects. The main phenol is rosmarinic acid, aphenol found in rosemary, sage and basil. It is especially high in rosemary, to the point that rosemary is being used as a natural food preservative in the food industry – but oregano has more. Oregano's particular mix of phenols may be contributing to oregano's growing popularity as a supplement for maintaining good health. In Crete and other parts of Greece, oregano is a long-time folk remedy that is still in wide use. The intriguing thought is that oregano, like other herbs and spices, may have been added to food originally for medicinal reasons long before it become known as a culinary herb.
In the last decade, certain companies have been saying that only their brand of oregano oil is effective; we believe that this is pure marketing hype intended to justify high prices.
There are many species and varieties of oregano. Research is showing that many of them have the same or similar properties. Some varieties are grown more for their looks than for their flavour and probably are not as effective medicinall y. But high oil varieties such as Greek oregano and Richters special high-oil variety, Kalitera, no doubt possess the same medicinal properties that have been reported in the scientific literature.
Based in part on a Globe and Mail article by Anne McIlroy, Oct. 11,2003.
At Noah's health food store in Toronto, oregano oil is selling better than echinacea for the cold and flu season, according to Mercy Deleonwho is in charge of the herbal department. Sales of oregano oil took offduring the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) last spring and it seems that people who tried it then are back for more to help control colds and flus this season. In the U.S., oregano oil sales took a jump after 9/11 terrorist attacks and the subsequent anthrax scare. Many believed that oregano oil's ability to kill germs would protect them from anthrax. Studies havesince shown that it doesn't kill the anthrax bacterium, but it does slow its growth.
The same research has shown that it kills staphylococcus, a bacterium that causes a type of pneumonia often associated with influenza. If staphylococcus gets in the blood stream it quickly becomes deadly. Since 2000, over a dozen research reports have been published on oregano's antibacterial properties. It has been shown to kill a variety of harmful bacteria, including Escherichia coli O157:H7, the bacterium that caused the Walkerton water disaster in May 2000 that made 600 people sick, killing 7, and left others permanantly injured.
Not only is oregano effective against bacteria, it also kills pathogenic fungi and even kills the water-borne mollusk that causes the debilitating tropical disease, schistosomiasis.
Oregano possesses a potent mixture of antimicrobial compounds. A current focus is on carvacrol, a thick oily substance that has strong antiseptic properties. But like most herbs, there are many other compounds in oregano that likely contribute to its medicinal effects.
Probably the most interesting development in recent years is an emerging
picture that oregano possesses potent antioxidant properties.
Antioxidants help to preserve the integrity of bodily structures,preventing the damaging effects of free radicals and other harmfulchemicals. Vitamins C and E are antioxidants, and now research is showing that oregano is also.
A class of compounds called phenols are thought to be responsible for oregano's antioxidant effects. The main phenol is rosmarinic acid, aphenol found in rosemary, sage and basil. It is especially high in rosemary, to the point that rosemary is being used as a natural food preservative in the food industry – but oregano has more. Oregano's particular mix of phenols may be contributing to oregano's growing popularity as a supplement for maintaining good health. In Crete and other parts of Greece, oregano is a long-time folk remedy that is still in wide use. The intriguing thought is that oregano, like other herbs and spices, may have been added to food originally for medicinal reasons long before it become known as a culinary herb.
In the last decade, certain companies have been saying that only their brand of oregano oil is effective; we believe that this is pure marketing hype intended to justify high prices.
There are many species and varieties of oregano. Research is showing that many of them have the same or similar properties. Some varieties are grown more for their looks than for their flavour and probably are not as effective medicinall y. But high oil varieties such as Greek oregano and Richters special high-oil variety, Kalitera, no doubt possess the same medicinal properties that have been reported in the scientific literature.
Based in part on a Globe and Mail article by Anne McIlroy, Oct. 11,2003.
2 comments:
No shit eh? It's the best!
Yup, it's great, but not when your mouth is inflamed.
The other great remedy (and often overlooked by herbalists) is bee propolis - the TINCTURE.
As one bee moves into the hive, it's "fur" gets coated with propolis to prevent the queen bee and the rest of the colony from getting sick/viral. So taking propolis is a very good for any kind of communal social virus for us, as well.
I noted that when avian flu hit Asian, propolis was the "secret" remedy being sold on the streets there. ANYTHING will beat Donald Rumsfield's Tamiflu, and this will do the trick.
A reminder: DON'T take aspirin during a flu pandemic!! You need that fever to kill the virus. The REASON people died in the millions in 1913 was taking ASPIRIN, as people's immune systems failed to work properly.
People all over TORONTO GTA take oil of oregano now. No joke. With a little forewarning nearly anyone can "take" it .. and they DO.
Because Toronto has SO many foreign people travelling in and out and so many international flights, this is a good place to find out good remedies and cures for just about anything at all - even IF our health plans all push Big Pharma products! We find our own way ...
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