Tag Archive for: garlic

Travel Bugs: Everywhere but Planes

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Given the results of this study, where would a person most likely pick up a bug while traveling? Remember, the results of the air and physical locations of the plane that were tested and sent for analysis showed no measurable respiratory viruses of any kind, so the authors speculated about the most likely locations for picking up a virus. They believe you’re more likely to find a bug in transportation to the airport and then to the hotel. Or in the airport at a restaurant or store. In the gate area where people are less confined. In bathrooms where people are more likely to spread the virus to surfaces.

In other words, you can pick up a virus just about everywhere you can imagine but the plane. It’s a good idea to pay the closest attention outside the plane—keep your hand sanitizer handy and wash your hands often—and then don’t worry so much about the inside. Kids are a germ magnet at any time, so be extra vigilant when traveling.

You can also do what I do beginning the day before I leave for a trip: start taking echinacea, garlic, and extra vitamin C to boost your immune system. That’s my way of avoiding respiratory infections or any other form of illness when I travel. After 20 years on the road, it still serves me well. Get the details in the Health Info section of DrChet.com: Immune Boost 1-2-3. In it you’ll learn all about how to tune up your immune system to get ready to meet new germs and viruses, along with the latest info on echinacea, and one more step you can take to get your insides ready to hit the road.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

 

Reference: www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1711611115

 

Interaction Between Food and Blood Thinners

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Blood thinners are the second most common medication that can interact with food and supplements. Blood thinners such as warfarin are used to prevent blood clots in people with atrial fibrillation, artificial heart valves, and deep vein thrombosis.

When a blood thinner is prescribed, people are given a list of foods and supplements to avoid. Top of the list is vitamin K and foods that contain vitamin K such as green leafy vegetables. Herbs such as garlic and ginkgo, supplements that contain vitamin E, coenzyme Q10, and omega-3 fatty acids are also discouraged because they may make the blood thinner. The goal is to optimize the international normalized ratio (INR), a measure of clotting ability. It isn’t that those types of patients have blood that coagulates more than normal; the theory is that keeping vitamin K from interfering with the blood thinner will reduce the probability of clots.

The problem: the recommendations are not supported by definitive research; it’s more a matter of playing it safe based on the theory of what the nutrients will do rather than actually based on science. In a recent review article, the authors concluded: “Restriction of dietary vitamin K intake does not seem to be a valid strategy to improve anticoagulation quality with vitamin K antagonists. It would be, perhaps, more relevant to maintain stable dietary habits, avoiding wide changes in the intake of vitamin K.” I absolutely agree.

What do you do? First, decide what diet you want to eat and supplements you want to take and stick to it. Second, work with your physician to adjust the blood thinner to get the dosage just right to keep your INR within range. Third, if you can’t get it normalized, there may be other factors as yet unknown that are affecting clotting. You’ll have to stick to the common recommendations, science-based or not.

Last chance to become an Insider and listen to tonight’s free conference call and get your health questions answered. You can learn more and join at this link.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

 

Reference: Medicine (Baltimore). 2016 Mar;95(10):e2895.

 

How to Reduce Disease-Related Pain

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The first two memos on pain were relatively easy: joints and nerves. From that point forward, it can get very challenging: Lyme disease, irritable bowel syndrome, shingles—the list of diseases that lead to pain could go on and on. To complicate matters, with the concern over opioid addiction, many people in pain don’t want to even try those medications. What do you do?

The key is to work with your physician and specialists to develop a strategy for pain relief. That will vary by disease. A medication that benefits the nerves for shingles pain may be helped by NSAIDS or other pain relievers, but NSAIDS may not be beneficial for someone with IBS; the absorption of the pain reliever may cause more bowel pain.


Two Strategies to Help

There are two things you can try that may directly or indirectly help with pain. The first is to reduce inflammation and as I mentioned on Tuesday, the supplements that may help are omega-3s, turmeric, and glucosamine. They can help reduce inflammation in more than joints.

The second would be to strengthen the immune system. Lyme disease is bacterial, shingles is a virus, and IBS is an attack on the lining of the intestines. While strengthening the immune system is not directly involved, it may assist the body in dealing with the cause and reduce the pain. To me, that means using probiotics, antioxidants such as vitamin C and E, and using herbs such as echinacea and garlic. As I said, it may not directly affect pain but may indirectly help the body cope with the condition.


The Bottom Line

The two strategies won’t work for every disease. Every form of cancer can result in different pain. Some diseases such as type 2 diabetes can impact the extremities and eyes in ways that require professional guidance. But in general, strengthening the immune system may help over the long term. That also means increasing the intake of vegetables and fruit and getting some exercise within the limitations of the condition. That’s a topic for another time.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

 

Immune Boost 1-2-3 Cautions

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Someone recently asked an excellent question: “Is there any risk in taking higher amounts of echinacea?” I’ll extend that to include vitamin C, garlic, and probiotics. The answer is possibly. I’m not hedging, but it’s complicated. Let me give you some examples.

One factor that can apply to any supplement is allergies. Echinacea and garlic are plants, and you may be allergic to one of the components of the plant. Instead of reducing your allergic response, it may heighten the response, causing the watery eyes and runny nose you’re trying to avoid. There’s no way to know for sure other than trial and error. If something makes you feel worse, it goes without question that you’ll stop it immediately.

Another potential issue is your genetics; you may process a phytochemical from these plants faster or slower than typical. That means it could be metabolized out of your system before it really has a positive effect or it could take longer to metabolize and stay in your system longer. There are no genetic tests for how you’ll react to any supplement—it’s trial and error.

One other aspect that’s important is whether you take medications. No surprise that there’s incomplete research on the interaction of every plant with every medication, so there’s no way to know how an herb or nutrient will interact with your meds. Garlic may reduce the coagulation of your blood; if you’re on blood thinners, you may not be able to take garlic because it could thin your blood too much. Or you might be able to take it because of your genetics and how you metabolize it. See how complicated it gets?

What you should know is that most people will not have a problem using the 1-2-3 immune boost. If you do, do what any reasonable person would do and stop taking it. On Saturday, I’ll cover the issue of using echinacea if you have an autoimmune disease.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

 

Immune Boost 1-2-3: Vitamin C

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The third part of our immune system boost is vitamin C. Also known as ascorbic acid, it’s best known as an antioxidant. From the research of Linus Pauling until today, vitamin C has been researched extensively. Even though vitamin C hasn’t been proven to prevent a cold, it does seem to reduce the symptoms of a cold. That may be the result of its antioxidant capacity to reduce inflammation.

When the body is exposed to viruses or allergens, the immune response is triggered. That’s desirable, of course, but what we don’t like are the symptoms associated with the response such a watery eyes, runny nose, congestion, and on and on. While the exact mechanism is unknown, what may be happening is that vitamin C may be clearing up the free radicals on immune response cells, thereby allowing them to function better. No one knows but it makes sense.

Take 250–500 mg three times a day. Some people increase their C to 10 times that amount, but my strategy is always to take the lowest amount to get the result I want.

CGE123Let’s summarize our immune boost 1-2-3:

250–500 mg vitamin C; usually 1 tablet
600 mg garlic; usually 2 tablets
500 mg echinacea; usually 3 tablets

Just remember C-G-E-1-2-3; check the label to make sure you have the right strength. Take this combo three times a day until the symptoms are resolved. Whether a virus or seasonal allergies, I’ve found this works best. Of course, genetics may make one immune booster more effective for some people; that’s where trial and error come in.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

 

Immune Boost 1-2-3: Garlic

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The second part of our immune boost supplements is garlic. Garlic has been noted to have beneficial properties for over 5,000 years. Garlic thins the blood, thereby benefiting blood pressure, and helps lower cholesterol. Garlic does many things, but what benefits our immunity is its ability to boost the immune system while reducing inflammation.

There is little question that garlic helps the immune system. It’s been used as a dietary treatment to help the immune system recover from chemotherapy; it’s also been used in supplement form to help the immune system get and stay stronger. That’s an obvious way it helps with viruses and allergies, but it also acts as an anti-inflammatory. It’s important to remember that inflammation occurs whenever our body is under attack—not broken-leg inflammation but the release of negative hormones. Garlic helps reduce that type of inflammation.

Just as with echinacea, it’s important to begin as soon as the first tickle occurs. The quantity would be 600 mg taken three times a day. That gets our immune system starting to work better, but there’s one more thing we need. I’ll cover that on Saturday.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

 

The Big Chill: Do You Need a Flu Shot?

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In this final installment of The Big Chill, I’m going to take a look at flu shots: should you get one or not? Before I do that, a word about echinacea.
Echinacea
Many readers have read that echinacea shouldn’t be used long term or used at all if you have an autoimmune disease such as rheumatoid arthritis. The problem is that there are no studies to support either position and no studies to suggest it’s harmful, either. In that situation, the approach is always to proceed with caution until we know more. The only problem with waiting . . .

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The Big Chill: Immune-Boosting Supplements

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Getting ready for cold and flu season, let’s turn to dietary supplements that may help keep your immune system strong. Dozens of supplements are promoted to strengthen the immune system, but let’s stick to what I know works based on the research and my experience: echinacea, garlic, and vitamin C.

Make sure you read this first before you go to the amounts of each supplement to take below because in this case, close enough is. Don’t obsess about the difference between 200 mg or 250 mg, and if I say 300 mg three times a day, don . . .

We're sorry, but this content is available to Members and Insiders only.

If you're already a DrChet.com Member or Insider, click on the Membership Login link on the top menu. Members may upgrade to Insider by going to the Store and clicking Membership; your membership fee will be prorated automatically.