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Antibiotics or Herbal Remedy?Nov 14 '02 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line The degree to which our immunity is compromised determines our longevity, quality of health and life.
In a world of superbugs that are resistant to antibiotics and the coming "plague" of new viruses, scientific research shows that olive leaf extract kills germs and infections of all kinds and that power comes from its active agent, elenolic acid with its salt compound, calcium d-elenolate. What We Are Facing Today The human immune system is the body's defense barrier against foreign intruders. Immunity is a function of our adaptational responses to stressors. Sources of stress that "test" our immunity are pathogens, including bacteria, virus, fungi and parasites. The degree to which our immunity is compromised determines our longevity, quality of health and life. Infectious diseases caused by these pathogens have reached crisis status, becoming the nation's third highest disease etiology following cancer and heart disease. Paralleling this circumstance is our antibiotic dilemma: the efficacious wonder drugs of yesteryear have been overcome by "superbugs" that threaten to disarm conventional medical treatments against germ warfare. A potpourri of predisposing factors contribute to our ongoing immune degradation. Chronic exposure to chemicals is a major factor disrupting our immunity. We apply them (lotions, ointments), inhale them (industrial emissions) and ingest them (through our pesticide laden food chain). Additionally, millions of pounds of chemicals in the form of antibiotics are consumed annually to treat a variety of health conditions from the common cold to postnasal drip. Yet antibiotics are only effective against bacterial infections. Years later we find these same lifesaving compounds act as a double-edged sword. As they indiscriminately destroy good and bad bacteria, our vulnerability to pathogens increases and our immunity decreases. Pathogens, similar to pesticides, do not recognize borders. Once unleashed into the system, pathogens travel throughout the body, disrupting our immunity, like chemicals that travel through the "atmosphere, waterways and ocean currents as well as on imported food and fiber." (n1) The pesticide and antibiotic dilemma share a common bond--sooner or later pests develop resistance to pesticides similar to what we experience with an increasing resistance to antibiotic drugs--"while in the process our natural predators are being wiped out."(n2) Antibiotics as Healers and Slayers In 1928 when Dr. Alexander Fleming brought penicillin to the forefront, antibiotics ascended to power as a panacea for annihilating bacterial infections.(n3) As a result, human longevity increased. While the virtues of antibiotics in arresting lethal and ominous infectious diseases cannot be disputed, they are not without their side effects. Antibiotics are known to disrupt the large bowel flora, the "friendly" bacteria which fend off systemic infection and enhance immunity. Allergic reactions often occur. Penicillin-induced anaphylaxis has proved fatal in numerous cases. Tetracyclines and sulfa drugs are some of many antibiotics that incite allergenicity.(n4) Finally, excessive use and abuse of antibiotics have resulted in drug and multidrug resistant microbes that evade our immune system. Generations later these same wonder drugs find themselves outmaneuvered by "survival of the fittest" superbugs possessing defense mechanisms capable of making them winners of the Darwinian marathon race. These bugs are constantly building, modifying and rebuilding their defense systems to thwart our standard protocols. The result is the hostile takeover of our immune system. It is quite an ominous thought to find your sole source of infectious disease control inadequate to protect you from harm. However this is the very impetus redirecting medical research to look elsewhere for alternative antimicrobial sources. As the Western world renews its interest in herbal medicine for health and beauty, an impressive herbal renaissance is growing in "alternative medicine" as a "complementary" approach to integrate into conventional medical methods. Phytochemical Antibiotics: A Natural Alternative Among the most essential life-preserving plants overlooked for modern pharmacology is the classically humble and ancient olive tree, botanically designated Olea europaea L. In ancient times it was used for holy anointing during regal coronations. In modern times it has symbolized peace to bitter rivals. Its culinary properties (longevity and stability) as a cooking oil are well-known and respected. And its current popularity as part of the Mediterranean diet recognizes its fruit and oil as having many health benefits. A more recent renaissance of the olive tree's by-products can be found in the olive leaf which contains a synergistic blend of phenolic compounds and amino acids that can kill diseases without hurting the host. Viruses, bacteria, fungi and parasites all fall to the relentless pathogen-antagonistic nature of the olive leaf. Powdered olive leaf extract has been shown to contain a wide spectrum of therapeutic antimicrobiotic agents. Noteworthy results were realized in the 1800s when an olive leaf solution was prepared and administered to counteract malaria. In the early 1900s a "phenolic" compound, the bitter glucoside "oleuropin," was thought to give the olive tree its disease resistance. Later research conducted by Upjohn pharmaceutical company identified the primary ingredient in oleuropin that inhibited the growth of viruses, bacteria, fungi and parasites was "calcium elenolate," the calcium salt of elenolic acid. Lab tests conducted with calcium elenolate inhibited the growth of every virus tested. While calcium elenolate was found to be very successful in vitro (test tube) the Upjohn company found in vivo (animal or human) it quickly bound to proteins in blood serum which rendered it ineffective. As a result, Upjohn abandoned their project despite the promising results they had achieved in destroying pathogens with calcium elenolate. However, research continued and in the mid-1990s a Nevada-based company, East Park Research, identified the source of the binding problem. They then developed and patented a process for extracting d-elenolic acid, which retains its deadly antipathogenic properties and is inert to our blood chemistry. Marketed under the trade name d-Lenolate, this patent ingredient is becoming widely recognized for the important part it can play in helping to fight a broad spectrum of disease-causing pathogens and thereby boosting the body's immune system.  |
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