The Natural Beat

Antibiotics serve a very useful purpose and in the present scenario where we increasingly hear of the phenomenal increase in the incidence of disease, it is difficult for us to imagine a world without them. Physicians are not helping either. They would rather prescribe an antibiotic than invite the flak from their patients for late recovery.

Our grandparents did not have the antibiotic alternative and were still strong enough, probably stronger than the present generation. They had to do heavy work, fight hard to make a living and still lived an active life. The present generation has all the facilities it could hope for and still is beset with disease.
The answer probably lies in our approach to treatment. Nature has provided the human body with an inherent capacity to cure itself. There are numerous systems in the body that have specified tasks allotted to them. Just as a healthy digestive system is necessary of easy digestion and elimination of toxins, the immune system health is crucial for combating invasions of foreign pathogens. An unnecessary dependence on antibiotics to treat ailments that can be easily cured by the body itself has led to a lot of pathogens that have become immune to antibiotics.

Frankly, antibiotics should be set aside for use only during emergencies. Alternative therapies have always laid stress on natural and herbal antibiotics . The focus is on herbs for immune system to strengthen the body’s natural defense against disease rather than quick fix solutions that conventional antibiotics provide. Of late, physicians too have started recommending herbal antibiotics so as indiscriminate use of antibiotics can be curbed.

Garlic

Garlic contains allicin, which a powerful antibacterial and anti-fungal compound. It is this compound that gives garlic its hot and burning flavor. Although allicin is not present in garlic in its natural state, once it is chopped, the enzyme alliinase reacts with the chemical alliin and converts it into allicin. Allicin is an unstable compound that does not last long and is generally destroyed during the cooking process. As a medicine it can effectively destroy fat. Contemporary studies reveal that it is a potent antimicrobial agent that effectively destroys drug resistant bacteria. Basically, most of the drug resistant bacteria colonize in the intestines. Garlic is a natural food that destroys these harmful bacteria, leaving the intestinal flora intact to digest food.

Garlic finds mention in the Ancient Indian Ayurvedic texts. Finding an all natural antibiotic is actually a matter of looking hard and rediscovering age old herbal antibiotics.