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Garlic Beats Hospital Superbug ; Good Health

Provided by Daily Mail on 12/9/2003


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GARLIC could help combat the superbug MRSA.The bug has become
resistant to some of the most advanced drugs ever made, but
researchers found garlic reduces its effectiveness in the body.

Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, is a microbe
found naturally on the skin of healthy people. It is a particular
threat to patients whose immune systems are weakened and is
particularly dangerous in hospitals.

In the new research, doctors measured levels of natural compounds
triggered by MRSA infection and found they were lower when garlic had
been used.

'The results strongly support the conclusion that garlic extract
possesses multiple protective functions,' say the doctors in a report
in the journal of the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.

Just what in garlic could be protective is not clear, although it is
suspected one of its main active compounds, allicin, plays an
important role.

Other research has found that allicin is effective in controlling an
intestinal bacteria which is also antibiotic resistant and causes
considerable illness and deaths in hospitals.

And there may be other advantages.

Some research suggests garlic may work against fungal infections and
parasites, and that it may increase the body's resistance to viruses,
including the common cold.

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