As a drug chemist, I used to fear going to work. I risked numerous health hazards — like being exposed to a cancer-causing substance or even losing my wedding ring in a chemical drain.  Cancer is bad, but having your wife think you are being careless about your marriage is worse. Unknown to her, I was washing off DNA-twisting molecules that burned my skin and eyes while people vacuumed the air from my lungs.  My ring fell off somewhere between stripping off my clothes, pulling the lab’s evacuation button, and yanking the emergency shower cord. I naively assumed that these were necessary risks for making so-called life saving drugs. I was wrong.

Outside of emergency medicine, prescription drugs are just as deadly as the substances used to make them. Antibiotics, anti-virals and vaccines are a perfect example. Some would argue that this arsenal of anti-infectious agents is a cure. This is almost true. They make us feel better and can even save us from the perils of death in an emergency. But using them outside of an emergency can cause them to become a growth medium for producing stronger and deadlier infectious agents.  Think drug-resistant super bugs like the flesh-eating, antibiotic-resistant bacteria, MRSA.  If that isn’t bad enough, these super bugs can give rise to other nasty health problems.  Think depression, cancer, and liver and kidney failure.

Five-year-old Jennifer learned this the hard way.  Ten days after taking an antibiotic for an earache, Jennifer asked, “Why are my eyes yellow Mommy?”  Cured of her earache, Jennifer lost her life to liver failure a few months later.

This is hardly a cure.  And vaccines and anti-virals present the same dangers.

Yet, there is a way to beat infectious disease and still avoid the serious health risks associated with these over-prescribed drugs.  Mother Nature’s healthy immune-boosting nutrients are a wiser option.  In my previous job as a pharmaceutical chemist, Mother Nature was my guide for the design and synthesis of drugs. I learned that that real science, not pharmaceutical hype, dictates that we “go natural first.”

Prescription drugs only mimic a single isolate and rely on a single mechanism of action for effectiveness. However, their safe plant-based counterparts contain a multitude of active substances that are effective infection fighters.  Instead of one single process of protecting the body, they work together to increase the power of the whole immune system.  This is called the adaptogenic effect.

Whether you are fighting flu, getting over whooping cough, or warding off the next super bug, adaptogens are your key to beating them!  They are so potent in fact, that Big Pharma has been attempting to make counterfeits in their top-secret labs for over 15 years!

Here are two examples of natural adaptogenic infection fighters.

Garlic is known as “the poor person’s” antibiotic.  I call it the smart person’s adaptogen. Not only will it help you live young, but it will also protect against a whole host of biological “nasties” including TB.  A new infection of TB occurs at a rate of one per second!  Western Medicine contributes to this by yielding drug-resistant strains.

Garlic is different.  Thanks to its adaptogenic effects, the active ingredients provide super powers to the whole immune system, allowing us to eradicate “nasties” as they enter our system — and before they can replicate into resistant strains.

And garlic can be made even more potent when it is enhanced with the adaptogenic herb, andrographis.

Andrographis was first successfully used in treating snakebites and overcoming malaria and dysentery.  It is especially effective in clearing heat from the body and blood.   Andrographis is even used in treating heart conditions which often include infection in the lungs, urinary tract, and throat (including strep throat).  Even research conducted by Big Pharma has shown that andrographis can be beneficial at removing blood clots, stopping the spread of multiple types of cancer, and increasing the number of immune-enhancing white blood cells.  The Journal of Ethnopharmacology¹ recently showed andrographis to be more effective than the better known astragalus and echinacea for warding off the flu.

I no longer fear going to work. Since tendering my resignation as a corporate drug cook, I don’t face the health hazards associated with toxic substances (and have since acquired a new wedding ring and reaffirmed my vows). I chose the natural route for health and if you do the same, you’ll no longer fear infectious diseases, nor will you be cornered into using Western Medicine’s arsenal of toxic counterfeits.

Reference

1. Han-Chieh Ko et al. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 107(2), 19 Sept. 2006, pp. 205-210

[Ed. Note: Shane Ellison is known as "The People's Chemist."  He holds a Master's degree in organic chemistry and has first-hand industry experience with drug research, design and synthesis.  He is the author of Health Myths Exposed and The Hidden Truth about Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs. To learn more, click here.]

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