Flu Season

By Elvian and Jacinta from Mullum Herbals

It’s that season again. Some people are becoming concerned not only about flu in general but about the Bird Flu. It is important to understand that there has yet to be a case of Bird flu that is passed on from human to human. Remember too, that there are no known cases of Bird flu in Australia. But if you are still worried, there are steps you can take to bolster your immune system against viruses.

We can, if we choose, use the threat of any flu to inspire us towards more healthy habits. As flus can attack and breed in the respiratory system, giving up smoking would be a good idea (and then try using the ayurvedic Nasya to help in eliminating gunk). Also eliminating immune lowering habits like excessive coffee, sugar, processed foods, carbonated soft drinks, and stress!!

To start with it is good to understand what a virus is. A virus is a minute infectious agent consisting of a nucleic acid core with a protein shell (or capsid), which is often multilayered (covered) with fats. It is this capsid shell that is very difficult for many herbs/drugs to penetrate. Antibiotics do not penetrate this shell and are therefore no use in viral infections.

Viruses vary a lot in their effect on the body. For example the common cold is an acute, short-lived viral infection which usually produces mucous in the throat and sinuses, whereas some viruses can cause extreme symptoms like the polio virus which can result in paralysis.

Viral infections usually come out in the body with symptoms like fever, generalised aches, chills, fatigue as well as symptoms specific for that particular virus. Bird flu (Avarian flu or H5N1) has the above mentioned symptoms of high fever and fatigue as well as specifically affecting the respiratory system and thus the lungs and the oxygenation of cells.

There are hundreds of different viruses that may potentially affect humans, and viruses also have the ability to mutate. This means that a specific anti-viral drug may be effective against a virus for a period of time, but once the virus it is treating mutates, then the drug will no longer be effective. This is where natural anti-virals come into play, as they contain many anti-viral constituents and so are broader acting. For example the flu virus mutates quite quickly, so having a flu shot will not necessarily provide any protection as it is made up of antibodies to the last year’s flu virus strains (well, usually the 5–10 most common ones from the year before, actually) and thus may not protect against this year’s strains.

Including some anti-viral foods and herbs in your diet is probably a good idea. Please also note that the quality of the raw material as well as the way a herbal medicine, oil etc is prepared hugely affects the final product and if it will work or not. Cheaper, (like supermarket) natural products are usually made from inferior herbs and sometimes dodgy (cheap) manufacturing methods, so they often do not work. It is false economy to buy cheap herbal products.

Some of the readily available foods, herbs, homoeopathics, and essential oils to help protect you and your family against viruses in general and flu in particular are as follows:

Anti-viral herbs

Andrographis, elder berries, olive leaf, St. Johns Wort, garlic, Shitake and Reishi mushrooms, astragalus, cats claw, echinacea, ginger, licorice, oregano, cloves and lemon balm.

Homoeopathics

Your constitutional homoeopathic provides the best protection, and otherwise according to the way your body manifests the symptoms will determine which homoeopathic to use.

Aconite is always helpful at the onset, especially of respiratory symptoms.

Others could be belladonna, ant tart, pulsatilla, and/or ferrum phos.

Anti-viral essential oils

Oregano, thyme, cloves, lemon balm, franckincense, lavender and lemon myrtle.

Anti-viral foods

Try increasing these foods in your diet for their mild to medium anti-viral effects, as well as their cell protection (antioxidant) properties:
garlic, onions, cruciferous vegetables, berries, chillies, aloe vera, apples, pears, cloves, seaweeds, and ghee.

Other anti-virals

Zinc, Chawanprash (Ayurvedic herbal jam), coconut oil, vitamins C, A, and E, selenium, dhea, green tea, microhydrin, carrot juice, and the list goes on…..

Published in byronchild/Kindred, issue 17, March 06