More Natural Remedies for Cold Sores

Cold sores are so obnoxious I decided to do more research into how to heal them. Furthermore a predisposition to them can be hereditary!
Reishi mushrooms
Reishi mushrooms have a long history of being used to boost the effectiveness of the immune system in traditional medicine throughout many parts of Asia.
In more recent times however, evidence has pointed to the fact that reishi also seems to have the ability to inhibit the spread of the herpes virus, thereby preventing the development of cold sores.
Furthermore, as reishi can be obtained in either powdered or food supplement form, the benefits of including this in your diet are readily available even if the mushrooms themselves are not.
Herbal remedies for cold sores
There are many herbal solutions that you can use to keep the herpes simplex at bay. These include the following:
Echinacea and goldenseal – Both echinacea and goldenseal are plants from which the extract helps to boost the ability of your immune system to fight against viruses like herpes simplex. The extract is available in capsule form over the counter in most health stores or online.
Self-heal – This is a plant that grows in Europe and in Asia (with a more scientific name of ‘Prunella vulgaris') of which the extract has been seen to be effective against the spread of both the herpes simplex 1 and herpes simplex 2 viruses.
There is also some evidence that it works against strains of the virus that have become resistant to drug-based cold sore solutions as well, and again, you should be able to find the extract in your local health food store or it is available for purchase online.
Blackcurrant – Studies in Japan have indicated that eating blackcurrants or including the extract of them as a supplement in your diet may be effective for combating the herpes virus as laboratory tests have indicated the effectiveness of blackcurrants against herpes simplex.
Wakame – Wakame is the Japanese name for a particular type of seaweed which appears to improve the healing time for anyone who is suffering from cold sores, whilst there is also some evidence that it inhibits the reactivation of the virus as well.
Sage and rhubarb cream – In a German study that compared the use of sage and rhubarb cream with the effectiveness of a cream using sage and Acyclovir, it was seen that there was little difference in the ability of the two test substances to help cold sores heal. However, the study concluded that the all natural mixture of sage and rhubarb was more active in fighting against cold sores, hence there is every reason for thinking that the natural option is to be preferred to the one containing chemicals.

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Is Nutella As Good As It Says?

I am a little disturbed by a bit of news I read on the Reuters site about the high protein chocolate spread called Nutella.

For years Nutella, which is a chocolate hazelnut spread has been sold as a source of high energy and protein. I have always trusted the product because I have been eating on toast and in sandwiches ever since I was a child. I also give it to my own kids on crackers as a high energy spread. It also goes well in hot or cold chocolate drinks. If you grew up in Europe and particularly if you were Dutch, you probably ate butter and Nutella sandwiches that were put in your lunchbox by your mother. Many mothers also mixed the Nutella with sprinkles to make the food even more attractive. Of course this is a rarer sight but Nutella with pink and blue sprinkles sandwiches were quite a common site in U.K. and European countries. It was okay for kids to eat this much sugar as the hazelnuts used to make the spread were so high in protein.

I have also put Nutella on pancakes because it melts so nicely and it goes really nicely with a bit of whipping cream and maple syrup and maybe even a bit of chestnut puree. I have often thought of making a cake with it and using the nutritious spread as icing. The cookies made with Nutella in the middle are quite famous and there are recipes for it all over the web. You can just buy a commercial pack of cookies and spread Nutella in the center to make a kind of Nutella Oreo if you want. Keep in mind that this is a special treat as Nutella is quite high in sugar!

As I have always been a fan of the stuff it was a bit disappointing to read that it was trying to oversell itself as a healthy food when everybody already knows it is not. A stories on 'Reuters Life!' reported that it's television commercial was pulled off the air for exaggerating its health benefits. This was done after over 50 parents complained about the way it was marketed as a healthy breakfast explaining that each jar of Nutella contains 52 hazelnuts, cocoa and the equivalent of a glass of skim milk. The commercial also claimed that Nutella releases energy slowy to the body.

It is the way that the energy is purportedly released by the food that raised the ire of so many viewers. This is because Nutella is equally high in fat and sugar and eating too much at once would not be very good for anyone. Although it is high in protein that it is a bit cancelled out by how high the food is in sugar.

The upshot was that the commercial got pulled off the televisions screens of the United Kingdom. The people who make Nutella, Ferrero UK also put out a statement that they did not mean to mislead anyone.

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