Oregano a flu fighter?

Believers swear by pungent oil as a natural foe of infection, but MDs are dubious

Jan 30, 2007 06:44 AM Megan Ogilvie Staff Reporter

It’s the peak of cold and flu season and more than a half a million Torontonians are sniffling, wheezing and succumbing to feverish chills.
And even though doctors say hand washing and getting the free flu shot is the best way to ward off viruses that cause upper respiratory infections, people are turning to local health-food stores to stock up on herbal remedies.

Oil of oregano is the latest in a long list of flu-fighting fads and it is disappearing from the shelves faster than garlic, vitamin C and even echinacea. Many herbalists say the essential oil, procured from wild oregano harvested in the Mediterranean, is the immune-booster of choice.
“It’s a hot seller,” says Amy Jeffries, a homeopathic doctor who also works in the holistic dispensary at the Big Carrot on the Danforth. “More than 10 people a day are asking for it.”
The oil’s active ingredient is touted as a natural infection fighter that can kill off viruses and bacteria; some claim it can even fend off bird flu and hepatitis.

At Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., physiology professor Harry Preuss conducted a 2001 study on behalf of an herbal remedy company that showed that oil of oregano protected against certain fungi and the potentially deadly staphylococcus bacteria in tests on a small sample of mice. He also said that oil of oregano can kill some strains of tuberculosis in the petri dish, as well as the bacteria that cause stomach ulcers.

Medical doctors and pharmacists aren’t as quick to believe, namely because there have been few scientific studies on human beings to prove that it works.
“There’s absolutely no literature that it (oil of oregano) is efficacious in any way and I don’t use the stuff,” says Robert Kingstone, a Toronto family physician.

Instead, he tells his patients to get the flu shot to prevent the influenza virus and to adopt basic hygiene practices, such as hand washing, to stop the person-to-person spread of both cold and flu viruses.

If people do get a cold or flu, Kingstone says there’s nothing they can take that will cure it — antibiotics are effective only against bacteria, not viruses — and over-the-counter drugs will only relieve symptoms.

Brent Ruddock, senior pharmacist with the Ontario Pharmacists’ Association’s Drug Information and Research Centre, says there is a dearth of good information from well-designed studies that show oil of oregano is effective against the cold or flu virus.

Still, several pharmacists have recently called the centre with questions about it.
Oregano oil products — from the amber-hued oil itself to oil-filled capsules to tinctures — line several shelves at the Big Carrot dispensary and sell for $15 to $30 for a bottle. Touted as a potent antiviral drug, believers say oil of oregano was used for thousands of years in Greece for all kinds of ailments.

Jeffries says she first heard about it six years ago and has since prescribed it.
“An elderly woman who I used to treat takes a drop a day on her tongue. She used to catch every cold that came along, but now goes through the whole season without getting sick.”
Oil of oregano hit the mainstream about six years ago and was sold as a potential treatment during the SARS outbreak, the Walkerton E. coli crisis and the anthrax scares after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

But many people use it for a gamut of more common complaints, including seasonal allergies, athlete’s foot, infected splinters and toothache.
Sandra Domby, a massage therapist who also works at the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine in Toronto, has been a fervent believer in oil of oregano since she first used it a year and a half ago to ward off a cold. “If at night I feel a cold coming on, I’ll take it, and when I wake up in the morning the cold is gone,” she says.

The pungent oil, which often is diluted with another oil such as olive oil to reduce its strength, can burn when applied to the skin. To make the oil go down easier, Domby places three drops of the oil under her tongue and waits three minutes to let it mix with her saliva. “It’s totally fine until you swallow it and then it burns, like wasabi. There’s a burning, a spicy sensation for about 30 seconds and then it’s over.”

Preuss of Georgetown University says he thought oil of oregano was “a lot of cockamamie” when he heard about it six years ago. He agrees that much more research is needed, but his work has made him a believer, and he used it to treat a sinus infection when conventional drugs didn’t work.

If people want to try it, they should first check with their family physician.
“My fear is that they would use this when they have a severe infection and should be seeing their doctor,” says Preuss.

http://www.thestar.com/Health/article/176197