Natural Antibiotics - Back to the Future!
by Galen O. Ballard
(Published in the he March 2000 Issue of Chiropractic Economics Magazine)
© 2000, Titan Laboratories

Go Back

As a young boy I vividly remember watching War of the World's, the movie based upon H. G. Well's famous tale of Martians invading the earth. As you baby boomers may recall, humans were helpless against the Martians and their fearsome machines of destruction. Just as all appeared lost, the huge machines suddenly came toppling to the ground, their octopus-like occupants dead - killed by our faithful allies, earth's germs! Common bacteria and viruses, for which the Martian invaders had no immunity, had saved the day for mankind.

Our friendly coexistence with our allies in the microbe world ended during the 1950's with the advent and widespread use of antibiotic "wonder drugs". These new and powerful drugs had the ability to kill bacteria, both pathogenic and friendly. Mankind now had an awesome weapon to cure infectious diseases! In our shortsighted excitement, "war" was declared on bacteria.

Unfortunately, our former bacterial allies responded by declaring war on us! We became the aliens. In the egotistical belief that we are superior to nature, we forgot that there is a reason for everything in our environment. We failed to understand that bacteria are life-forms, and like all life forms, they have the drive to survive and reproduce. And, like all life forms, they adapt to threats to their survival.

The Use and Abuse of Synthetic Antibiotics

The period once euphemistically referred to as "The Age of Miracle Drugs" is now dead. Today, we are witnessing the return of infectious diseases for which there is no effective treatment. Americans are dying from previously treatable - but now untreatable - bacterial infections!

"We are rapidly approaching the time when 80 to 90 percent of infections will be resistant to all known antibiotics," states Dr. Jeffrey Fisher, a noted immunologist and author of The Plague Makers. "Overuse and misuse of antibiotics have allowed many kinds of bacteria to mutate and become immune."

According to scientists at the Centers for Disease Control, we are on the brink of a health catastrophe due to the overuse and abuse of synthetic antibiotics.

Today's Modern Hospital - A breeding ground for pathogenic bacteria!

The worst offenders of antibiotic overuse have been hospitals. It is here that the majority of bacteria have developed resistance and entered the general population. When we go into the hospital we expect that conditions there will be far more antiseptic than our own homes, not contaminated with dangerous pathogenic bacteria. Appallingly, the situation is exactly the opposite, according to immunologist Dr. Jeffrey Fisher.

The nosocomial (hospital induced) infection rate is at an all-time high and the varieties of infection are becoming ever more serious. Every year, almost two million Americans come down with an infection in a hospital that they didn't have when they entered - and over 60,000 of them die! (Medical mistakes kill another 44,000 to 98,000 hospitalized patients a year according to a November 1999 ground breaking report by the Institute of Medicine, but that's another sad story).

How can this be happening in today's brave new world of modern medicine?

Exposing the "Miracle Drug" myth

It is vital the chiropractic practitioner comprehend why synthetic antibiotics, the "miracle drugs" of allopathic medicine since the 1950's, are now failing us so miserably - and so quickly. Only then can he understand the proper role of natural antibiotics and how to successfully incorporate them into his or her practice.

"Underestimating the evolutionary potential of living organisms is the single most important mistake made by those who use chemistry to subdue nature." cautions Dr. Michael Traub, N.D. "Many in the drug and medical professions have a myopic 'one-germ, one drug' mentality," adds Dr. Traub.

Unlike humans, bacteria are pure biochemical factories that produce a new generation every twenty minutes. They can respond and adapt to synthetic antibiotics quickly because such pharmaceutical preparations are usually made from one chemical constituent and are, in fact, simple substances for bacteria to figure out!

Marc Lappe, Ph.D. and author of When Antibiotics Fail, sums it up. "Resistance to antibiotics has spread to so many different, and such unanticipated types of bacteria, that the only fair appraisal is that we have succeeded in upsetting the balance of nature."

The Case for Natural Antibiotics

In order to go forward, you sometimes need to go back! It makes sense to address the problem of antibiotic resistance through the use of plant medicines. Plants have a much more complex chemistry than antibiotics. Garlic, which exhibits numerous antibiotic properties, contains at least 33 sulfur compounds, 17 amino acids, and a dozen other synergistic compounds. Pharmaceuticals, as stated above, are usually made from one chemical constituent. Because of this, bacteria can quickly counter their effects and develop immunity to them.

Many modern antibiotics, such as penicillin, tetracycline, and erythromycin, actually occur in nature. Had drug companies not tried to modify them for economical purposes, we might not be in the fix we now find ourselves.

The phyto-chemical synergistic mix found in medicinal plants is perhaps our best hope for confronting drug-resistant bacteria. In fact, many herbs have historically been used to treat infections caused by bacteria that are now resistant to synthetic antibiotics. Though it is not commonly known, our ancestors utilized both penicillin and tetracycline in raw form, as bread mold or as soil fungi, directly on wounds. Thousand-year old Nubian mummies have been found to have significant amounts of tetracycline in their systems.

Natural antibiotics overcome the problems inherent with synthetic antibiotics. When used properly, natural antibiotics can boost the body's ability to produce antibodies for which bacteria, as well as viruses and fungi, cannot develop immunity.

"Using natural medicines from nature to control bacteria, viruses, and fungi is a reasonable approach," states Dr. Michael Traub, N.D. "Natural antibiotics are safer and less toxic than most synthetic analogs that have not been subjected to the kind of evolutionary scrutiny that the natural substances have had."

The chiropractic practitioner now has an opportunity, and a responsibility, to educate his patients on natural antibiotics and prevent the misuse and abuse of synthetic antibiotics which, if left unchecked, can lead to a growing bacteria resistance of plague proportions.

A Window of Opportunity for Chiropractic

Four years ago the Trends Research Institute study, "The New Millennium Chiropractor," warned the profession to overcome its highly specialized public image and seize the opportunity to become the wellness doctors of the new millennium. For the most part, this transformation did not occur, primarily because the public equates chiropractic with "lower back pain relief." If they come down with the flu, or sinus infection, or experience ear aches, skin rashes or stomach cramps, they seek out an M.D., not a D.C.

Yet, the chiropractic physician should logically be the provider of natural antibiotic therapy and other natural alternative forms of medicine as the chiropractic modality emphasizes that the body has the inherent ability to heal itself with the proper resources and treatment procedures as opposed to invasive synthetic drug procedures. Although the profession has done a credible job in conveying this important message to the public, the professional has - for the most part - failed to follow through with positive action.

The simple truth is the average D.C. does not know how to cross-market to take advantage of complimentary health offerings that would be synergistic to the patient's health while increasing the profitability of the practice. For example, marketing a proper back brace to a patient with chronic back pain would be in the best interests of both patient and chiropractor.

Now, the chiropractic physician has been given a window of opportunity to easily and profitably expand both his practice and his influence. Numerous articles and stories in the mass media have alerted the public to the failure of modern medical facilities and antibiotic drugs to cure people of bacterial and viral diseases. People are becoming
rightfully alarmed and searching for alternatives, and alternative health practitioners. An estimated 83 million adults visited an alternative medicine practitioner in 1997 alone, and spent $32.7 BILLION on complementary care, according to a Harvard University study which appeared in the November 1998 Journal of the American Medical Association.

Furthermore, herbal based natural antibiotics and antiviral medicines are proving to be an effective substitute to synthetic drugs. So effective, in fact, that pharmacists are beginning to tout their advantages - this from the group that promotes drugs!

Herbal therapy led the list of the most frequently used alternative therapies, according to a 1998 study conducted by Landmark Healthcare. Their survey indicated 17% of respondents utilized Herbal Therapy, followed by 16% for Chiropractic care. (Homeopathy, Acupuncture, and Naturopathy accounted for only 8% of total of total respondents although acupuncture is rapidly coming into its own).

Clearly, the use of botanical medicine as alternatives to drug use is rising swiftly. The increasing failure rate of pharmaceutical antibiotics to cure disease can only fuel such alternative therapy into the stratosphere. In point of fact, the sale of drug replacement supplements from M.D.'s offices has been $150 million a year despite AMA disapproval, according to the publication Alternative Medicine Business Report.

The time to go back to the future is now, Doctor of Chiropractic, and seize the moment for the benefit of your patients and your practice. How much of this $30-plus BILLION DOLLAR "alternative" market do you wish to secure?

Introducing Natural Antibiotics in a Practice Setting

The key to securing your share of the "alternative" drug replacement market is PRODUCT EXPOSURE. In other words, the dissemination of product information throughout your clinic, beginning with your lobby area. Most product manufacturers will be pleased to provide research reports, brochures, flyers, and other complimentary literature upon request. Your patients are desperately searching for effective alternatives to drugs. Let them know you have them available!

The D.C. enjoys an important edge over the M.D. in introducing natural antibiotics to his patients. It's called credibility. Each year M.D.'s write 12-million antibiotic prescriptions for upper respiratory, congestion, bronchitis, cold, and flu infections caused by viruses, yet antibiotics are worthless against viral infections.

Part of the problem may lie with the fine line between a viral and a bacterial infection. Ear ache is viral while an ear infection is bacterial. A cough, sore throat, or the flu is caused by a virus while pneumonia is a bacterial infection. Bronchitis is viral; sinusitis is bacterial.

When prescribing natural antibiotics, the doctor of chiropractic does not need to distinguish between bacterial and viral disease in his patients as natural antibiotics combat both!

Viruses are impervious to synthetic antibiotics because they are the ultimate parasites. Unlike bacteria, they have no life of their own. Viruses are simply shreds of genetic information, encoded as DNA or RNA, that can integrate themselves into a living cell and use its machinery to run off copies of themselves. The dreaded Ebola virus, which liquefies internal organs and causes death within days, is a prime example of the damage which can be caused by viruses.

Natural antibiotics assist the body's own immune system to destroy such viruses and clear the infection before the on-set of disease. Synergistic herbal compounds such as berberis alkaloid (from goldenseal, barberry, and Oregon grape), camellia sinensis polyphenols (from green tea), Usnea (a tree moss), garlic, and Echinacea are natural antibiotics which enhance the body's immune response and its ability to encapsulate and digest viruses before they can integrate themselves into living cells and replicate themselves.

When prescribing natural antibiotics, the doctor of chiropractic need not worry about toxicity or contraindications when prescribed in the dosage recommended by the manufacturer.

"One of the lies regarding antibiotic therapy is that they are nontoxic drugs," asserts Dr. Steven Gelone, Associate Professor of Pharmacy and Medicine at Temple University School of Pharmacy and Medicine. "It is important to realize that 20% of patients who require medical care have a history of an adverse drug reaction. All of these occurrences cause morbidity and many lead directly to hospital admission."

Antibiotic drugs have the ability to alter the immune response! An article published in The American Journal of Medicine reported that the antibiotic tetracycline was shown to inhibit the ability of white cells to engulf and destroy bacteria and to delay the ability of white cells to move to the site of infection. Sulfonamides and other antibiotics also inhibited the microbiocidal activity of white cells.

Non-toxic natural antibiotics contain antibacterial agents which bolster the immune system and triggers it to produce specific protein antibodies that lock in on bacteria and immobilize them, allowing white blood cells to transport the bacteria to lymph nodes or to the spleen, where they are destroyed.

The doctor of chiropractic may confidently prescribe natural antibiotics for fungal infections.

Most antibiotics are not only ineffective against fungal infections but, in fact, exacerbate fungal growth by drastically altering the balance of intestinal organisms! (The synthetic azole derivative antibiotics such as clotrimazole, miconazole, fluconazole, and ketoconazole, are fungistatic drugs, however, they frequently exhibit numerous side effects).

Fungi and yeasts reproduce asexually by "budding" and spores. Synthetic antibiotics kill off the friendly bacteria in the body and leave the way open to the antibiotic-resistant strains to multiply unhindered. The most common fungal overgrowth in individuals is Candida albicans which is most often associated with long term antibiotic or cortisone use.

Berberis alkaloid extracts have been shown to be potent activators of macrophages responsible for destroying bacteria, yeast and fungus cells. Usnea kills fungi by disrupting its cellular metabolism. However, unlike antibiotics which disrupt "friendly" bacteria, Usnea does not adversely affect the natural ecology of the body.

Introducing the Wellness Concept in a Practice Setting

As every Doctor of Chiropractic knows, the immune system is the body's first line of defense. Generally, many people remain healthy in spite of being exposed to virulent pathogens. such individuals all have something in common that their sick neighbors do not; a strong immune system. Antioxidant supplementation has been shown to strengthen the immune system.

If the patient catches colds easily or frequently, if he or she suffers from chronic infection, gets cold sores or herpes attacks with regularity, or if the lymph glands are frequently sore or swollen, it is a clear sign of a weak or debilitated immune system. The patient should be placed on an on-going regime of antioxidant supplementation following the prescribed course of natural antibiotics to avoid reoccurrence.

Do not confuse antioxidants with natural antibiotics. Antioxidants are vitamins, minerals, and herbals that tone, restore, or enhance a weak immune system. Natural antibiotics have the added ability to destroy pathogens.

The following is a list of the ten most powerful and effective natural antibiotic herbs based upon three overlapping criteria. (1) Efficacy derived from scientific studies. (2) Favorable outcomes in clinical practice, and (3) Length of use in folk medicine.

(1) Berberis alkaloids obtained from berberine-containing botanicals such as Goldenseal, Goldthread, Barberry, and Oregon grape. (2) Echinacea. (3) Garlic, either pressed, extracted, or whole clove with or without chorophyllin additive. (4) Green tea extract containing a minimum 40% polyphenol content. (5) Usnea (whole lichen). (6) Panax Ginseng containing a minimum of 3% active ginsenosides. (7) Osha root. (8) Basil (Brazilian variety). (9) Rosemary, ginger, and sage are antibacterial spices that kill 70 to 90% of food-borne pathogens. (10) Acacia herb.

Many D.C.'s may wonder why several varieties of spices capable of killing food-borne pathogens were incorporated in the "Top 10" list of antibiotic botanicals. Based upon current research, it is anticipated that such spices will become vital and necessary in all natural antibiotic formulations.

Food Poisoning - The Bacterial Epidemic of the New Millennium!

As if the use and abuse of antibiotics by the medical profession is not serious enough, "Humans can contract antibiotic-resistant infections from animals used for food," states a study panel from the National Academy of Science. "Almost 25 million pounds of antibiotics are used in animals each year - 80 percent to help them grow faster, not treat disease!" Thanks to today's modern factory farming techniques, E. coli, a benign and important symbiotic bacteria found in the gastrointestinal tract of humans and most animals is mutating and becoming pathogenic.

Salmonella bacteria now live in the ovaries of most of the United States chicken stocks. Eggs these chickens lay are subsequently contaminated and proving to be much more pathogenic than medical researchers expected. Because of this, many industry and government representatives are suggesting that all eggs be pasteurized prior to public consumption. Eggs would then come in liquid form in milk carton type containers. We are nearing the end of the shell egg as a staple food in this country.

In 1946 there were only 723 cases of salmonella food poisoning in the United States. By 1986, salmonella was estimated to be sickening over 150,000 people per year. Currently, The Centers for Disease Control estimates that between 800,000 and 4-million people get sick with salmonella each year and that 500 people die.

Estimates for total pathogenic food bacteria are 9 thousand deaths and 33 million illnesses each year from food products infected with additional pathogenic bacteria such as E. coli, listeria, and campylobacter. If this trend continues, food poisoning could become fatal within a few years.

Today's chiropractic professional has an opportunity, and a responsibility, to educate his patients on natural antibiotics and prevent the misuse and abuse of synthetic antibiotics which, if left unchecked, can lead to a growing bacteria resistance of plague proportions.

We face a serious problem in this new millennium. We have meddled with the microbial world and created bacteria more tenacious and virulent than the world has ever known before. What effects they will have on both the ecosystem and the human population can only be guessed at. Some analysts warn of present-day scenarios in which infectious antibiotic-resistant bacteria and viruses devastate whole human populations!

The use of natural antibiotics is a logical extension of the chiropractic modality. As a chiropractic professional, you can play a vital role in protecting your patients (and your own family) against the rising tide of bacterial and viral diseases or be preempted from this 30-plus billion dollar market and find yourself sitting on the sidelines. The choice is yours because the future of natural antibiotics is now.