Grapefruit Seeds Treat Antibiotic-Resistant UTIs

Grapefruit Seeds Treat Antibiotic-Resistant UTIs:

It looks like the Grapefruit Seeds are vital as a natural resource in treating ailments.!

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Tuesday, August 13th 2019 at 6:15 pm

Written By:

Sayer Ji, Founder

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This article is copyrighted by GreenMedInfo LLC, 2019
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Antibiotic resistant urinary tract infections are increasingly common, leaving many looking for natural alternatives. Grapefruit seed extract may be an effective treatment that is safe, affordable and easily accessible
Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are a common nuisance, disproportionately afflicting women, most of who will have a UTI at some point in their lives. UTIs when left untreated or when conventional treatment with antibiotics fail, can progress to more serious kidney infections. They are also of great concern for pregnant women, as the changes in prostaglandins and cytokines they induce can contribute to preterm delivery.
Conventional antibiotics are notorious for killing both the "good" and the "bad" bacteria within the body, as well as leading to the overgrowth of fungi like Candida albicans, which can lead to yeast infections. Moreover, even when conventional antibiotics suppress acute symptoms of infection, they can drive the survival of even more virulent antibiotic resistant bacteria. These surviving colonies form biofilm enabling them to lay dormant and grow back with even greater virulence when the infection recurs post-treatment.
This is why natural alternatives are becoming increasingly popular, especially those within the food category, like cranberry, whose safety is assured relative to what are often highly toxic conventional antibiotics such as the fluoride-based ciprofloxacin.  You can view our Urinary Tract Infection database for over 20 natural substances that show promise as anti-urinary tract infection agents.
Grapefruit is perhaps the most interesting anti-urinary infection agent we have yet stumbled upon in our research. A remarkable case study published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary medicine in 2005 titled, "The effectiveness of grapefruit (Citrus paradisi) seeds in treating urinary tract infections," found that the seeds of the grapefruit were highly effective in killing antibiotic-resistant UTIs:

"Three middle-aged males and one female were diagnosed as having urinary tract infections (UTIs) between 2001 and 2003 in the Wesley Guild Hospital, Ilesa, a unit of Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex, Ile Ife, Osun State, Nigeria. Of the 4 patients, only the female was asymptomatic. The 3 males had Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella species, and Staphylococcus aureus, respectively, in their urine samples, while the female had Escherichia coli. All 4 patients were treated with grapefruit seeds (Citrus paradisi) orally for 2 weeks and they all responded satisfactorily to the treatment except the man with P. aeruginosa isolate. However, the initial profuse growth of Pseudomonas isolate in the patient that was resistant to gentamicin, tarivid, and augmentin later subsided to mild growth with reversal of the antibiotic resistance pattern after 2 weeks' treatment with grapefruit seeds. These preliminary data thus suggest an antibacterial characteristic of dried or fresh grapefruit seeds (C. paradisi) when taken at a dosage of 5 to 6 seeds every 8 hours, that is comparable to that of proven antibacterial drugs."

The authors concluded that based on these case studies, "The adequate clinical response of these patients suggest that the 8-hourly dosage of 5 to 6 seeds of grapefruit seeds taken for a 2-week period may have an effect that is comparable to other proven antibacterial drugs."
They also referenced research on grapefruit seed extract's effectiveness at inhibiting bacteria:

"Recently, it has been confirmed that grapefruit seed extract (GSE) has antimicrobial properties against a wide range of gram-negative and gram-positive organisms at dilutions found to be safe. With the aid of scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), the mechanism of GSE's antibacterial activity was revealed (Heggers et al., 2002). It was evident that GSE disrupts the bacterial membrane and liberates the cytoplasmic contents within 15 minutes after contact even at more dilute concentrations. It has also been found that GSE appeared to have a somewhat greater inhibitory effect on gram-positive organisms than on gram-negative organisms; however, its comparative effectiveness against a wide range of bacterial biotypes is significant  (Reagor et al., 2002)."

Indeed, our database contains a number of citations on grapefruit seed extract's anti-microbial activity, including against MRSA. Also, the more salient difference between GSE is that it also has potent anti-fungal activity, making it superior to conventional antibiotics.
The really amazing thing here is that even if conventional antibiotics were safe, effective, available and inexpensive (which they are not), not everyone in the world has access to them. Grapefruit, and related "medicinal foods," are far easier to acquire, and also provide significant nutritional benefits, which supports the underlying immune system whose status is responsibility for determining susceptibility to infection. We've reported on a similar case study on the use of black seed (nigella sativa) in putting an HIV patient into remission, as well as a case of temporary remission of incurable leukemia using cannabis.
Case studies always provide a powerful window into the role of ancient food-based healing interventions, which, owing to their non-patentability, will likely never receive the massive capital influxes required to fund the RCTs needed to legitimize them in the eyes of a medical model beholden to pharmaceutical interests.
Article originally published: 2015-08-04 
Article updated: 2019-08-13

Sayer Ji is founder of Greenmedinfo.com, a reviewer at the International Journal of Human Nutrition and Functional Medicine, Co-founder and CEO of Systome Biomed, Vice Chairman of the Board of the National Health Federation, Steering Committee Member of the Global Non-GMO Foundation.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of GreenMedInfo or its staff.

The Healing Powers Of Honey

The Healing Powers of Honey

Honey is an amazing health promoting food.  My mother swore by it and took a few tablespoonfuls on a daily basis.  It was the pure honey from my father's bees as beekeeping was his hobby.

Honey, unlike almost everything else we consume in our diet, was intended solely to be a form of nourishment – albeit, for the bees.  Only milk, to my knowledge, shares this singular biological imperative. But honey is far more than a source of sweetness and quick energy within the human diet.

Honey has profound medicinal applications, some of which are as follows:

• Feeds the good bacteria: it is a little-known fact that bees have a diverse population of beneficial lactic acid bacteria (LAB) in their honey crop, the bulge between the esophagus and the gizzard of the bee. In fact, according to newly published research in PLoS, "studies of LAB in all extant honeybee species plus related apid bees reveal one of the largest collections of novel species from the genera Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium ever discovered within a single insect and suggest a long (>80 mya) history of association."[i]  Indeed, raw honey feeds good bacteria. It has been experimentally demonstrated in in vitro (petri dish) conditions to increase the number of Lactobacillus acidophilus and Lactobacillus plantarum counts 10-100 fold compared with sucrose.[ii]
• Fights the "bad" bacteria, i.e. MRSA: Reports of honey eradicating MRSA infection have been reported in the medical literature for well over a decade.[iii]  MRSA, an acronym for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, produces a biofilm which makes it especially resistant to conventional antimicrobial agents. Honey has been shown to be effective at killing biofilm-associated MRSA isolates from patients suffering from chronic rhinosinusitus.[iv] This has also been demonstrated in human research, with a 70% effective rate in destroying MRSA in chronic venous ulcers.[v]  Moreover, manuka also synergizes with conventional antibiotics making MRSA bacterial isolates more susceptible to their antibacterial action.[vi]
• Kills Dental Plaque-Causing Bacteria: Manuka honey, a special honey produced by the flowers of the manuka plant that grows in New Zealand and Australia, was shown at least as effective as the chemical chlorhexidine gluconate, often used in mouthwash, in reducing plaque formation as a mouthwash.[vii]
• Superior to Pharmaceutical at Killing Herpes:  A 2004 study published in the Medical Science Monitor, showed that topical  honey was far superior to the drug acyclovir (trade name Zovirax) in treating both labial (lip) and genital herpes lesion. According to the amazing study "For labial herpes, the mean duration of attacks and pain, occurrence of crusting, and mean healing time with honey treatment were 35%, 39%, 28% and 43% better, respectively, than with acyclovir treatment. For genital herpes, the mean duration of attacks and pain, occurrence of crusting, and mean healing time with honey treatment were 53%, 50%, 49% and 59% better, respectively, than with acyclovir. Two cases of labial herpes and one case of genital herpes remitted completely with the use of honey. The lesions crusted in 3 patients with labial herpes and in 4 patients with genital herpes. With acyclovir treatment, none of the attacks remitted, and all the lesions, labial and genital, developed crust. No side effects were observed with repeated applications of honey, whereas 3 patients developed local itching with acyclovir."[viii]
• Protective Against Gastric Damage: Honey has been shown to prevent alcohol-, indomethacin- (a NSAID pain-killer) and aspirin-induced lesions.[ix]

Questions To Ask If You Need Hospital Treatment

Questions to Ask If You Need Hospital Treatment

The threat of infection is becoming more and more likely when you need hospital treatment as many hospitals are infection zones.  It is difficult to avoid the bacteria that is looming everywhere so make sure you ask the necessary questions.

The hospital authorities are trying hard to get on top of this situation but it seems virtually impossible as bacteria is getting ever more immune to sterilisation.  Hospitals have introduced the sterilisation gel placed outside entrance doors which is supposed to protect us against bacteria but personally I don't think this is effective.  After all, why has it not worked and the threat of viruses in hospitals is getting worse.

• The primary tools used to screen for colon cancer are sigmoidoscopes and colonoscopes. These devices are not disposable, so they must be sterilized between each use
• About 80 percent of endoscopes are cleaned using Cidex (glutaraldehyde), which does NOT properly sterilize these tools, potentially allowing for the transfer of infectious material
• Asking what solution is used to clean the scope is a key question that could save your life. Make sure it’s been sterilized with peracetic acid, to avoid potential transfer of infectious material from previous patients

The Healing Powers Of Honey

The work of bees cannot be underestimated.  There are so many conditions that can be soothed with honey.   My mother attributed her health and longevity to honey.  Every day she would have honey for breakfast.  Sadly, honey is under threat as the life of bees is threatended by the pesticides that are sprayed on our crops every year.  Let's hope for a reversal in this and get back to natural sustainable production of crops.

• Certain types of honey, such as Manuka, have been shown to be more effective than antibiotics in the treatment of serious, hard-to-heal skin infections
• The only types of honey you should ever attempt to use for wound care are Manuka honey or raw (unprocessed) honey. Conventional “Grade A” type honey found in most grocery stores may actually worsen infection and should never be applied to wounds
• Clinical trials have found Manuka honey can effectively eradicate more than 250 clinical strains of bacteria, including resistant varieties such as MRSA

The Healing Powers Of Honey

E-cigarettes May Boost Resistance of Drug-Resistant Pathogens

 Just recently there was an article about E-cigarettes and Mental health.  Here we have another finding of a different sort.  this time the danger is that they build up a resistance to drugs which then makes it difficult to kill bacteria. A paragraph from the article shows us just how dangerous smoking E-cigarettes can be.


“The virulence of MRSA is increased by e-cigarette vapor,” said lead investigator Laura E. Crotty Alexander, MD, VA researcher and assistant professor of medicine in pulmonary and critical care at UCSD. Exposure to e-cigarette vapor increased the virulence of the bacteria, helping MRSA escape killing by antimicrobial peptides

E-cigarettes May Boost Resistance of Drug-Resistant Pathogens

Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria

 Once again an alarming statistic which we cannot ignore.  We need to protect ourselves from these everyy increasing suber bugs that kill.  How sad to think that we go into the hospital to get well and come out worse off or even dead.

 Antibiotic overuse and inappropriate use – such as taking antibiotics to treat viral infections -- bears a heavy responsibility for creating the antibiotic-resistant superbug crisis we are facing today.


 Antibiotic Resistance: How Did This Happen?

Hospital Virus

 This report is totally alarming.  So many people I have heard of not in the US have aquired an infection from a Hospital stay.  It is frightening to think that we go into hospital to get better and come out with the deadly infection.  Not only is this appalling but these bugs take ages and many courses of Antibiotics to cure.  Please be vigilant and follow the guidelines to avoid this bug should you have to go into hospital for whatever reason.


1 in 25 Patients End Up with Hospital-Acquired Infections

New Antibiotic To Treat MRSA Pneumonia

 There is now hope to cure this terrible virus.

New Antibiotic Shows Promise for Treating MRSA Pneumonia