Herbal Antibiotics, 2nd Edition

mall wonder that the germs are evolving resistance to our chemical weapons as rapidly as we develop them.

When the drug vancomycin falls completely by the wayside, as it will, we may, just as Stephen predicts here and I have predicted elsewhere, fall back on the bimillennial biblical medicinal herbs such as garlic and onion. These herbs each contain dozens of mild antibiotic compounds (some people object to using the term “antibiotic” to refer to higher plant phytochemicals, but I do not share their disdain for such terminology). It is easy for a rapidly reproducing bug or bacterial species to outwit (out-evolve) a single compound by learning to break it down or even to use it in its own metabolism, but not so easy for it to outwit the complex compounds found in herbs. Scientists are recognizing this fact and developing more complex compounds such as the AIDS cocktail and multiple chemotherapies for cancer. The same super-scientists who downplay the herbalists’ claims of synergies that account for the effectiveness of particular herbs and herbal formulas are now resorting to synergies of three or four compounds in their pharmaceutical formulas.

It is certainly easier to demonstrate how two compounds can work synergistically than it is to figure out how 200 or 2,000 different compounds (and more, as are present in all herbs) can work synergistically. So the scientific community will be reluctant to consider the remarkable synergistic suites of compounds that have evolved naturally in plants. But we really cannot afford to ignore these. For nature favors synergies among beneficial, plant-protective compounds within a plant species (with antibacterial, antifeedant, antifungal, antiviral, and insecticidal properties) and selects against antagonisms.

When we borrow the antibiotic compounds from plants, we do better to borrow them all, not just the single solitary most powerful among them. We lose the synergy when we take out the solitary compound. But most important, we facilitate the enemy, the germ, in its ability to outwit the monochemical medicine. The polychemical synergistic mix, concentrating the powers already evolved in medicinal plants, may be our best hope for confronting drug-resistant bacteria.

The Evolution of “Modern” Medicine (as imagined and adapted by Jim Duke from Internet surf castings)
8,000,000 years ago: One chimp to another: “I have a tummy ache …” (in chimpanzeze, rubbing tummy). Response: “Here, chimp, eat these bitter herbs!” (in chimpanzeze).

5,000,000 years ago: “Here, Hominid, eat these bitter herbs!” (in hominidese).

2,500,000 years ago: “Here, Homo, eat these bitter herbs and leave some for the Leakeys to find!” (in homonoid sign language).

2500 BCE: “Here, man, eat these bitter herbs!” (in Arabic, Coptic, Farsi, Hebrew, etc.).

0 CE: “The Savior is born! Faith can heal. Eat these bitter herbs (if faith should fail!).”

1200 CE: “Those bitter herbs aren’t Christian. Say a prayer when you take those bitters!”

1850 CE: “That prayer is superstition. Here, drink this bitter potion!”

1900 CE: “That bitter potion is snake oil. Here, swallow this bitter pill!”

1950 CE: “That bitter pill is ineffective. Here, take this bitter antibiotic!”

2000 CE: “That bitter antibiotic is artificial, ineffective, and toxic; besides, all the microbes are resistant, and some even feed on it (even vancomycin). Here, eat these bitter herbs. And pray they will help you (95 percent of Americans, but only 33 percent of psychologists, are reported to pray).”

ephen Buhner has arrived at (and shares with you, the reader) the frightening truth that you won’t find in the Journal of the American Medical Association: We are running out of weapons in the war on germs. Since germs can go through a generation in 20 minutes or so, instead of the 20 years or so it takes us humans to reproduce ourselves, it’s no