The Dietary Management of Genital Herpes

The dietary management of genital herpes is not just another illusion. There are certain ingredients you can add or remove from your diet to make you less prone to genital herpes infections. For example, considering that a high consumption of arginine can make you potentially prone to herpes outbreaks, you may decide to avoid eating high arginine food and prefer to ingest high-lysine food instead. If you've already read my page on lysine or my book about genital herpes, Herpes Wise, you may already know how I feel about lysine. Lysine is just a very small part of the dietary management of genital herpes and results are uncertain as clinical studies about lysine and herpes contradict each other. Many partial research findings point out directions in the dietary management of genital herpes. It seems that nature is very generous with us and that our nutrition can greatly affect how our bodies react to herpes.

The dietary management of genital herpes:
Lysine
Kefir
Green Tea
Cranberries
Enzyme therapy: Raw vegetable sprouts and juices
Broccoli

Dietary Management of Genital herpes:
Broccoli?

Preliminary lab studies of monkey and human cells found that indole-3-carbinol (I3C), a compound found naturally in broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables such as cabbage and Brussels sprouts may interfere with herpes reproduction. This compound affected either herpes virus 1 or 2 replication by almost a 100% in lab tests. So you could try to eat more broccoli for a while and see if you experience any improvement even though we don't have any information on dosage and efficacy. You could also try indole-3 carbinol supplements. Indole 3 carbinol heps prevent certain cancers and promotes hormonal balance. It may be particularly beneficial for women with herpes. You can find a good affordable supplement at vitacost. Best indole-3 carbinol supplements always contain sulforaphane. For more information on Broccoli supplements click here. Pregnant or lactating women and diabetics should consult their doctors before including broccoli supplements in their dietary management for genital herpes protocol.

I don't know if we will soon find more vegetables able to stop herpes reproduction but in the meanwhile it would be a good idea to include many of them for your dietary management of genital herpes.
Back to top

Dietary Management of Genital herpes:
The White and Green Tea trail

Tea is a wonderful beverage. It is one of my favorite asset in the dietary management of genital herpes. It has antiviral and anti-oxidant properties. Most studies concern oral herpes and tea. But I've noticed that if I take 4 to five cups of green or white tea, my colds and herpes go and stay away. Coffee on the contrary might promote herpes infections.

Always prefer a good quality tea. If you're sensitive to caffeine or theine, stop drinking tea after 5 pm. If you're a tea lover like me, you're may be able to find those rare white tea buds that hardly contain any theine. It's just heaven to the nose and pallet and paradise to your health. Enjoy! One minus though. That kind of tea might "hurt your wallet" a little. You find affordable white tea is Long Life organic white tea in tea bags an even better one is organic DragonFly white tea. Research has recently proven that white tea was more potent against disease than any other types of tea. This is also the case for the dietary management of genital herpes.

For more information on tea go to the herbal treatments of herpes page . If you don't like the taste of tea or just don't have the time to prepare white tea 5 times a day, you may prefer to take a tea extract. the absolute best tea extract for herpes prevention is a mixture of white and Sencha tea made by New Chapter. For more information on New Chapter Green and White Tea extract click here. I have covered a lot of information about tea for the dietary management of genital herpes with my newsletter if you're interested in tea as part of the dietary management for genital herpes, you should subscribe to my herpes newsletter.
Back to top

Dietary Management of Genital herpes:
The Enzyme Therapy trail

You may have heard of enzyme therapy. I didn't know much about it until I got really concerned about controlling genital herpes. Then I did extensive research of all methods that were somewhat related to genital herpes treatment. Enzyme therapy is not per se directly part of the dietary management of genital herpes. But it's such a detoxifier and immune booster and I love it so much that I thought I should mention it here. Enzyme therapy has recently been tested against Zovirax for the treatment of herpes zoster. Here are the conclusions: "Overall, the enzyme combination preparation showed identical efficacy with acyclovir. The results of the prior study were thus confirmed. Further investigations on the immunomodulatory potency, dosage and effects on postherpetic herpes neuralgia are, however, still required".

Enzyme therapy encompasses several fields, intravenous enzyme therapy, massive ingestion of enzyme supplements and two I will discuss here which are eating raw sprouts and foods and drinking raw vegetable juice.

Basically enzyme therapy relies on the fact that as we eat most of our food cooked we deplete our body of vital enzyme. How is that? Cooking food kills enzymes. Enzymes are necessary so that our body functions normally. Our body can produce 22 digestive enzymes. But it also needs a constant intake of enzymes. There are more than 3000 enzymes on this planet. Our body can produce some but depends on nutrition for the rest of them. I'm not going to discuss here in depth the power of enzyme therapy. But I can just say that if you include the methods below in your dietary management of genital herpes, you are very likely to increase your energy levels, feel and look younger and boost your immune system.

Sprout it out:

Sprouts can be made at home with a sprouter or a glass jar. The easiest to make are alfalfa sprouts. You can find sprouters starting at $16. So it is really a bargain for your health. During sprouting enzymes are activated and highly present in the sprouts and the vitamin content are multiplied. Actually there are far more enzymes and vitamins in the sprout than in the vegetable itself. That's why they're so beneficial to your health and should be included in your dietary management of genital herpes protocol.

Juice it out:

I don't know if any of you heard of all the benefits of vegetable juice. Norman Walker wrote about it in the 70's and it has now become very popular. Vegetable juice like sprouts can bring a lot of powerful nutrients to the body, like vitamins, enzymes and more far more than just eating the vegetable itself. Norman Walker actually suggests different vegetable juice mixes as a treatment for several ailments, tuberculosis, psoriasis, stomach ulcer and much more. He also claims to have cured his own cancer with vegetable juice and a diet consisting mostly of raw food.

I love carrot juice and the way it makes me feel and I'm going to invest in a juice extractor. You may want to start with a simple juicer like me or just go to a juice bar. Have a few carrot and parsley juice to see if you like the taste. I've tried many juice mixes and I love the way they make me feel. But not always how they taste.

Enzymes are killed by cooking so raw vegetable juice is just another great source of enzymes. Vegetable juices are simple to make and should be part of your dietary management of genital herpes.

Enzyme Supplements:

One of the easiest way to integrate enzyme therapy to the dietary management of genital herpes is by taking enzyme supplements. They can't provide the same health benefits of the 2 previous methods but are very convenient. There are several good enzyme supplements that can help restore healthy levels of body enzymes and increase digestive comfort. My favorite is Nature's Way food enzymes broad spectrum enzyme formula. It contains alfalfa for better digestion and detoxification and Siberian ginseng for improved immune system and all the necessary enzymes. You can find it here. Another good enzyme supplement is NSI vegetarian digestive enzymes. It contains all necessary enzymes in good quantities.
Back to top

Dietary Management of Genital herpes: The Lysine trail

According to studies we can say today that lysine is potentially better at preventing than treating genital herpes. Actually a study suggests that taking high dosage of lysine at the onset of a genital herpes outbreak may provide little or no benefits. I can already hear many big lysine fans screaming from here. I'm well aware that you may feel strongly that lysine is great even for genital herpes treatment. It's written all over the internet anyway. OK. Let's just say that it has not been scientifically proven for now.

So, according to science it is better to take lysine supplements on a regular basis for prevention. But also according to scientific research that may entail that your arginine body levels will remain permanently lowered. Arginine and lysine are thought not compatible. In theory, the more lysine you take, the less arginine you absorb. So what's the matter with that? Well, arginine promotes wound healing and the potential effects of arginine deficiency are muscle weakness, insulin production impairment and so forth. The negative relationship between arginine and lysine is not yet fully proven. But I'm concerned about the long-term side effects of lysine daily intake. You may include it in your dietary management of genital herpes protocol for a few months if you feel it provides an improvement but you may also want to switch to another remedy after a few months just to prevent arginine deficiency.

If you want to follow the lysine dietary management of genital herpes trail, here are some guidelines. The best way to have a lot of lysine is to eat plenty of plain yogurts. I would recommend trying Kefir instead. More information on Kefir below. You may also take supplements. There is a lysine supplement I like very much that was created specifically for people with herpes. You can find more information about this lysine supplement for herpes here.

High lysine/Low arginine foods:

Plain yogurt
Hard Cheese
Soft cheese
Milk cream
Milk
Avocado

Foods to avoid:

Peanuts
Chocolate
Nuts
Cereal grains, seeds
Oatmeal
Raisins
and all high arginine foods.

You can find more information on lysine for herpes here

Dietary Management of Genital herpes: Cranberries?

I've used cranberries to prevent and treat urinary tract infections successfully. Alpine cranberries have a disinfectant effect on the urinary system. It works wonderfully when combined with vitamin C and Vaccinium macrocarpus (oxycoccus macrocarpus).

Now researchers at the Kaohsiung Medical University in Taiwan have found that a compound called proanthocyanidin A-1, isolated from the evergreen shrub vaccinium vitis-idaea also called cowberry, lingonberry or Alpine cranberry, significantly suppressed herpes type 2 infections in vitro without any toxic effect.

Chun-Ching Lin and his team said that the cranberry compound did not reduce the infectivity of the virus but did reduce the effects of the infection by preventing viral attachment and penetration, and disturbing the late stage of infection.

Lab tests are not sufficient to evaluate the potential of any active compound. But you could do your own personal human testing by taking vaccinium vitis-idaea tincture or juice and see what happens. I use the vaccinium vitis-idaea extract made according to gemmotherapy. Gemmotherapy uses fresh buds and sprouts macerated in a base of alcohol with glycerin and water. Gemmotherapy is very mild but effective quite its products are easy to find in Europe but maybe a little more difficult to find in the US. Boiron is the main manufacturer of gemmotherpay extracts.

Anyhow don't hesitate to drink, eat and feast on lingon cranberries. They don't have known contraindications and they just taste lovely. If you have good results, please tell me the good news. I'm sure we would all be delighted to hear your feedback, good or bad.
Back to top

Dietary Management of Genital herpes:
The Kefir trail

Kefir is a milk fermented beverage that can restore the intestinal flora. It contains 270 mg of lysine per100g ( 3.52 oz) which is pretty good because plain yogurt, one of richest source of lysine, contains 311mg per 100 mg, just 41 mg more than Kefir. And Kefir doesn't contain any arginine at all whereas plain yogurt contains 105 mg. This could suggest that Kefir is an even better source of lysine than plain yogurt.

Kefir is also a probiotic. That means it contains micro-organisms that restore and add to the intestinal flora. It is a much stronger probiotic than any yogurt. A strong intestinal flora promotes a strong and healthy immune system. Actually, Kefir has been found to be immune-stimulant in animal studies and antimicrobial so milk Kefir may provide several benefits against herpes. Kefir has been used for the treatment of herpes but I haven't found any scientific data supporting it.

If you want to learn how to make kefir at home take a look at Dom's Kefir making in-site. This website feels a little bit like a maze but it's filled with great info on kefir. Kefir is very easy to make once you have the kefir grains. I make them from organic milk. I find it delicious but you may find the taste a little bit strange. Sweetening it with honey or maple syrup may help.

A little advice; start slowly. I've noticed that Kefir had very nice detoxifying properties and may be a little laxative at first. So I'd advise starting with one glass a day. If you're allergic to dairy products, you can make a stronger Kefir with less lactose in it. Dom's explains everything really well. Please avoid Kefir starters and use Kefir grains instead. This way you'll be sure to make the real kefir. Kefir is a beverage a little thicker than milk but much more liquid than yogurt. I tried to make yogurts out of Kefir and it just doesn't work. So don't let your milk ferment too long.

Dietary management of genital herpes conclusion, I hope you understand by now that the dietary management of genital herpes encompasses many more options than just eating more lysine and less arginine. If you're really are interested in controlling herpes through a good diet you should also visit the pages below.

If you want more information and guidelines on who to use foods to treat and prevent herpes as well as natural remedies that can help stop genital herpes symptoms in 2 days, I recommend you read Herpes Wise. The information contained in this book has helped me remain herpes symptoms free for more than 3 years now.

Back to top of the dietary management of genital herpes

Over the counter Remedies for Genital Herpes :
OTC products for genital herpes can bring relief and help treat and prevent further herpes infections. I have used, studied and reviewed many of them for you so that you can make a wise decision. They are several that very useful. Learn more about OTC remedies for genital herpes on this page.

Herbal treatments for herpes:
Learn how to use herbal and natural remedies to treat and prevent herpes outbreaks.

Genital Herpes Pain Relief:
Genital herpes can cause a lot of pain especially when blisters are forming. I know and use several products that can bring immediate and efficient relief for genital herpes pain.