‘Natural’ Anti-Biotics? ? ?

Some Experiments

In another post I’ve discussed the important role of microbes in bio-remediation.  But microbe-phobia is not only found in modern medicine but also in the world of alternative medicine.  Several ‘natural’ products are considered to have anti-biotic properties.  For example, garlic has been called Russian penicillin.  Colloidal Silver (Silver Sol) and Xylitol are also touted as anti-microbials.  If all created things after creation were deemed ‘good’, why would you want to kill these microbes?  Yet people report good results from having taken or applied these ‘anti-biotic-like’ products.  Could their ‘good results’ be a result of a lowered microbe population, or, are these natural products performing in situ in a way we don’t understand?  I had to resolve this for myself.

Experiment with Garlic

If these are anti-microbial, then they would have an adverse affect on the gut flora.  Many years ago in order to determine if the Russian penicillin (garlic) would have an adverse effect on beneficial microbes in the gut, I made yoghurt with garlic in it as an experiment.  I found that the milk normally cultured (by microbial action) just as well with garlic in it – lots of garlic.  This means the garlic did not kill or even attenuate the action of the culturing microbes and thus eating lots of garlic or taking garlic supplements would not remove or imbalance this part of the ecosystem in our gut.  (As that was my question at that time.)  So what about Colloidal Silver or Xylitol?  Is their therapeutic action due to their anti-microbial properties?   I did the same experiment (more recently) but this time with kefir since there are many more microbes with which to register an anti-microbial effect. (By the way, I was a NASA engineer and remain an incurable experimentalist).

Experiment with Silver Sol/ Colloidal Silver

Kefir grains host microbes that act on the sugars in milk to create a cultured product – kefir. The end product shows separations in the jar – curds and whey.

So I drink kefir regularly, actually daily, and I make my own from real kefir grains.  So, I reasoned that if Colloidal Silver ‘kills’ microbes, surely this transformation from milk to kefir would be completely stymied at worst, or in the least affect the end product taste or texture. So I started 2 jars of milk containing about 2 cups of milk each, and added about 1 tablespoon of kefir grains to each jar.  To one jar I also added 1 tablespoon of NSP’s  Silver Sol which has many patents for being anti-viral, anti-bacterial and anti-fungal.  At the end of the normal culturing time (24 hours or so) the consistency (thickness) in the 2 jars was the same as was the amount of whey produced at the bottom by the normal microbial action.  Upon straining AND tasting of the two products, there was no apparent difference. Both were equally tart and thick and frothy, all characteristics of the action of the microbes. Hmmm.

NOW I know that I would not be able to taste the difference if some of the 60 kinds of microbes were missing and that there are sophisticated tests that could be run to determine this.  So what conclusions can be drawn here about the action of Colloidal Silver in the body?  To me this provides more data (other data coming from my clients) that maybe Colloidal Silver provides ions that accelerate tissue rebuilding, AND/OR reduce inflammation AND in doing so obviates the need for so many of my little microbe buddies, AND thus giving the misinterpreted observation that Colloidal Silver is an infection ‘killer’ within the body (although it kills them in the lab tests). (Other bioremediation uses of the microbes in kefir are in that document – one of which is spraying the kefir whey, full of microbes, on a sore throat.)  So let’s go on.

Experiment with Xylitol

I did the same experiment with NSP’s Xylitol with different results. (Xylitol is used in mouth washes, toothpaste and nasal sprays for its ‘anti-microbial action’.)  I repeated the experiment above but to one of the jars of milk + kefir grains I added 1 tablespoon of xylitol granules and stirred well.  At the end of the culturing period the xylitol jar had 2.5 to 3 times more whey in the bottom of the jar than the control (jar with no xylitol).  This increased whey production in the xylitol jar was observable only 6 hours into the culturing process.  Thus xylitol seemed to enhance or accelerate the microbial action (instead of killing or retarding it).  This result however is understandable because the kefiring microbes use lactose (milk sugar) as food and xylitol is like a sugar.  I could not determine by taste if the microbes’ population was affected because of the taste of the sweet taste of xylitol (Colloidal Silver in the previous experiment had no taste).  So what conclusion can be drawn here about the action of xylitol in the body?  I will offer this: Once a bioremediation effort in the body has begun (e.g. a sore throat) xylitol gives the microbes more fuel to accelerate the remediation and bring it to a quicker conclusion.  I conjecture further that the same thing is happening in the intestines of those sensitive to xylitol (In some individuals it results in diarrhea).  Rather than ‘die-off’ as some people have concluded, it is just as likely that an acceleration is occurring.

From these experiments one can view the action of Colloidal Silver and xylitol as life-accelerators rather than life-killers (anti-microbial).  Some would offer that the anti-microbial action is against ‘bad bacteria’ only, but there is no such thing as ‘bad’ bacteria from the Genesis account of creation.  There are likely other actions that these products have in tissue that we observe and that are leading us to the conclusion that they ‘kill’ microbes instead of accelerate bio-detoxification.  Colloidal Silver and xylitol are in fact wonderful healing agents but their mode of action in the body may be different than we have assumed.