Essential oils and purges versus ticks – Dietetics – Articles |

If against tick-borne encephalitis you can vaccinate, there is no possibility of such prevention before Lyme disease. Meanwhile “Catching” a tick is not so difficult, you do not have to go for a walk to the forest. Ticks are also present in city parks, or even in ours home gardens. So what can we do to reduce the risk of being bitten by a tick? And how can we help the body fight Lyme disease?

As methods to discourage ticks from piercing our body, it is administered to spray the body with natural oils, it is also helpful be drinking a purge.

Among the oils that ticks do not like (more precisely, their fragrance) the following oils can be distinguished:

• clove
• cinnamon
• z oregano
• from lemongrass
• made of turtlenecks

 You can prepare yourself from the above oils natural repellant: add a few drops to approx. 50 ml of vegetable oil any of the above oils and sprinkle it on your body before going out a walk.

Oils and Lyme disease

Essential oils can also be helpful in case they’ve already been found Lyme disease will stay with us. However, it should be emphasized that in the case of this disease the main method of treatment is antibiotic therapy. Essential oils can only help us.

Quite recently, because in  last year, in the magazine Frontiers in Medicine an article appeared on the topic of the activity of essential oils from spices and herbs is precisely against the bacteria that causes Lyme disease – Borrelia/Lyme disease Burgdorfer. The study assessed the activity of 34 essential oils, however, not all of them showed activity against said bacteria. On the other hand, 5 oils (clove, oregano, cinnamon bark, lemongrass and golterii) already at a low concentration of 0,25% showed high activity against B. burgdorfer. It was also found that some oils do the ability to counteract the formation of biofilm by dissolving aggregate structures. Additionally, oils of oregano, cinnamon bark and cloves completely exterminated all live bacterial cells, inhibiting effectively their re-growth. Grass oils have not shown such an effect lemon and goldfinch. As the most active ingredient against bacterial cells B. burgdorfer the compound carvacrol in oregano was found. Scientists however, they emphasize that to consider the use of oils as an effective method For the treatment of Lyme disease, more research is needed into the combination of drugs and them safety.

What about the purge?

Regular drinking of the cistus brew changes our smell. Of course, for us it is imperceptible, but for ticks it is, we become less attractive to them. Same as with the oils mentioned above ethereal, purges can help us also when we have already stayed attacked by a tick and the Lyme disease test was positive. German scientists from the University of Leipzig proved that the cleansing has properties to fight the bacteria that responsible are for causing Lyme disease. This action is based on the fact that essential oils contained in the purge seem to stick to bacteria of the genus Borrelia/Lyme disease and lead to its neutralization. However, it is emphasized that such an action a purge occurs with prolonged drinking (at least 30 days).

As reported by National Institute of Public Health of the National Institute of Hygiene, every year it records there are more and more cases of infection with this disease. The issue of ticks and Lyme disease it also becomes a psychological problem – many people fear due to illness, he avoids contact with nature, he gives up walks. Of course it’s worth it keep some safety precautions, but let’s not panic. For every walk let’s just prepare ourselves properly:

• let’s spray the body with one of the above oils
• let’s put on light-colored clothing – it is easier to spot a tick on it
• and after each walk, let’s carefully examine our bodies – them the faster we remove the nested tick, the lower the risk of infection Lyme disease (it is also worth remembering that not every tick is a carrier of this diseases).

Sources

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5641543/

Picture:

https://www.pexels.com/photo/male-bugs-illness-dis…

Marta Tomaszewska Dietician

Dietitian, nutritional educator, co-author of the e-book on nutrition for children “Every bite makes sense”. I am particularly interested in the nutrition of infants and children, especially in the context of eating disorders, as well as the influence of the gut microbiota on health. Privately, I love traveling, mountain climbing, cycling and walking in the woods.

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