The warning comes from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and shows high levels of antimicrobial resistance in bacteria found in humans, animals, and food across Europe.

In particular the scientists point to “extremely high” multidrug resistance in a type of Salmonella that causes illness in humans.

The summary report is based on data on antimicrobial resistance several types of bacteria submitted by 28 European Union (EU) member states in 2015 and jointly analysed by scientists from the ECDC and the EFSA.

It provides an overview of resistance in Salmonella isolates from humans, food-producing animals (pigs and calves), and their meat. It also includes Campylobacter isolates from humans and pigs; and Escherichia coli isolates from pigs, calves, and their meat. Data on the incidence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in pigs, calves, and their meat are also included.

Salmonella, Campylobacter, and E coli are all examples of what are called ‘zoonotic bacteria’, which can be transferred from animals to humans via contaminated food or through the environment.

The report makes grim reading.

A threat to humans

In particular the scientists point to “extremely high” multidrug resistance in a type of Salmonella that causes illness in humans.

Overall, multidrug resistance (MDR) was found in 29.3% of the human Salmonella isolates submitted by EU member states, with high proportions of isolates resistant to sulfonamides (32.1%), tetracyclines (28.1%), and ampicillin (27.8%).

One of the most common types of Salmonella species in humans, monophasic Salmonella typhimurium, exhibited extremely high MDR (81%), with several samples exhibiting resistance to at least 7 antimicrobials.

The report also found high levels of resistance in Campylobacter bacteria – the most commonly reported cause of foodborne disease in the EU – isolated from humans.

In 11 EU countries 80-100% of Campylobacter bacteria was resistant to ciprofloxacin – considered a critically important antibiotics to fight Campylobacter infection. Five other 5 EU countries reported alarming trends of fluoroquinolone resistance.

“The level of acquired resistance to fluoroquinolones is so high in some member states that this agent can no longer be considered appropriate for routine empirical treatment of human campylobacter infection,” the authors write.

Resistance in animals, meat

The results of studies in animals and meat were also disturbing.

Among the Salmonella isolated from pork, the highest levels of resistance were reported for ampicillin (44.7%), sulfamethoxazole (48.5%), and tetracyclines (49.1%).

In isolates from beef, resistance to most antimicrobials tested was mainly lower than those observed in pig meat, but levels of resistance to sulfamethoxazole and tetracyclines were higher.

In Campylobacter coli isolated from pigs, overall resistance was very high for ciprofloxacin (62.1%), nalidixic acid (60.8%), and tetracycline (66.6%), and high for erythromycin (21.6%).

For E coli in pigs, high levels of resistance were found to tetracyclines (54.7%), sulfamethoxazole (44.2%), ampicillin (39.3%), and trimethoprim (35.3%), with 38.1% of samples displaying MDR.

Resistant E coli was also found in calves but at a lower level than seen in pigs.

“The high levels of resistance to tetracyclines, sulfamethoxazole, ampicillin and trimethoprim in E. coli from both fattening pigs and calves under one year of age, as well as the frequent occurrence of resistance to these compounds as a core component of MDR patterns in many reporting countries, reflects extensive usage of these antimicrobials in these countries over many years,” the authors write.

MRSA was reported in pigs and calves in several member states, but resistance to vancomycin and linezolid was not detected in any isolates.

More needs to be done

Antimicrobial-resistant bacteria causes an estimated 25,000 deaths in the EU each year. The findings, while hardly new, suggest that not enough is being done ot tackle the problem.

“Antimicrobial resistance is an alarming threat putting human and animal health in danger,” Vytenis Andriukaitis, EU commissioner for health and food safety, said in an ECDC press release. “We have put substantial efforts to stop its rise, but this is not enough. We must be quicker, stronger and act on several fronts.”

In reviewing the report Marta Hugas, head of EFSA’s biological hazards and contaminants unit, noted geographic variations across the European Union, with countries in northern and western Europe generally having lower resistance levels than those in southern and eastern Europe and said this was most likely due to differences in the level of use and overuse of the medicines.

“In countries where actions have been taken to reduce, replace and re-think the use of antimicrobials in animals show lower levels of antimicrobial resistance and decreasing trends,” she said.

A global effort is under way to find effective treatments for deadly hospital-acquired infections, with many such dangerous bacteria proving worryingly resistant to antibiotics.

Now, help may have be at hand in the form of an old folk remedy – natural clay.

Known as Kisameet glacial clay, it is a resource that has been used by centuries by the indigenous people on the central coast of British Columbia, treating various medical problems from skin ailments to internal infections.

It was also successfully used by doctors in Vancouver in the 1940s to treat a variety of ailments such as ulcerative colitis, duodenal ulcer, arthritis, and burns. But, after antibiotics became widely available, the natural remedy was largely forgotten.

“We clearly need new antimicrobial agents,” says Julian Davies, a microbiologist at University of British Columbia in Vancouver and senior researcher on the study. “Very few novel agents have been developed in recent years and we have increasingly multi-drug resistant strains appearing because of antibiotic overuse and misuse.”

An old remedy for a new problem

Davies and team focused their research on a selection of bacteria known as the ESKAPE group. The so-called ESKAPE pathogens — Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Enterobacter species — cause the majority of hospital infections such as pneumonia and septacaemia and effectively ‘escape’ the effects of antibacterial drugs. It’s particularly important to find new ways of tackling these bacteria, as they’re extremely difficult to treat, being resistant to most current antibiotics.

The team took a selection of 16 different bacteria, picking strains that were prolific in local hospitals, and tested them in a diluted suspension of the clay. The bacteria were left to interact with the clay for between 24 and 48 hours.

When the researchers observed the mix after that time, they found that the clay had successfully killed off all 16 strains, immediately showing that it plays host to significant antibacterial abilities. They also tested water and solvent-based clay extracts, observing similar antibacterial effects.

The findings of the study are published online in the journal mBio.

Minerals in the clay may be key

While these early tests results are extremely promising, the researchers have yet to identify the exact mechanisms by which the clay is able to kill the bacteria.

Kisameet clay is about 24% by weight clay minerals, which are aluminium silicates with metal ions interspersed through their layers. Like soil, the clay also contains a complex microbial community. The clay’s physical, chemical, and microbial properties are likely to contribute to its antimicrobial activity and may do so synergistically.

The researchers plan to test the clay further and hope to eventually progress to human trials.

This is not the first time that topical clay has been found to aid the fight against resistant bacteria. In 2013 researchers at Arizona State University found that several topical clays able to fight MRSA resistant skin infections  One clay in particular, a French green clay significantly decreaing bacterial loads of MRSA but also reducing skin inflammation, or dermatitis, which often leads to scarring.

• For some useful background on medicinal clay see our news report Medicinal clay – the latest weapon against MRSA.

A strain of drug-resistant bacteria carried by some livestock – the MRSA strain Staphylococcus aureus CC398 – has also been found in patients, researchers say.

People and animals generally harbour distinct variants of CC398, which the team say evolved from the same original bacteria. However, the CC398 strain found in livestock can be transmitted to humans, and the study shows that this has happened on many occasions.

The study,  published in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology, provides new evidence that the livestock-associated CC398 strain could spread in hospitals, including those with newborn babies.

CC398 from farm animals is resistant to some common antibiotic drugs, which could make it harder to treat. The strain’s enhanced drug resistance in livestock is likely to be the result of widespread use of antibiotics on farms, scientists say.

Patients in hospitals and nursing homes are at increased risk of MRSA infection, but healthy people in the wider community can also become infected with some strains.

Scientists at the University of Edinburgh studied how the CC398 strain evolved using a state-of-the-art genetic analysis technique. For the first time, researchers unravelled the full genetic code of CC398 strains from the UK, and compared these with published genetic data on CC398 bugs from humans and livestock around the world.

They say that CC398 has entered the UK on several occasions since the mid-1940s, though the original source of the bacteria remains unclear.

Lead researcher Dr Melissa Ward said: “Our findings emphasize the need for strict biosecurity practices in the food production industry, as well as continued surveillance and infection control of MRSA in hospitals. Responsible use of antibiotics in healthcare settings and agriculture is of utmost importance.”

• For more on the link between antibiotics used in farm animals and the rise in antibiotic resistance see: Untreatable? The growing threat of antibiotic resistance.
• See also Antibiotic alternatives – your 12-point plan

We already know that pesticides, in addition to harming human health, can also create resistant varieties of insects and weeds.

The same thing can happen when we are exposed to too many antibiotics. Some 50% of global antibiotics are used in livestock production and have been found to create resistant bugs that can harm human health.

Now, new research by British and Dutch scientists has found that Aspergillus – a common fungus that attacks the lungs and is found in soil and other organic matter – has become resistant to life-saving anti-fungal drugs in parts of rural Yorkshire.

Although the link has been made before in the Netherlands, it’s the first time the link between drug resistance in Aspergillus and fungicides used on crops has been made in the UK. Experts warn their findings, published in the Journal of Global Antimicrobial Resistance,  are significant and raise serious implications for transplant patients, those with leukaemia and people who suffer from severe asthma.

In the three-year study, researchers from Radboud University Medical Centre in the Netherlands and The University of Manchester in the UK compared resistance profiles in 230 fungal samples, collected from rural areas in West Yorkshire which were treated with fungicides, to 290 air and soil samples from inner city sites across Greater Manchester.

They found no resistance from the sites in Greater Manchester compared to 1.7% resistance detected in West Yorkshire, implicating fungicide use in agriculture.

A huge threat to patients

One of the researchers Guus van Muijlwijk, of the Department of Medical Microbiology at Radboud University says he believes merging antifungal resistance in human pathogenic fungi is causing a huge threat to patients, especially to those with weaken immune systems, and this study emphasises that there may be even a greater problem in treating such diseases.

Noting that similar resistant species have been found in other countries – among them the Netherlands, Germany, France,  Denmark, India, China and Iran – he says the issues is “raising great concerns among clinicians as no new classes of antifungal agent are currently in clinical development.”

Dr Michael Bromley, Lecturer at The University of Manchester and study leader commented: “Given the frequent finding of resistance across northern Europe, it is not a surprise to see resistance in the UK. However, the clear association with triazole fungicide usage is very worrisome, as some unlucky people at risk will breathe in untreatable Aspergillus, with potentially dire consequences.”

Crops routinely treated with fungicides include: Wheat and barley, dried beans and pulses such as chick peas, lentils and field peas, peanuts, potatoes, maize, soya, rice, alfalfa, sunflowers, flax, sugar beets, cotton and tobacco. Earlier studies have made the link between agricultural use and the emergence of resistant species.

Diseases caused by Aspergillus affect millions of people worldwide, causing high morbidity and mortality. Resistance to antifungal drugs is becoming a real problem.

The only oral antifungal agents (triazoles) for human use are similar in structure to certain fungicides. The use of certain compounds in agriculture, notably difenoconazole, propiconazole, epoxiconazole, bromuconazole and tebuconazol are particularly likely to lead to resistance, yet are freely used in agriculture. There is a very limited range of antifungal compounds to treat fungal diseases and some fungi are now multi-resistant.

A new report, by the group Action on Additives, shows that 52 children’s medicines surveyed contain at least one and sometimes two or three of the seven E-number ingredients known as the ‘Southampton Seven Additives’.

These ingredients are seven additives with proven links to hyperactivity in a scientific study carried out by Southampton University and commissioned by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in 2007.

The 2007 study built on findings of a 2004 study, carried out by the same team at Southampton.

The 'Southamptom Seven' additives linked to hyperactivity

Food manufacturers have removed most of the colourings from hundreds of snacks, sweets and other products, after the FSA called for a voluntary ban in 2008.

They remain in children’s medicines however, even though in June this year, the European Food Standards Agency called for five of these colourings (all but Quinoline Yellow, E104) to be tested for genotoxicity – that is the ability of a substance to cause damage to DNA, the genetic material of our cells.

Key findings

The report names and shames several popular brands of children’s medicines and has revealed that:

• Four of the six colourings highlighted as causal by the researchers have been found in children’s medicines.
• The red colouring Carmoisine (E122) is used in five medicines, including Calpol Infant Suspension and Boots Paracetamol 3 Plus Months.
• The most frequently used colouring is Sunset Yellow (E110), in six medicines, including a treatment for epilepsy.
• Five medicines, including four antibiotics, contain Quinoline Yellow (E104).
• Five medicines contain Ponceau 4R (E124) including Anbesol Teething Gel.
• In total, research for the report found at least one of the six Southampton colourings in 19 children’s medicines.
• The preservative Sodium Benzoate (E211), was in 37 children’s medicines, including a Boots cough syrup, Tixylix, and six different Benylin cough mixtures or syrups.
• Four medicines formulated for children contained a colouring as well as the preservative sodium benzoate.

The manufacturers, including Boots and Johnson & Johnson, have stated that they felt that the additives are safe.

Click for larger image

Children’s medicines poorly regulated

However, medicines are subject to different, weaker regulations to food and drink.

Synthetic colourings are banned from food and drinks targeted specifically at children under 36 months under the EU ‘Weaning Directive’  because children’s developing physiology places them in a special risk group in relation to the ingestion of additives.

Yet, even medicines for children as young as 2 months contain colourings and preservatives that are banned from their food.

Action on Additives believes that the same protection offered to young children by the Food Standards Agency should also apply to medicines and is calling on the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) – the UK government body responsible for regulating all medicines – to remove them from children’s medicines

Parents need to be better informed

In July 2013, MHRA stated that it is committed to encouraging manufacturers to remove the colourings identified. But the Agency said it was unable to enforce a ban without further EU regulation.

In fact, the European Union issued its own guidance on the use of ‘colouring agents’ used in paediatric medicines, advising that special care is needed when formulating medicines for children. It highlights that the known risk of, for example, azo dyes, should be taken into consideration.

“We are concerned that some of our most trusted children’s medicines contain unnecessary colourings that have been linked to hyperactivity and attention deficit disorders,” says Lizzie Vann-Thrasher, Co-ordinator of Action on Additives. “Manufacturers of children’s medicines should follow the example of the food and drinks industry and remove these colourings from children’s medicines.”

To alert parents to the research, Action on Additives have published A Parent’s Guide to Additives in Children’s Medicines which is now available.

Action on Additives recommends that these additives should be banned and not simply ‘recommended for withdrawal’ or phased out in children’s medicines as they are in food and drink .

The group encourages parents and carers to learn more and to request additive free medicines. It is also important that parents report any adverse reactions to the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). This can be done online via the ‘Yellow Card’ scheme or pick up a leaflet at your local pharmacy.

In their study, Viennese researchers looked at 236 patients who require a particularly thick tube (known as a double-lumen tube) following lung surgery and who consequently suffer frequent sore throats, hoarseness and coughs. The endotracheal tubes were not lubricated prior to insertion.  Analgesics given for the surgical incision included paracetamol and opioids.

According to study leader Kurt Rützler from the University Department of Anaesthetics, General Intensive Care Medicine and Pain Therapy at the MedUni Vienna: “The side effects that normally occur are not only subjectively unpleasant for patients, but they can also have a negative impact on the success of their surgery. If a patient develops a cough after a lung operation with severe pain leading to reduced inspiration and expiration, this can cause an entire section of the lung to collapse.”

Gargling with a liquorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra) solution, however, markedly reduced the frequency of post-operative symptoms. Four hours after surgery the incidence of sore throat for patients who gargled with liquorice was 21% versus 45% for patients who gargled with sugar-water. Even more importantly, patients were extremely happy and complained of significantly fewer side effects associated with anaesthesia, such as sore throats, coughs and hoarseness.

As a result of the study, which has just been published in the science journal Anesthesia & Analgesia, liquorice is already being offered to all pre-operative patients at three European hospitals.

Inexpensive and widely available

One of the key advantages of liquorice lies in how simple it is to use. Liquorice is available in its pure form without a prescription from any pharmacy. “Patients can however also buy liquorice sticks or liquorice lozenges and achieve very similar beneficial effects to pure liquorice,” says Rützler.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine liquorice is considered a panacea. Exactly how liquorice works, however, is not yet fully understood. The team of researchers at the MedUni Vienna has managed to identify 17 sub-substances in liquorice, however. Some of these are believed in TCM to have particular effects.

This is not the first study to find that liquorice gargle had pain relieving benefits. In a smaller study in 2009 Indian researchers found that a liquorice gargle performed 5 minutes before anaesthesia was effective in reducing the incidence and severity of post-operative sore throat.

Researchers are now working on investigating these effects more thoroughly. According to Rützler, of particular importance in this context is liquorice’s anti-inflammatory effect and its positive impact on local wound healing.

However, according to a recent review, doctors are not entirely at fault. Prominent medical societies have failed to lay out comprehensive guidelines for physicians on when and how to disclose a conflict of interest when utilizing social media.

In a commentary published online in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, Dr Matthew DeCamp, at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine’s Division of General Internal Medicine, argues that some physicians use social media to give advice to patients and the public without revealing drug industry ties or other information that may bias their opinions.

Consumers in the dark

Without serious efforts to divulge such information – standard practice when publishing in medical journals and recommended in one-on-one contacts with patients – DeCamp says consumers are left in the dark.

“As physicians and patients increasingly interact online, the standards of appropriate behaviour become really unclear,” says DeCamp, who also holds a fellowship at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics. “In light of norms of disclosure accepted throughout medicine, it’s surprising that major medical guidelines fail to adequately address this issue.”

Among the national organizations that have issued social media guidelines are the American Medical Association and the Federation of State Medical Boards.

The need for boundaries

DeCamp acknowledges that use of social media has the potential to improve patient care and trust by increasing patient access to information, but vigorous online “boundaries” are needed to not only assure privacy and confidentiality, but also to protect patients from misinformation and biased advice.

In an office setting, for example, when doctors prescribe a blood pressure medication, professional guidelines say they are ethically bound to tell patients if they have any financial relationship – such as receipt of consulting fees – with the company that manufactures the drug.

Guidelines also call for disclosure when they publish studies about blood pressure medication, and medical journals require them to fill out a detailed disclosure form. But online, it’s  clearly an unacceptably grey area.

How much can you say in 140 characters?

One reason may be difficulty in determining just how to disclose within the constraints of the online world, DeCamp notes. The popular social media tool Twitter, for example, allows each entry to be just 140 characters long. But a generic disclosure  such as “The author has no conflict of interest to report related to this tweet” is 70 characters – leaving little room to discuss the actual research.

DeCamp says one solution is the use of electronic tags that disclose conflicts of interest and follow the information tweeted – and re-tweeted – by a physician. At the very least, he says, doctors should post potential conflicts in their online profiles, and consumers should be wary of posts and advice from anyone claiming to be a doctor.

A problem on specialist sites too

The problem isn’t just confined to sites used by the public. One social networking website known as Sermo.com is open to physicians only and is designed to facilitate discussions of treatment options.

But DeCamp says the relative anonymity of the site means users don’t know about the potential conflicts of peers they encounter there, and whether information is biased because of financial conflicts. Although the site recommends voluntary disclosure, it is not required or monitored, he says.

Healthtap.com is billed as a free virtual “house call” service linking patients with physicians who quickly provide online answers to patients’ questions. Although physicians are identified by name, and the site terms require physicians to disclose, studies suggest physicians sometimes fail to disclose in the online realm. Patients again might be unable to tell whether conflicts have biased the answer.

Wanted: transparency

The absence of stricter guidelines for online doctor-patient interactions is especially puzzling given the move to ever-stricter disclosure requirements offline. There has been a movement from simple disclosure to better efforts to manage and eliminate conflicts.

While some professional guidelines do recommend disclosure in social media, DeCamp says, they don’t lay out how it should be done, while many ignore the topic altogether.

“The history of conflict of interest in medicine is such that you don’t want to be late to the table You need to be proactive so that your undisclosed conflict doesn’t end up on the front page of The New York Times. Conflicts need to be disclosed and it’s surprising that we have so far to go regarding disclosure and management on social media.”

That’s good news because so many of the conventional remedies for coughs are ineffective and inappropriate for children.

In a recent Israeli study researchers randomly assigned 300 children (aged 1-5 years) with upper respiratory infections (URIs) either honey or a placebo as a nighttime cough treatment.

The children had been suffering from URIs and coughing at night that had lasted up to seven days.

Half an hour before bedtime the parents gave their children a 10g (2 tsp) dose of either of honey, or a honey-free placebo syrup made from dates. In the honey group three types of honey were used: eucalyptus, citrus or labiatae (mint family) honey.

The parents monitored their children’s cough symptoms as well as how well both they and their children had slept after taking either honey, or the placebo and this information was relayed by telephone and written survey.

Both cough servity and sleep problems improved in both the honey and placebo groups. This is likely to be because in addition to the comfort factor a viscous liquid, sweet liquid also causes salivation which can thin mucus and lubricate the upper airway.

However the scientists noted that improvement in the honey group was greater. Overall honey helped children sleep better as well.

Given the adverse effects of conventional cough treatments Dr. Herman Avner Cohen of Tel Aviv University and his co-authors concluded: “Honey may be a preferable treatment of cough and sleep difficulties associated with childhood upper respiratory infection.”

“In light of this study, honey can be considered an effective and safe treatment of children over one year of age.”

Previous research

Other studies have also found honey to be an effective cough remedy.

In a 2007 study from Penn State College of Medicine, 105 children were given either buckwheat honey, no treatment, or dextromethorphan (DM), a cough suppressant found in over the counter medicine, before bedtime.

Across the board parents rated honey as significantly better than DM or no treatment for the symptomatic relief of cough and sleep difficulties. In addition it was found that DM was not significantly better than having no treatment, further suggesting honey’s effectiveness at treating cough symptoms.

A 2012 meta-analysis and systematic review of previous studies on the subject also came to the conclusion that honey was better for coughs than both no treatment and treatment with over the counter cough suppressant diphenhydramine.

How honey works

Honey is used by cultures around the world for symptomatic relief from upper respiratory infections.  It is widely studied and there are a number of reasons as to why it may ease cough symptoms.

Honey is a natural antimicrobial – effective against viruses and bacteria. It is very rich in antioxidants and the combination of these qualities may make it effective at fighting URIs.

In the Israeli study the researchers noted that different types of honey may contain different antioxidants – including vitamin C and flavonoids.

In general darker honey tends to have more nutrients. Buckwheat and avocado honey are particularly good choices. If these honeys are not available choose the darkest honey you can find. The anti-microbial properties of Manuka honey are also well proven and this too is a very good choice when you or you child has a cold.

Just a spoonful

Honey has no adverse effects and can generally be taken as needed. However some practitioners do advise the following guidelines.

Try giving your child ½ teaspoon of honey for every 11 kg (25 lb) of weight. Give your child a dose 4-5 times each day. If your child is having an extreme coughing fit, give her honey during a lull in the coughing.

Some practitioners advise avoiding honey if your child is younger than 1 year old. Microorganisms contained in honey can make babies sick. Additionally, infants do not have the necessary swallowing apparatus to eat honey and can choke on it.

But make sure it is honey!

The only downside to this good news story is that not all honey on sale is honey. Last year a shocking study shocking survey by Food Safety News found that more than 75% of the honey sold in American supermarkets and drug stores wasn’t honey at all but was instead a watered down, reconstituted mish-mash mixed with other cheaper ingredients.

Unless you examine it through a microscope there is no w2ay to tell whether what’s in the pot is real honey – that is honey that contains natural pollen grains – or fake honey that is little more than a sweet syrup.

Commercial honey manufactures claim they filter honey in response to consumer demand for clear honey without any detectable impurities. But removing the pollen also conceals the honey’s origins and allows manufacturers to bottle cheap honey made by bees fed on sugar rather than natural blossom forage.

In 2010 the European Union effectively banned much of the transshipped Chinese honey from their market, but it remains on sale in the US.

For many reasons, and especially if you are using honey medicinally, it is best to buy the best quality honey you can afford and stick to better to stick with certified organic and raw honey which guarantees a higher quality product.

Since ancient times the aromatic fragrance of burning Boswellia resin has been part of many religious ceremonies and is still used as a means to indicate special festive atmosphere in the church today.

But frankincense can do much more: “The resin from the trunk of Boswellia trees contains anti-inflammatory substances,” says Professor Dr Oliver Werz of the Friedrich Schiller University Jena, in Germany.

A potent anti-inflammatory

Examining the curative effect of frankincense, Professor Werz and his colleagues were able to show where exactly how boswellic acids – which are responsible for the impact of the ingredients of the Boswellia resin – interfere in the process of inflammation.

“Boswellic acids interact with several different proteins that are part of inflammatory reactions, but most of all with an enzyme which is responsible for the synthesis of prostaglandin E2, [these] acids block this enzyme efficiently and thereby reduce the inflammatory reaction,” he says.

Prostaglandin E2 is one of the mediators of the immune response and plays a decisive role in the process of inflammation, in the development of fever and of pain. Werz says he is convinced that the active substances can be very beneficial in therapies against diseases like asthma, rheumatoid arthritis or atopic dermatitis.

Fewer adverse effects

In addition to a new, targeted use in the treatment of inflammatory diseases, boswellic acids also have the advantage of producing fewer adverse effects than today’s prevalent anti-inflammatory treatments like diclofenac or indometacin. The impact of these common drugs is less specific, says Werz, and unlike boswellic acids, they can increase the risk of stomach ulcers and can harm the kidneys.

In the current study, the researchers compared the anti-inflammatory effects of the resin of several different kinds of frankincense.

There are more than ten Boswellia species in the world. The most well-known and widely-used one is the Boswellia serrata from Northern and central India.

However says Professor Werz of his study, “We were able to show that the resin of the Boswellia papyrifera is ten times more potent”. This species mostly occurs in the Northeast of Africa (Ethiopia, Somalia) and on the Arabian Peninsula (Yemen, Oman).

Gathering the evidence

Frankincense is a mainstay of Ayurvedic medicine and a recent raft of studies has shown explored its healing potential.

Taken orally, capsules containing Boswellia frereana have been shown to ease painful arthritis .

Animal studies and pilot clinical trials in humans support the potential of Boswellia serrata gum resin extract (BSE) for the treatment of a variety of inflammatory diseases like inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis and asthma .

Boswellia serrata extract also exhibits anti-bacterial and anti-fungal activities. There is also laboratory evidence suggesting that Boswellia carteri possesses anti-cancer properties.

Protecting an endangered species

The research into the medicinal qualities of frankincense throws up several questions about the sustainable production of the tree, however.

“Boswellic acids exclusively occur in the resin of Boswellia trees and are very difficult to produce synthetically,“ Professor Werz points out. Therefore these trees are the only source of these promising active ingredients.

However several species of Boswellia trees, including Boswellia papyrifera which grows in Northern Ethiopia, are already endangered.

Ethiopia is, in fact, worldwide the main producer of frankincense and myrrh, and exports large quantities of gum arabic.

In a study of frankincense production in 2011 the researchers noted that extraction of the resin does not threaten the survival of the trees in any way.

While sustainable gum/resin production could significantly contribute towards sustainable development of what are often marginal dry lands, it is years of improper land use (overgrazing, over-harvesting of gum/resins and wood) threatens the sustainability of the frankincense tree and as a result of that also the long-term gum/resin production. In addition infestation by the longhorn beetle is threatening the planting of new trees.

In some impoverished countries the trees are simply being used as heating fuel.

“Without sustained protection not only plant species are endangered but at the same time medicine loses promising active ingredients,” Professor Werz warns.

Note: Neal’s Yard Remedies sources its wildcrafted frankincense from Somalia, from producers that have been tending and harvesting the trees by hand for generations.

The species of frankincense we use – Boswellia carterii – is not endangered.

Boswellia carterii is the oil traditionally used in aromatherapy and this genus only grows in Somalia. In addition, in Somaliland frankincense production does not compete with agricultural production in the way it does in Northern Ethiopia and elsewhere in Africa.

It also provides an income to families in a country with few other natural resources and thus few other opportunities to participate in the global marketplace. Our Somali frankincense is also the world’s first FairWild certified frankincense.

The work, carried out at Washington State University, was published recently in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.

In it researchers looked at the ability of the garlic-derived compound, diallyl sulphide, to kill the bacterium which is protected by a slimy biofilm that makes it 1,000 times more resistant to antibiotics than the free floating bacterial cell. They found the compound can easily penetrate the protective biofilm and kill bacterial cells by combining with a sulphur-containing enzyme, subsequently changing the enzyme’s function and effectively shutting down cell metabolism.

Packing a powerful punch

The researchers found the diallyl sulphide was 100 times more effective than the same dose of the antibiotics erythromycin and ciprofloxacin and often would work in a fraction of the time.

Campylobacter is the most common bacterial cause of food poisoning in the UK and US and probably the world. It causes symptoms such as diarrhoea, cramping, abdominal pain and fever. The bacteria also are responsible for triggering nearly one-third of the cases of a rare paralysing disorder known as Guillain-Barré syndrome.

Most infections stem from eating raw or undercooked poultry or foods that have been cross-contaminated via surfaces or utensils used to prepare poultry.

Two previous studies by the same team, published last year in the journals Applied and Environmental Microbiology and Analytical Chemistry, found diallyl sulphide and other sulphur compounds found in garlic effectively kill other important food-borne pathogens, such as Listeria monocytogenes and Escherichia coli O157:H7.

The scientists cautioned that while eating garlic is a generally healthy practice, it is unlikely to prevent Campylobacter-related food poisoning.

However, the discovery, say the scientists, opens the door to new treatments for raw and processed meats and food preparation surfaces. Diallyl sulphide could, for instance be an effective preservative in packaged foods like potato and pasta salads, coleslaw and deli meats, but also used to clean preparation surfaces.

While the scientists congratulate themselves on proving garlic’s antibiotic properties gainst speciic bacterial strains, the concept of garlic as an alternative antibiotic is hardly new. There are decades of good evidence to show that garlic as a supplement  is a useful alternative to antibiotics. See here for a rundown of its medicinal properties and see also related articles (left).