Herbal Antibiotics: Natural Alternatives for Treating Drug-Resistant Bacteria

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NATURAL ALTERNATIVES
FOR TREATING DRUG-RESISTANT BACTERIA

STEPHEN HARROD BUHNER

For David Hoffmann,
who began it all

The mission of Storey Publishing is to serve our customers by
publishing practical information that encourages
personal independence in harmony with the environment.

Edited by Nancy Ringer and Lisa H. Hiley

Art direction and book design by Mary Winkelman Velgos

Text production by Vicky Vaughn Shea/Ponderosa Pine Design and Jennifer Jepson Smith

Cover photography by © Eric Delmar/iStockphoto.com: mortar and pestle, © Kryczka/iStockphoto.com: juniper berries, and © VMJones/iStockphoto.com: tincture bottle

Indexed by Nancy D. Wood

© 2012 by Stephen Buhner

This publication is intended to provide educational information for the reader on the covered subject. It is not intended to take the place of personalized medical counseling, diagnosis, and treatment from a trained health professional.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages or reproduce illustrations in a review with appropriate credits; nor may any part of this book be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or other—without written permission from the publisher.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Buhner, Stephen Harrod.

Herbal antibiotics / by Stephen Harrod Buhner.—2nd ed.

   p.; cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-60342-987-0 (pbk.: alk. paper)

I. Title.

[DNLM: 1. Herbal Medicine—methods. 2. Anti-Bacterial

Agents—therapeutic use. 3. Bacterial Infections—drug therapy.

4. Plant Preparations—therapeutic use. WB 925]

616.9'201—dc23

2012004609

Julie McIntyre, Robert Chartier, Nikki Darrell, Rosemary Gladstar, James Duke, Kathleen Gilday, Don Babineau, Melanie and Jeff, William LaSassier, Michael Moore, Ryan Drum, James Green, Matthew Wood, Susun Weed, Naava, Candace Catin Packard, Jim McDonald, Redbird, Kevin, Eric, Erica, and of course, Buck and the boys.

Foreword to the First Edition by James A. Duke, PhD

Preface to the Second Edition

Prologue: Rise of the Superbugs

1 The End of Antibiotics

2 The Resistant Organisms, the Diseases They Cause, and How to Treat Them

3 About Herbal Antibiotics

4 Herbal Antibiotics: The Systemics

Cryptolepis
•
Sida
•
Alchornea
•
Bidens
•
Artemisia

5 Herbal Antibiotics: The Localized Nonsystemics

The Berberines
•
Juniper
•
Honey
•
Usnea

6 Herbal Antibiotics: The Synergists

Licorice
•
Ginger
•
Black Pepper (piperine)

7 The First Line of Defense: Strengthening the Immune System

Ashwagandha
•
Astragalus
•
Boneset
•
Echinacea
•
Eleuthero
•
Red Root
•
Reishi
•
Rhodiola

8 A Handbook of Herbal Medicine Making

9 An Herbal Formulary

Epilogue

Endnotes

Recommended Reading

Resources

Bibliography

Index

by James A. Duke, PhD

Stephen 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 small 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.

If you've reached the point where you don't pay attention to anything that might disturb your orthodoxy, you're not doing science, you're not even pursuing a discipline. All you're doing is perpetuating a smug, closed-minded sect.

—Paul Krugman

In the years since I wrote the first edition of this book, my knowledge of plant medicines and their use in healing has increased tremendously. Thus this new edition of
Herbal Antibiotics
is a great deal more comprehensive than that first, more simplistic effort. There are many more herbs included, and some of the old ones are gone or have been moved into another category of action—from an antibiotic to an immune herb, for instance (echinacea is an example). And much of the original material on bacteria and bacterial resistance has been expanded considerably.

Over the years I have received a great many questions as to why this or that herb was included in the book while such and so herb was not. It's a good question; here's why.

I've included the herbs you'll find here for either one of two reasons: 1) I, or practitioners I respect, have found them to be highly effective in practice in the treatment of antibiotic-resistant diseases, or 2) in-depth research and use in other countries has found them to be highly effective. I think when you read the expanded material on treatment strategies and the plants that I've included you will understand the reasoning more clearly; there are some fairly sophisticated understandings of resistant bacteria treatment that were not described in the first edition of the book, primarily because neither I nor the herbal community in the United States had developed enough understanding, sophistication, and experience in clinical work with them at that point.

I've excluded the plants that you won't find here for one of two reasons: either 1) I have not found them to be potently effective in clinical practice (though they might be mildly effective or effective in
some circumstances), or 2) there is just not enough clinical research showing they are effective. That is why olive leaf, for example, is not described in any depth in this book. It is not that olive leaf is not antibacterial—it is; all plants contain antibacterial compounds—but rather, both clinical practice and in-depth research have not convinced me that olive leaf is as good as the rather ecstatic reports that circulate on the Internet say it is. For some people and some circumstances, it is a valuable herb to use in the treatment of disease. However, in this book I am interested in herbs that are more potent and effective in the treatment of antibiotic-resistant microorganisms—and more reliable.