Using clay for antibiotics?
Using clays as antibacterial reagents
A recent article delves into the use of clay as antibiotics essentially. Can something this simple be true? Can a remedy first used 5000+ years ago still be valid today?
A recent article delves into the use of clay as antibiotics essentially. Can something this simple be true? Can a remedy first used 5000+ years ago still be valid today?
It doesn't surprise me that something as ancient as clay that was used thousands of years ago is turning up as something that could provide benefits in medicine today. Ancient people used remedies like clay, leeches and maggots because they knew those remedies worked. They didn’t have all the biases that we have today; if it worked they used it with little thought of the reason or even the consequences. The fact is, that with ancient medicine the people used what they knew would work; whereas, now we typically get away with using what we are told to use because we can charge for antibiotics even when they may not work (though many do work). The average person cannot get their hands on antibiotics without a prescription, and they can’t get a prescription without a trip to the doctors, so it is possible that treatments like this have been discredited not because they do not work, but because they could harm the business of medicine.
ReplyDeleteIt is also possible that the modern human desire for immediate care has hindered treatments like this. If someone can get an antibiotic that can treat their symptoms immediately or a treatment that could potentially “heal” them over time, almost invariably they will choose the antibiotic. Though this is not always the case. There are some instances where the prescribed medications do not work how they are supposed to for a person and instead they turn to home remedies. Here is a link to one such case that I found quite interesting (though a bit repulsed to be quite honest).
http://www.livescience.com/203-maggots-leeches-medicine.html
I say this not to put down the use of medicine or antibiotics, because obviously those have been tested and approved for their purposes and work quite well; however, in the event that those do not work for a specific patient, perhaps seeking out treatments like clay therapy is not so crazy.
Wow, I never knew that clay could carry so many medicinal benefits! Although used as a standard medical treatment for thousands of years, researchers are just now beginning to understand how clay produces its intensely beneficial, anti-microbial properties. The precise mechanisms behind clay's effectiveness are still unknown, but scientists suspect that metal ions "embedded" within clay may play a significant role in killing or removing bacterial populations. In fact, one group of researchers discovered that some clay particles (due to their negative surface change) can latch onto and directly remove bacteria as the clay particles are distributed throughout the body. This use of clay (if utilized effectively) could drastically minimize hospital costs with potentially fewer (or less drastic) side effects than typical pharmaceutical drugs. There are few serious ailments that results from ingesting too much clay. Constipation is a major known side effect of ingesting copious amounts of clay, but this ailment (as it relates to clay) is rarely ever life threating.
ReplyDeleteAlthough medicinal clay would have to be thoroughly processed and screened before it could be used safely and efficiently on patients, its potential benefits seem to far outweigh any negative side effects. Certain metal ions within clay (such as cadmium) can often be harmful and wreak devastating effects on the body when present in high amounts, but with the proper precautions this should not pose a significant issue. Ironically, the newly-found medicinal benefits of clay support the age-old practice of using clay as a therapeutic agent. Medicine has a rich past that should continually inform, critique, and evaluate modern-day methods (and vice-versa). Clay's track-record is too promising to ignore. It should be clinically used after more testing is conducted.
This is a great article. I love the thought of using something natural for medicinal purposes. Clay is also very abundant, meaning if they could find a way to use it to treat a variety of symptoms, they wouldn't have to worry to much about being short-handed. It could also spark a new market in "clay medicine" and even bring more attention to using more organic and natural ways to heal the body. Presently, our bodies are starting to reject more common antibiotics and treatments, it is only a short amount of time before we run out of treatment methods. It's important that we study the past and how they were able to treat and cure ailments without the modern luxuries (in medicine) that we have today.
ReplyDeleteThis article was particularly interesting for me to read because it demonstrates a possible way to use less antibiotics to treat against bacteria. The overuse of antibiotics in healthcare has become an increasingly worrisome dilemma because of the increase in bacterial resistance. This resistance has caused a need to increase dosage of antibiotics to defeat the attacking bacteria. What is very interesting is that science is turning to ancient remedies to solve the issues confronted by modern medicine. It is incredible to know that nature offers healing for humanity. God does not leave any detail out. As much as science intervenes and develops new technologies, God provided what we needed. I would not be surprised to learn in the future that there are more natural remedies that can be even more beneficial that modern medicine is in treating illness. Nature is often so easily dismissed and as human we tend to be extremely arrogant in thinking that the cure lies within human discovery and intelligence to develop something new. What the researchers found was that the combinations of both the physical and chemical properties of the minerals within the clay allowed for the clay to be beneficial in its killing ability of E-Coli and MRSA. In journal I read that discussed what made natural clay antibacterial, they found that the Fe2+ that is found in the clay overwhelms the outer membrane regulatory proteins of the bacteria. The Fe2+ becomes oxidized as it enters the cell and which produces Fe3+ which in turn yields lethal hydroxyl radicals. With all of this said nature is something really spectacular.
ReplyDeletehttp://wwwbrr.cr.usgs.gov/projects/EC_bacteria/Journal%20articles/Public%20health%20Microbiology/Williams-etal_2011_ES&T_Antibacterial-clays_es1040688.pdf
It is fascinating that something as simple as clay can have so many medicinal properties. I was particularly interested in the part of the article that explained how the different properties of clay assisted with different parts of healing. The clay has absorptive properties that can remove foreign particulates and cellular debris from wounds. The metal cations are capable of killing bacteria that have invaded into wounds. The clay also adheres to skin which makes it capable of creating a mechanical seal to prevent infection. It is amazing that ancient people knew that applying certain kinds of dirt into a wound would help it heal quickly and prevent the wound from worsening. In our society, this seems completely counterintuitive. We are taught to remain as hygienic as possible especially when it comes to wounds. We are taught to clean wounds and remove all traces of dirt that are left behind. It is amazing how wrong our intuition can be when it comes to medicine.
ReplyDeleteIt is not surprising that we find healings form nature. I am a firm believer that God gave us all that we need in nature already. However, just as the article stated, harmful, even toxic compounds are found in these natural remedies that we have read in history about and turn to now.
ReplyDeleteAs time goes on and more people inhabit the earth leaving behind their impact on the land it is inevitable that the natural supplements given to us are degraded or mixed with "waste." Especially when there are more people who care less about the damage they leave than those who do care and try to change it for the better. I propose that the clay that our ancestors used is certainly not the same clay that we have access to now.
There are pros and cons for both eras of clay. The clay then may be perhaps more "pure" less polluted. However, it may also be more pure in the substances not so beneficial for us. Also, we have technology now that can separate the minerals of the clay that we want from those that we don't want, and just in general we have technology now that can help us pinpoint exactly what we want in and from the clay, and we can even possibly artificially multiply the clays benefits to us. However, I wonder, has an element of the clay used then been lost with time?
Nonetheless, this article was interesting, but not very surprising and I am curious to see where it goes. It is ironic to think that the "healings" that some of us need are literally right at our feet!
This is an interesting study, it reminds me of my grandmother who is always claiming the medicinal effects of clay. She used to tell this story about how my mother would get sick from her stomach as a baby and she would leave my mother in my great grandmother's house whose backyard had clay soil. My mother would crawl to the backyard and eat chunks of clay and everybody would worry and think she was going to get a parasite or bacterial infection but actually she didn't ever had problems with her stomach as a baby. I must say God has a funny way on revealing us solutions, sometimes scientists find cures in simple places. I wonder though if society would actually consider in taking drugs made out of clay just because there is a preconception that clay has bacteria that can make you sick. It would be interesting to see this study go even further.
ReplyDeleteIn medicinal chemistry, we were given an assignment to find alternative treatments for drug leads. For that assignment, I chose an article in which some scientists from Cameroon had tested different plant extracts to see if they could find something that worked against eleven strains of MRSA and staph infections. Prior to their experiment, most of the plants had other uses including food spices and relief for pain and diarrhea. Yet, they chose to investigate them anyway and by the end of the experiment, they discovered that the Dacryodes edulis plant was the most effective against all eleven bacteria strains. This piqued my curiosity, so I decided to research it some more and to my amazement, I discovered that the D. edulis is a plant native to Nigeria. In fact, back home, we call it "local pear" and it is usually eaten with roasted corn as a snack in the Eastern parts of the country.
ReplyDeleteIn much the same way, the scientists in this article have chosen to investigate alternative uses of clay. In Nigeria, already, pregnant women eat clay in the form of "local chalk" as a means to assuage nausea, vomiting, and various cravings. I find it fascinating that these women are also unknowingly replenishing their body's minerals and possibly even protecting themselves from harmful bacteria. I mean who could have guessed that things as common and cheap as pear and chalk could be almost as effective as a 2000 naira ($10) pack of Ciprofloxacin or Gentamicin. Hopefully, further research could lead to more effective and affordable treatments for the common people. All in all, I must say that I have acquired a keen interest in alternative medicine and all the possible therapeutic developments that can arise from ethnopharmacology.
References
Sama Fonkeng L, Simplice Mouokeu R, Kuiate J, et al. Anti-Staphylococcus Aureus Activity of Methanol Extracts of 12 Plants Used in Cameroonian Folk Medicine. BMC Research Notes. November 24, 2015; 8:1-6.
I found this article very interesting because with the advances in medicine today one would not think twice about using clay to heal a wound or even E. coli or MRSA for that matter. I think that it is helpful to look at the history of medicines that doctors used years ago and add to that for future medicines. When I was younger I always heard the phrase "rub some dirt on it", so maybe our wise grandparents and parents knew something about clay that we would've never thought about. It is quite alarming to think that clay also has some harmful toxins in it and it makes me wonder how the toxins were removed from the clay years ago without the technology we have now. I definitely think it would be beneficial to research more on this topic because what better way to heal an infection or wound than by a natural resource that God has given us.
ReplyDeleteI think modern medicine would be wise to consider "outdated" medicinal knowledge. It's fascinating that medical books such as Ebers Papyrus from thousands of years ago are revealing pertinent medical applications in our day and age. Growing up in India, I often noticed that the "backward", superstitious, and uneducated townspeople have traditions that, while seemingly unorthodox, have medicinal applications. Similarly to this article, many villagers utilize clay as a natural antibiotic - often using it when they bathe in the river, utilizing it as soap. While this practice may seem outdated, this article gives this practice scientific credibility. Although modern medicine has many remarkable achievements, perhaps it shouldn't be too fast to disregard practices that have benefited mankind for thousands of years.
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