We all know what medical antibiotics do, they help cure bacterial infections. Natural antibiotics are also very useful, but they act in a different way to prevent disease and strengthen our immune systems. They can be taken long term and have no side effects at all.

Antibiotics are the traditional cure-all for bacterial infections since the discovery of penicillin by Alexander Fleming in 1928. The main problem today is that bacteria has evolved and developed a resistance to these traditional medicines so we have to keep coming up with new and stronger strains at the same time as increasing the dosage which causes increased side effects such as immunity and allergic reactions. Some of these problems have been caused by over-prescribing these medications for purposes they were never designed for, for example viral infections.

Natural antibiotics target disease in a very different way to the traditional variety. Instead of targeting the bacteria, they aim to cure the cause of the disease. Thus they may be thought of as more a preventative than a cure. By making it harder for disease to develop in the first instance, these natural and gentle medications lessen the need for harsh medical treatments. This supports the known fact that the human body is able to cure itself and will do so very well when it has the correct nutrition and environment.

So where do these natural antibiotics come from? They have been sourced from plants and herbs which have their own antibiotic compounds to fight against fungi, bacteria and other pathogenic micro-organisms that attack them on a regular basis. Thus they are just as effective against bacterial diseases and in some cases even viral infections, as their medical counterparts. Some examples of these are allicin from garlic, carvacrol from oregano, sulforane from broccoli and oleuropein from the leaf of the olive tree.

Apart from the lack of side effects natural antibiotics can be taken for the long term without the risk of developing immunity. They are also effective against certain strains of bacteria that have become resistant to drugs. There are those who say that there is insufficient research into these types of treatments compared with the extensive research performed on pharmaceuticals, but this type of argument is usually put up by pharmaceutical companies themselves who stand to lose profits due to the fact that natural substances cannot be patented. Most of today's drugs have originally been sourced from plants and herbs before being concentrated into the forms available today. Therefore the natural sources of these drugs when used properly, cannot possibly cause any harm to the human body.

To conclude, natural antibiotics help to prevent disease, are safe and gentle and can target many drug resistant strains of bacteria. These new "super" pathogens are increasingly becoming a concern, especially in hospitals where they lurk in air-conditioning systems and target patients who may already be suffering with weak immune systems among other medical problems. These wonderful remedies from pants and herbs may well lead the direction of medicine in the future. It may be a good idea for us to start using them now.