COLD SORES- THE CAUSE

COLD SORES, COLD SORES

Question: Doc, what causes outbreaks of cold sores?

Answer:
Cold sores are dependent on your level of health. Also, how you handle stress, and the foods you eat all come into play here.

What causes cold sores for you?

Let's take a look.

1. YOUR HEALTH.
Simply put, the stronger your health, the stronger your immune system and the less you'll ever have to worry about cold sores. The stronger your body's defense system the less likely your herpes virus will wake up and produce cold sores. If you get cold sores frequently, then you really need to upgrade your health level.

You know the basics. Quality high nutrient, high fiber foods, low impact exercise, no smoking, limited alcohol consumption, and sleep. Also, today, it's essential - no matter how good your diet - to take a GOOD vitamin supplement. One that contains a large quantity of B vitamins (considered the anti-stress vitamins) and anti-oxidants to supercharge your immune system and help prevent cold sores.

2. YOUR STRESS.
This includes both physical and mental stress. Keep in mind that mental stress always affects us physically too. Stress is blamed as the No. 1 cause of cold sores outbreaks. Because the herpes cold sores virus lives in the nervous system cells, it's very sensitive to stress changes. You can't avoid all stress in your life, but keeping a high level of health will help you cope with the physical aspects of stress and prevent cold sores.

Some of the main stress events that studies show wake up the cold sores virus are illnesses such as colds (thus the term "cold sores") and fevers (thus the term "fever blisters"). Also physical injuries, dental work, pregnancy, allergies, environmental toxins, medications, or an upcoming event like a wedding or funeral causes cold sores. Weddings are particularly bad for cold sores - high stress over a long period of time.

3. YOUR DIET.
Besides a good diet to improve your general health, take a look at these two amino acids (protein fractions) - lysine and arginine and how they affect cold sores.

Studies have shown that lysine is very much anti-cold sores. Lysine not only helps keep the cold sores virus latent, but also, if already active, will encourage the cold sores virus to go back into hibernation. Foods rich in lysine include eggs, most vegetables, legumes, avocado, chicken, fish, turkey, and ricotta cheese. Additionally, many folks take a lysine supplement. These normally come in a 500 mg. tablet or capsule. During cold sores events, taking 4-6 pills a day seems to help a lot of people. To prevent cold sores many people take a maintenance dosage of 1 - 2 pills.

Arginine, on the other hand, seems to wake up the cold sores virus and encourage it to reproduce. This isn't surprising. Arginine is a little known but very powerful sexual enhancer. Foods that are high in arginine are chocolate, nuts (almonds, cashews, peanuts, and walnuts), sunflower and sesame seeds, grains (oat and wheat), peas, most cheeses except ricotta, milk and pork. Don't avoid these foods - just balance them better with the lysine foods to prevent cold sores. Really - who can avoid chocolate for very long?

I lov chocolate. I just don't make a meal of it (although I could). Chocolate is a treasure trove of nutrients. Excellent for the heart and powerful for the immune system. Enjoy chocolate after a meal and you'll be just fine with your cold sores (unless allergic).

And, I wouldn't worry about lysine foods and arganine foods. Just eat a balanced and healthy variety of foods and you should not see an outbreak of cold sores.

COLD SORES :: COLD SORES INFORMATION