[Mirage]

Well Mirage, then try "bagna cauda" next weekend...
I found an original British recipe for you:

http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/commercial/2006/04/28/Bagna_Cauda_128.jpg

Bagna Cauda
Recipe 1: pre-dinner nibbles
Wednesday May 10, 2006 - Guardian Unlimited

Bagna Cauda is a traditional and very popular dish throughout Italy, that you would serve as your guests arrive for a meal with an aperitif. There are thousands of versions, as each family will do it slightly differently, but this is Giorgio's favourite way of making it.
Bagna Cauda
2 tins of anchovies in olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, finely sliced
Very good quality extra virgin olive oil, preferably from Liguria
Vegetables, enough for all your guests, the below should be enough for around ten people:
2 heads of fennel
4 carrots
4 to 6 spring onions
2 to 3 red and yellow peppers
2 to 3 Swiss chard leaves
A few artichokes

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/audio/seedsofchange/story/0,,1771878,00.html

http://www.cuneoannunci.it/img/news/BAGNA%20CAUDA.jpg

ikod

Thanks iko, will definitely have to have a look  []

[Karen W.]

How do you serve the ingredients do you grind up the anchovies as I can't stand the thought of anchovies do you make a paste or sauce out of it?

[iko (OP)]

How do you serve the ingredients do you grind up the anchovies as I can't stand the thought of anchovies do you make a paste or sauce out of it?

Salted anchovies (not the ones kept in oil) should be used.
You wash off the salt and cut them to little bits.
Olive oil should be "extra-vergine" of the best quality.
The anchovies melt in hot olive oil together with the garlic bits...
...and make a sauce! Some people add milk or cream, but you'd
spoil the healthy recipe doing that.
Plus lots of veggies, red wine and nice friends around,
it is a gorgeous treat!

http://www.carpani.net/foto/bagna_caoda_2003/dscn4603.thumb.jpg

ikod

P.S. I was impressed by that bipolar chart too...a similar one is in the book:
"The omega-3 connection" by Andrew Stoll, a pharmacology researcher.
Those data are being revisited now, and a final answer is still pending.

Fish oil contains omega-3
Fish LIVER oil contains vitamin A and D plus omega-3.
So if you want lots of omega-3 without too much (toxic doses) of vit. A&D, you go for fish oils.

[Karen W.]

That is very interesting. I really hate fish most of it.. Neil has me convinced to try smoked salmon again as an adult so I bout some the other day and will try it. Anchovies yuck, but I might try to taste them... I don't know not while I am sick for sure!LOL

[iko (OP)]

Don't poison yourself for my silly recipes! [xx(]
Many people cannot stand fishfood...
They survive thanks to CLO! [] [)]  (joke)
We italians too are meat eaters mainly;
fish is a treat even for the lucky ones
who live close to the sea! So we seem to get
bipolar disorders just like the other countries.

Enjoy your experiments []

ikod

[Karen W.]

I like certain Imatation crab, some shrimp, clams and Some white cod mosatly alaskan.. I have just had some that was too fishy indeed! Like Venison when it is not cured or hung immediately, right, It gets that wild gamey flavor! Yuck! So I am willing to try new things since I was a younster when I found mostly to dislike most fish.. I have tried some but not many since!

[iko (OP)]

Maybe the miracle cure is right under your nose?

by Tom Arneberg, Community Columnist

...What is the scientific basis for the healing power of garlic?
Garlic is a natural antibiotic that kills infecting bacteria. The forefather of antibiotic medicine, Louis Pasteur, acknowledged garlic to be effective, and later studies have shown activity similar to a more modern antibiotic, chloramphenicol.

Unlike modern antibiotics, garlic needs no prescription. And it's cheap, so we don't even need universal health care to partake. There are many other purported health benefits of garlic, regarding cholesterol, blood pressure, and so on. But for me, it's worth it even if the only advantage is getting sick less.
...
 
click here to read more:

http://arneberg.com/columns/ch/2003/0827.garlic.html

http://arneberg.com/columns/ch/2003/pics/0827.garlic/garlic1.gif

Isolation of alliumin, a novel protein with antimicrobial
and antiproliferative activities from multiple-cloved garlic bulbs.

Xia L, Ng TB.
Dept.Biochemistry, Faculty of Med.,The Chinese Univ. of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong, China.

A protein designated alliumin, with a molecular mass of 13 kDa and an N-terminal sequence similar to a partial sequence of glucanase, and demonstrating antifungal activity against Mycosphaerella arachidicola, but not against Fusarium oxysporum, was isolated from multiple-cloved garlic (Allium sativum) bulbs. The protein, designated as alliumin, was purified using ion exchange chromatography on DEAE-cellulose, CM-cellulose and Mono S, affinity chromatography on Affi-gel blue gel, and gel filtration on Superdex 75. Alliumin was unadsorbed on DEAE-cellulose, but was adsorbed on Affi-gel blue gel, CM-cellulose and Mono S. Its antifungal activity was retained after boiling for 1 h and also after treatment with trypsin or chymotrypsin (1:1, w/w) for 30 min at room temperature. Alliumin was inhibitory to the bacterium Pseudomonas fluorescens and exerted antiproliferative activity toward leukemia L1210 cells. However, it was devoid of ribonuclease activity, protease activity, mitogenic activity toward mouse splenocytes, and antiproliferative activity toward hepatoma Hep G2 cells.

Peptides. 2005 Feb;26(2):177-83.
L1210 = murine lymphoblastic leukemia cell line.

[Karen W.]

THanks Iko, I did not know that.. I love garlic, but had no idea!!

[iko (OP)]

HEE HEE HEE, LOL I KNOW I LOVE GARLIC! I KNow nothing about Cod Liver oil except what little I have read and my Grandma used to use it for something, but I can't remember what!

May be she took it for her... MEMORY!

What did I say?
Where is your Granny?
Where are my glasses?
Which topic is this?

Ikoded  []

[Karen W.]

HEE HEE HEE, LOL I KNOW I LOVE GARLIC! I KNow nothing about Cod Liver oil except what little I have read and my Grandma used to use it for something, but I can't remember what!

May be she took it for her... MEMORY!

What did I say?
Where is your Granny?
Where are my glasses?
Which topic is this?

Ikoded  []

You could be right, though my gran had an excellent memory and an excellent insight to go woth it! She was very very intelligent! I wish my trap(Brain) had the recall and knowledge hers did! Perhaps it was the Cod liver oil! LOL

[iko (OP)]

Garlic Miracle

   
http://www.forskning.no/Bilder/1072702966.5/1072702966.5_content.JPG
http://www.uel.ac.uk/marketing/news/local_artwork/14.jpg
http://www.molecularlab.it/public/news/_20061229_E.%20coli%20O157%20H7-2.jpg

The ingredient which gives garlic its distinctive smell is the latest weapon in the battle to beat the hospital "superbug" MRSA.
University of East London researchers found allicin treated even the most antibiotic-resistant strains of the infection. MRSA (Methecillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) causes an estimated 2,000 deaths in UK hospitals each year. Researchers are now testing allicin products in a six-month study.

Dr Ron Cutler and his team discovered the effectiveness of allicin in laboratory tests five years ago. They found it can cure MRSA within weeks. It is even effective against the newer strains which cannot be treated by the "last line of defense" antibiotics Vancomycin and Glycopeptides. For treating infections the team have developed a nasal cream, pills and soaps. The effect of the treatment was dramatic on Deborah Brown, the first patient.
Initial trials have proved effective, so researchers will now test them in a six-month study of 200 volunteers including healthcare workers and patients. The scientists hope the products will be used by people working in hospitals so they can prevent MRSA being passed on to patients, as well as the patients themselves.

MRSA organisms can live harmlessly in humans, carried in the nasal passages and on the skin, but they can cause fatal infections in immune-suppressed patients, the elderly, the young and those with surgical implants. Dr Cutler told BBC News Online: "My aim would be to firstly work to try and reduce the carriage of MRSA amongst healthcare workers.

"But we would also hope to use allicin treatments for patients themselves." He added: "The trials we have conducted so far show that this formulation is highly effective against MRSA, and it could save many l ives. "MRSA is causing a genuine crisis in our hospital system in Britain and worldwide. Antibiotics are increasingly ineffective, but we do have a powerful natural ally.

"Plant compounds have evolved over millions of years as chemical defense agents against infection. "Garlic has been used in medicine for centuries, and it should be no surprise that it is effective against this very modern infection."

'Incredibly painful' Deborah Brown, 34, from Rainham in Kent, contracted MRSA after a major spinal operation in November 2000. Painful wounds on her spine failed to heal for two years, despite using the antibiotics and creams currently available. But within two months of using the allicin creams and pills, her MRSA had virtually cleared and the wounds had begun to heal. She said: "The effect of the treatment was dramatic - I am making a good recovery - but it was really awful at the time. "Having weeping wounds on my back that never healed was incredibly painful and I became increasingly depressed as the MRSA didn't respond to repeated courses of antibiotics.
"If my case helps to show that allicin works against MRSA then I am glad that something good might come of it." The research is to be published in the Journal of Biomedical Science next year.

January 27, 2004

from:  Garlic 'beats hospital superbug'!!! 
http://fourwinds10.com/NewsServer/ArticleFunctions/ArticleDetails.php?ArticleID=5136

Antibacterial activity of a new, stable, aqueous extract of allicin
against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

Cutler RR, Wilson P.
University of East London, School of Health and Bioscience, Stratford Campus, Romford Road, London E15 4LZ, UK. r.cutler@uel.ac.uk

The increasing prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in hospitals and the community has led to a demand for new agents that could be used to decrease the spread of these bacteria. Topical agents such as mupirocin have been used to reduce nasal carriage and spread and to treat skin infections; however, resistance to mupirocin in MRSAs is increasing.
Allicin is the main antibacterial agent isolated from garlic, but natural extracts can be unstable. In this study, a new, stable, aqueous extract of allicin (extracted from garlic) is tested on 30 clinical isolates of MRSA that show a range of susceptibilities to mupirocin. Strains were tested using agar diffusion tests, minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC). Diffusion tests showed that allicin liquids produced zone diameters >33 mm when the proposed therapeutic concentration of 500 microg/mL (0.0005% w/v) was used. The selection of this concentration was based on evidence from the MIC, MBC and agar diffusion tests in this study. Of the strains tested, 88% had MICs for allicin liquids of 16 microg/mL, and all strains were inhibited at 32 microg/mL. Furthermore, 88% of clinical isolates had MBCs of 128 microg/mL, and all were killed at 256 microg/mL. Of these strains, 82% showed intermediate or full resistance to mupirocin; however, this study showed that a concentration of 500 microg/mL in an aqueous cream base was required to produce an activity equivalent to 256 microg/mL allicin liquid.

Br J Biomed Sci. 2004;61(2):71-4.

[Seany]

To your above post.

I've read in a newspaper, about 2-3 weeks ago, that the honey from a bumble bee could be used to cure this superbug in hospitals.

[iko (OP)]

Hi Seany,

You are a rather sharp reader and have a good memory too...
Were you fed cod liver oil as a kid?    []
Manuka honey is promising a lot these days,
if you want to read more:  http://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=5254.25

This topic is getting a lot of viewers, together with 'oregano oil', its twin-topic.

ikod

[Seany]

Meh,.. No. My mum eats cod liver oil pills though.. I felt it, and it's all, squishy. Hehe

Thanks Iko for the link.

[paul.fr]

Hi Seany,

You are a rather sharp reader and have a good memory too...
Were you fed cod liver oil as a kid?    []
Manuka honey is promising a lot these days,
if you want to read more:  http://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=5254.25

This topic is getting a lot of viewers, together with 'oregano oil', its twin-topic.

ikod

Iko, what can you find in your medical data base on ETS 1153. this can supposidly cure MRSA

[iko (OP)]

Hi Paul,

thanks for eTS-1153.
Of course I didn't know anything about it...now me found:
..."The brand name of the drug, ETS 1153, which is currently prescribed for another condition, has not been revealed for commercial reasons."
from the Guardian 2007     http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1991829,00.html

They say it will take some months...
We'll go to the grocery in the meantime!  []

ikod

BTW I enjoy this topic, so decided to move it to Complementary Med.

[Seany]

LOL~~! You can probably find it somewhere though..

[iko (OP)]

Hi everybody,

I moved most of the garlicky abstracts for a proper scientific debate
to Complementary Medicine (see Garlic Miracle topic).
I still have to give it a proper 'shape' to stimulate our viewers...

http://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=7257.0

I hope to read here some more hints on the recreational side of this issue:
little funny stories, recipes, and various annotations are welcome.
Again, thanks to this forum, what began like a silly joke,
over the posts it showed a very serious scientific side.
Excellent for a discussion.

ikod  [^]

http://croce-delizia.com/CroceFiles/jpg/bagna%20cauda.jpg

...have some 'bagna cauda' while you wait for new posters!

[iko (OP)]

I just found these funny garlic notes!

http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/g/garlic_gifts.asp

http://www.stii.dost.gov.ph/sntpost/NewPOST/JanMar2006/images/garlic.jpg