Natural Remedies Blog Posts

For those of you cilantro lovers, there's an added benefit to this wonder herb. It fights bacteria! A new study suggests that the oil from its seeds (coriander oil)  combats serious bacteria like E. coli and methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). It also combats drug-resistant bugs and those that commonly cause food poisoning.

In this study, Dr. Fernanda Domingues of the University of Beira Interior, in Portugal, and her team tested the effect of coriander oil (which is derived from cilantro) against 12 bacterial strains in the lab. Solutions containing 1.6% coriander or less killed or slowed the growth of all the bacteria tested.

"Coriander oil damages the membrane surrounding the bacterial cell. This disrupts the barrier between the cell and its environment and inhibits essential processes including respiration, which ultimately leads to death of the bacterial cell," explains the Dr. Domingues. Read more...