There are foods that can cause cold sores - and foods items that can also prevent them. Fact is, what your diet choices have a big affect on cold sore healing and prevention.
This short article does not provide meal recipes. It will reveal to you the different foods you need to pay attention to if you suffer from cold sores.
WHAT CAUSES THE COLD SORE?
Cold sores are the collateral damage caused by the replication process of the herpes simplex virus.
Unlike bacteria, the herpes simplex virus can't reproduce its own kind. In parasite fashion, it enters your surface nerve cells and makes the cells build new virus copies.
Once the cell becomes full or is exhausted, the virus destroys it to spill out millions of fresh herpes simplex virus. This destruction of a large number of cells in close proximity causes the open cold sore wound.
AMINO ACIDS LYSINE AND ARGININE.
Arginine and lysine are quite common protein fractions (amino acids) found in most foods. They play a big role in cold sore development.
Herpes simplex virus is made up of primarily arginine. The herpes virus can't replicate without sufficient arginine in the host cells. Your cells have specific receptors for arginine storage.
Lysine is very similar to arginine but cannot be used as a protein for building herpes simplex virus. Also, lysine shares the same storage area in the cells with arginine.
Flooding your cells with lysine will push much of the arginine out, making it impossible for that cell to create herpes virus particles. This will stop cold sores, heal them quickly and prevent future outbreaks.
HIGH LYSINE FOODS HELP STOP COLD SORE EVENTS.
Although most food items contain both lysine and arginine, they may contain more of one than the other. The recipe for success here is eating foods that are higher in lysine. A ratio of 2 to 1 - lysine over arginine - is preferred for cold sore control.
High lysine foods in this category include most meat, fish and other seafood (avoid pork). Dairy products and eggs are excellent sources of lysine. This includes cheese and yogurt.
If you like fish, you are in luck. Flounder is a great eating experience and provides the highest levels of lysine we have seen. You will get an unbelievable 14,000 milligrams of lysine per 450 grams (16 ounces) of flounder.
Some folks have reported a one-time serving (450 grams) of flounder quickly gets rid of cold sores.
FOOD ITEMS THAT MAY ENCOURAGE COLD SORES.
Foods that tend to encourage cold sores are high arginine foods.
Avoid nuts, beans and seeds of all sorts. This includes almonds, walnuts, cashews, peanuts and sunflower seeds. Grains, especially oats, are high arginine food items.
Most vegetables are borderline in that they contain almost equal amounts of lysine and arginine. If you are prone to cold sores, eating vegetables could provide a little too much arginine.
Chocolate is loaded with arginine. Ouch!
BALANCING LYSINE AND ARGININE.
Using food alone to flood your cells with cold sore preventing lysine can be quite a challenge. Many of the foods that you are tempted to avoid are essential to your optimum health.
Do not give up nutritious food products, such as vegetables, legumes, nuts and seeds. Instead increase your intake of high lysine foods so that, at the end of the day, your diet balances out to higher levels of lysine.
Or you can do what many cold sore victims do - take lysine supplements. These supplements are cheap and easy to find. This way you don't have to change your diet.
Lysine supplements come in 500-milligram capsules or tablets. During a cold sore, many folks will take 4000 to 5000 milligrams of lysine - spread throughout the day. This will usually stop a cold sore and heal it very quickly.
We know that arginine and lysine are major players in the cold sore arena. If you find that lysine therapy does not work as well as you would like, do what others have done - try combining it with other good, proven cold sore treatment methods.
