We all made fun of South Africa's Thabo Mbeki when he recommended beetroot, garlic and other herbs to combat HIV. Turns out, we have no reason. It did happen here, on primetime TV.
No mate, post a precise link. This one goes nowhere and I still don't believe you.
But that has nothing to do with HIV, neither do garlic and beetroot have anything to do with nitric oxide.
"Potent activation of nitric oxide synthase by garlic: a basis for its therapeutic applications."
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7555034
...
Whether nitric oxide has much to do with health is anothre question. I believe one of the reasons viagra works is due to nitric oxide, so perhaps it's we should be viagring instead.
And we're taking purified alicin at nearly toxic doses. In vitro. Yes, garlic can kill. And it was described to be active in vascular tissue not lungs.
Now Viagra is an interesting bet, but it also does not reach lungs or non-vascular cells.
Other poster is apparently talking about https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIV/AIDS_denialism_in_South_Af...
For any virus. I didn't say it was safe or effective, I said there is a plausible mechanism of action.
"Nitric Oxide Inhibits the Replication Cycle of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus"
https://jvi.asm.org/content/79/3/1966
...
Enhancing NO signaling in cells is hard. The best initial bet there would be using certain class of beta-blockers. (Ones typically used for black patients.) But please do not take unproven drugs with known side effects.
The paper is talking about S-nitroso-N-acetylpenicillamine in vitro. This compound is not something anyone wants to actually take.
NO evidence is pretty weak for COVID. Even if it was true, we’d give NO or other related compounds and certainly not unregulated dietary supplements.
Garlic is literally one of the most widely used medical treatments in the entire world. It's used medically by 0.8% of all US adults, according to the NIH.
https://nccih.nih.gov/research/statistics/NHIS/2012/natural-...
It's use was advocated for my Hippocrates. You know, the "father of medicine" guy.
It is listed below echinacea and cranberry pills (two supplements with substantial evidence for NON-efficacy) on the National Institute for Complementary and Alternative Medicine’s ranking of SUPPLEMENTS taken in the US. If it was real effective medicine, it wouldn’t be considered an “alternative” medicine (a polite phrase for horseshit).
Do you realize how ridiculous that is as evidence for anything? The fact that misguided people buy it in supplement form does not mean it is a treatment for anything, let alone COVID. People also buy lots of Diet Coke.
And then to top it off you reference Hippocrates (literally thousands of years ago). Did you know most Med schools don’t even take the Hippocratic oath any longer? Do you believe that doctors should treat people by keeping the 4 humors in balance?
Completely ridiculous
Knowing what people are using medically is critically important, regardless of whether you think they should be using it or not.
It is not a "medical" treatment unless it treats, prevents, or otherwise modifies some actual disease or state of health.
I agree it is important to know what ridiculous, non-evidence-based dietary supplements people are taking.
Regardless, you can't get out of your extremely irresponsible claims by arguing about semantics.
Please stop giving anyone your incompetent and potentially harmful medical advice. Luckily most people with COVID won't try to treat it with garlic supplements alone because they aren't stupid, but you have to realize that in panic-inducing times like this people might actually take your advice and you could end up with blood on your hands.
How does saying "there is a plausible mechanism of" qualify as either irresponsible or medical advice?
> you have to realize that in panic-inducing times like this people might actually take your advice and you could end up with blood on your hands.
What advice? I literally haven't offered any advice.
You have claimed 1) there is plausible evidence for garlic (no) 2) garlic is a widely used medicine (no)
On the basis of those claims it is quite easy to see how you are suggesting people take garlic. Classic motte-and-bailey argument strategy.
Convenient that you also dropped discussion of “beet root”