The candy that stops
infection, protects your liver, and helps digestion

I always tell my patients and readers to avoid candy. The sugar content is terrible for your body in more ways than you can imagine. But there is one type of candy that can actually help your body. In fact, it can stop infections, protect your liver, help digestion, and more.

Burns and cuts, aside from the discomfort and inconvenience, have another risk — infection. Any time you break the skin, it provides a portal of entry for some nasty infections. This can include the notorious MRSA (antibiotic resistant staph). Burns fare even worse. Unlike a cut, burns kill a larger surface of cells, which leaves a culture medium for germs. A recent study says candy (or a derivative of it) can stop the infections.

In the study, researchers used three groups of mice, normal (placebo), burned and untreated, burned and treated. The treatment they gave was glycyrrhizin or gly, an extract of licorice root. They knew that healthy skin makes peptides (short proteins) as a defense against bacteria. These peptides can punch holes in the membranes of bacteria, like popping a balloon. The burned and untreated mice had immature white blood cells that were unable to mount a resistance in the burned skin. And they had no detectable bacterial killing peptides.

However, the mice the researchers treated with gly not only showed mature infection-fighting cells, but also the critical antibacterial peptides.

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I love research like this. It's extremely practical information that can help you in your home or in the hospital (where infections can kill you). But it's unlikely the hospital will give you this wonderful candy treatment. They're too hooked on Big Pharma pills.

But you don't have to wait for your doctor to offer you this treatment. Gly is readily available in health food stores and on the Internet. It might be good to have some in your medicine cabinet — and in your purse. Gly also soothes upset stomachs and heals damaged stomachs. It can even protect your liver and support your adrenal function.

My favorite brand is Rhizinate, which you can find just about anywhere. Search for the best price. They even have a tasty German chocolate flavor. Consider taking one to two chewable tablets twice daily. The manufacturer has removed the licorice compounds that can elevate blood pressure. But if you're considering it for long-term use, please keep an eye on your blood pressure. There is the small possibility that the product could raise your pressure.

Yours for better health and medical freedom,

Ref: ScienceDaily, January 4, 2010.