Antibiotics are amazing lifesavers.
They fight bacteria and bacterial infections.
And antibiotics also have startling anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer capabilities that are just becoming clear.
But if you are sick, you may not want just to take an antibiotic.
There are drawbacks to taking antibiotics too often.
A big reason not to overuse antibiotics is because bacteria develop an immunity to them.
So the next time you’re ill enough to need the antibiotic, it may not work anymore.
So you may want to lower the infection with a natural method.
Or you may have a bacterial infection that is super serious, such as pneumonia or MRSA, and you may need something MORE than antibiotics.
And here’s one treatment right now in the form of an easily available vitamin –vitamin B2.
Enter vitamin B2 — the little-known immunity enhancer with powerful antibacterial qualities.
Vitamin B2 is also known as riboflavin and the studies that use a form of the vitamin called riboflavin-5-phosphate.
You can buy riboflavin-5-phosphate on Amazon or other sources that are reliable on the web.
Vitamin B2 is normally required by the body, but only in dosages of 1 or 2 milligrams.
People have taken 400 milligrams a day for extended periods of time, or even more, without a problem.
But make sure you read this entire newsletter and talk to your doctor first.
The main danger of taking large amounts of any vitamin is getting it out of balance with other vitamins.
So if you are going to try large amounts of vitamin B2, you should make sure to take plenty of other B vitamins including niacinamide, thiamine, and biotin.
You might want to take a good, high-quality B supplement to help balance things out.
If this study is what it claims to be, you aren’t going to need large amounts of B2 for very long.
And I think it is exactly what it claims to be.
So let’s look at the first B2 study:
In this study, they injected mice with vitamin B2.
Then they challenge the mice with various bacterial infections.
They found that the mice who had received the vitamin B2 injections were able to fight off the infection much more effectively than the mice that had not.
Mice with vitamin B2 were resistant to infection.
The mechanism of action of VB2 for enhancing resistance in mice may be, at least in part, its ability to stimulate the multiplication of neutrophils and monocytes, and to activate macrophages.
The results were striking.
Mice given enough vitamin B2 did not die from the infection.
Mice without the boost in vitamin B2 all died.
And the levels of vitamin B2 required are not really that high.
Plus, vitamin B2 is extremely safe.
Especially for the short-term therapy that you would need to get over a serious bacterial infection.
But there’s more.
Another study showed that a simple amino acid, valine, could enhance the activity of vitamin B2 and make vitamin B2 work that much better.
All mice died in the untreated groups; however, the survival rates in the vitamin B2 (10 mg/kg/6 h) and vitamin B2 plus valine were 45% (P<0.05) and 80% (P<0.05), respectively.
So when given with valine, which is a common amino acid, the vitamin B2 worked even better.
This means that if you have a bacterial infection of any kind, you should seriously consider talking to your doctor about taking vitamin B2 and the amino acid valine.
Both of these are easily available, and not expensive.
They may augment or increase the effectiveness of any antibiotic.
And if your illness is not that serious, you may find that just taking the vitamin B2 and valine is enough.
However, remember not to take my advice for anything without first talking to your doctor before starting or stopping any treatment.
There are potential dangers of Vitamin B2 if you are taking certain medications.
The University of Maryland warns about taking large quantities of B2 if you are taking these medications:
Anticholinergic medications: Doctors use anticholinergic drugs to treat a variety of conditions, including gastrointestinal spasms, asthma, depression, and motion sickness. These drugs may make it hard for the body to absorb riboflavin.
Tetracycline: Riboflavin interferes with the absorption and effectiveness of the antibiotic, tetracycline. All vitamin B-complex supplements act in this way. You should take riboflavin at a different time during the day than when you take tetracycline.
Tricyclic antidepressants: Tricyclic antidepressants may reduce levels of riboflavin in the body. These include:
Imipramine (Tofranil)
Desipramine (Norpramin)
Amitriptyline (Elavil)
Nortriptyline (Pamelor)
Antipsychotic medications: Antipsychotic medications called phenothiazines (such as chlorpromazine, or Thorazine) may lower riboflavin levels.
Doxorubicin: Riboflavin interferes with doxorubicin, a medication used for the treatment of certain cancers. Also, doxorubicin may deplete levels of riboflavin in the body. Your doctor will let you know whether you need to take a riboflavin supplement or not.
Methotrexate: This medication is used to treat cancer and autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. It can interfere with how the body uses riboflavin.
Phenytoin (Dilantin): This medication, used to control seizures, may affect riboflavin levels in the body.
Probenecid: This medication used for gout and may decrease the absorption of riboflavin from the digestive tract and increase how much is lost in the urine.
Thiazide diuretics (water pills): Diuretics that belong to a class known as thiazides, such as hydrochlorothiazide, may cause you to lose more riboflavin in your urine.
There’s another helpful result of vitamin B2.
One thing that kills people who get an infection is shock.
And the mechanism of shock is thought to be a sudden increase in nitric oxide in the body.
Vitamin B2 suppresses the nitric oxide shock symptom.
Look at this life-saving difference in nitric oxide between B2-treatment and without B2:
Yes, vitamin B2, in the form of riboflavin, may be a very important antibacterial a supplement that may replace antibiotics or make the antibiotics more effective.
It doesn’t seem like vitamin B2 is limited to being useful against only a few types of bacteria either.
The study shows that it may work against a wide variety of bacterial infections.
Citations
Enhancement of resistance to bacterial infection in mice by vitamin B2
https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jvms1991/57/4/57_4_599/_pdf
Potentiation by amino acid of the therapeutic effect of highly purified vitamin B2 in mice with lipopolysaccharide-induced shock
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0014299904004042
Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin)
https://umm.edu/Health/Medical-Reference-Guide/Complementary-and-Alternative-Medicine-Guide/Supplement/Vitamin-B2-Riboflavin
Click for more information on Vitamin B2, for information on Vitamins, or for more on how Vitamin B2 acts as an antibacterial.