Antimicrobial sensitivity and resistance development caused by nutraceuticals.

摘要

For centuries, people have used herbal supplements to treat a host of medical ailments. Their use had declined with the discovery of potent pharmaceuticals, however, in recent years, the use of nutraceutical products has seen a huge increase and the industry has grown exponentially. With this increasing use of nutraceutical products, there still remains little knowledge concerning the effects of herbal products on commonly used antibiotics and antimicrobials. These studies were conducted to examine the effects of a small sample of herbal products on antibiotic resistance and sensitivity in bacteria. The herbal products studied were Bee Pollen, Black Walnut, Calendula, Copaiba, Clove, Eucalyptus and Prickly Ash in the form of tinctures, essential oils and 1:1 dilutions of essential oils. Two test strains, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 29213 and Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 were used as representatives of Gram-positive and Gram-negative organisms. These studies showed a thirty-fold increase in the ampicillin MIC values for the Bee Pollen and Prickly Ash exposed Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 29213 as well as a four-fold increase in the Bee Pollen and 1:1 diluted Eucalyptus oil exposed Escherichia coli ATCC 25922. Additionally, a four-fold decrease in tetracycline and norfloxacin MIC values was observed for the Bee Pollen and Prickly Ash exposed Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 29213 and a four-fold decrease in the sulfamethazine MIC values was observed in the Prickly Ash exposed Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 29213. There was neither a substantive increase nor decrease in MIC values for the other products in this study.