Athlete’s foot can be an annoying, persistent nuisance. But you can relieve the itching and burning with a natural, do-it-yourself cure.
You can treat it with garlic.
The name for athlete’s foot is a bit of a misnomer. You don’t have to be an athlete, run or jump to contract this fungal infection on your feet and between your toes. All you have to do is step barefoot on a wet floor anywhere to pick up the spores that reproduce and cause this irritating condition.
If you go to the pharmacy for a treatment, you’ll find a wide range of topical drugs, creams and ointments that are supposed to make athlete’s foot go away. While many of these remedies seem to work, too often, after your treatment ends, this stubborn infection returns.
However, the traditional cure of athlete’s foot, garlic, has now been substantiated by medical research. (It usually takes a while for conventional medicine to catch up with what traditional healers have known for centuries.)
Studies shows that substances in garlic called ajoene and allicin kill the fungus that causes athlete’s foot – and can also wipe out other problematic fungi like Candida.
“Garlic has long been considered a powerful natural antifungal,” Lawrence D. Rosen, chief of pediatric integrative medicine at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey tells The New York Times. Rosen, a doctor who frequently turns to alternative medicine for his patients, notes that he often uses garlic against a variety of infections.
To treat athlete’s foot, you can give yourself a foot bath with crushed garlic added to the water. Or you can add olive oil to minced garlic and rub it on the affected areas.
Although garlic smell may not appeal to some, what you may not know is the smell comes from sulphur … but after a few days, your body learns to process it and the smell goes away.
