Food In Focus: Oregano

Really? The flaky dried stuff you might sprinkle on your pizza? What can I really say about oregano? A lot actually! This is one herb that comes with an impressive resume. I’m going to so far as to say it’s one herb that everyone should keep in their home. That’s a bold statement and I’m prepared to back it up. First, oregano contains a variety of substances that can do everything from help dispel worms and parasites to shorten and alleviate the common cold. How? Oregano’s components are antiviral, anti-fungal, antibiotic, anti-parasitic, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant. I’m sure there are a few “antis” that I missed. Basically, it helps rid the body of things that are not supposed to be there. And that’s cool with me. I’ve used oil of oregano (a concentrated extract of oregano) and can tell you that it does in fact help you kick colds faster. Considering the fact that more and more antibiotics are becoming less effective against more resistant viruses etc, it might make the most sense to consider looking to your produce aisles and supplement stores rather than downing prescription antibiotics (unless absolutely needed) which many docs are oftentimes too quick to hand out. Granted, that’s just my opinion as I’m certainly not a doctor.

All that aside, what you might find most interesting are the things I discovered first hand when taking oil of oregano that I didn’t expect; after all, I was only looking to help kick a cold faster. First, oil of oregano is a pretty strong diuretic. I had no idea that taking it would have a diuretic effect until I found myself peeing like crazy and searching “oil of oregano diuretic” on the internet. Low and behold, diuresis is a common effect of supplementing with oregano. Surprise! Another thing I experienced was that it caused my digestion to work more efficiently. My appetite was slightly increased and I had less bloating after large protein meals. Again, to my surprise, oil of oregano is known to increase bile flow and in turn, benefit digestion. This also increased the frequency of my bowel movements. Pretty unique considering most synthetic diuretics will cause constipation and have an overall negative effect on digestion. Two things often happen to physique competitor post contest after they go through a period of water depletion and “drying out”: constipation and a massive fluid rebound in the form of edema. I can tell you that I successfully avoided both of these my last time out by supplementing with 500 mg oil of oregano for a few days following my contests. Pretty cool. And now that I’m putting together a post-contest detox protocol, considering how well the oregano worked to stimulate bile flow and move the bowels in addition to it’s laundry list of “anti” properties, I’m thinking it might fit nicely as part of that regimen. I’ll keep you posted. - Evan Centopani