Cold Sore Treatment - What Foods Cause and Cure Cold Sores?

Avoiding foods in your diet that are high in arginine can help you greatly if you suffer from repeated cold sores.

The herpes simplex virus causes cold sores as a side-effect of its replication process. The main protein needed during replication is arginine.

If you get two or three (or more) cold sores per year, then this information can be of great help to you.

Our diet is one of top three causes of frequent cold sores. Most food choices contain many proteins. The two that have a serious affect on cold sores is arginine and lysine.

First, let us understand what actually causes cold sore ulcers.

The herpes simplex virus is a sub-microscopic particle. It is a parasite type germ that cannot reproduce itself. It enters a nerve cell at the surface of your face and forces the cell to create new herpes viruses.

It is almost like science fiction.

The original herpes virus must eventually kill the cell to release its evil offspring - which then looks for new victims. It is the destruction of many cells that forms the open crater we call a cold sore.

Arginine is the primary protein used to create new herpes simplex virus. Arginine has many good uses in your body too.

Your cells store arginine in a special area within the cell.

You may have heard of lysine. It is a similar protein that is also important for many body functions and is stored in the same area within your cells as arginine.

Lysine does not support creation of new virus any more than water will support fire.

Reducing the amount of available arginine in your cells can make those cells off-limits to a herpes virus infection. This will stop current cold sores fast, and prevent new ones.

You can accomplish this in a couple ways.

You can reduce stored arginine by reducing high arginine food in your diet. You can also flood your cells with lysine, thus forcing out arginine from the storage area.

Here is a short list of foods that contain higher levels of arginine.

1. Legumes and nuts - this includes tree nuts

2. Oysters and clams (most shell-fish)

3. Cocoa and chocolate

4. Oats and wheat

5. Seeds such as sunflower and sesame

Most vegetables are neutral because they contain nearly equal amounts of both lysine and arginine. Squash, carrots and rutabagas are three vegetables to watch though.

Avoiding the above foods will help, but may not be healthy for many people. Increasing your lysine intake will often accomplish the same results by flooding the cells with lysine.

If you get frequent cold sores, try adding more of these high lysine foods to your diet.

1. Dairy products - cheese, yogurt and milk (especially Wisconsin dairy products)

2. Fish - particularly Flounder. Flounder is amazingly rich in lysine - the highest of any known food.

3. Apples - always great no matter what ails you

4. Chicken, eggs, beef - but not pork

It may be impossible for you to change your diet in any way. Perhaps you don't eat meat. Maybe you are allergic to dairy.

The best solution for you - and most people - is lysine supplements. Most people that use lysine as a cold sore treatment prefer 500 milligram lysine capsules. Capsules dissolve quickly.

Lysine is an inexpensive supplement found anywhere you find vitamins.

Lysine is very safe, even in large doses. For example, if you eat one pound (454 grams) of Flounder, you will get the equivalent of about 28 lysine capsules.

Most people take about six to eight capsules per day - from the first indication of a new cold sore event until totally resolved.

Lysine is a powerful cold sore treatment. Many folks use this therapy - and nothing more - with great success.

Sometimes a cold sore treatment, such as this, will not work as well for you as someone else. Do not be disappointed.

You simply may have to search for additional remedies. But, lysine should be your base. It will help you a lot in fighting cold sores no matter what other cold sore treatment you use.