Herpes good food/bad food response

This is a response to this tumblr post as reblogged by fuckyeahsexeducation. It appears to be sourced from e-how. I have posted each section in the article, then my response below it. 

Foods to Avoid

When a herpes outbreak occurs, you should do your best to avoid foods with a high arginine content. Arginine essentially provides the food necessary for the survival of the herpes virus. High-arginine foods include coffee, chocolate, nuts, oatmeal, raisins, seeds, whole wheat bread, brown rice, coconut and lentils. You should also avoid eating fruits with high citric acid content, such as oranges and grapefruits, during an outbreak. In general, you should avoid processed foods and artificial cola drinks.

This is an area where it's a bit more complicated than you think. Dosage matters. Take over what you should or under and you run into problems. A study by Naito et. al. Found that Arginine suppresses the growth of HSV-1 but only up to 50-60 nM. They also found that it is time dependent and that it doesn't directly interfere with the recurrence of the virus. SO what does this mean? It means that you can have your mocha and not really worry about its effect on your herpes. Should you binge on them? No, but in moderation your coffee, brown rice, whole wheat bread and coconut shouldn't do you any harm. As for the claim about citric acid I couldn't find any studies on that – positive or negative. As far as I can tell this came from nowhere.

Good Foods to Eat

Lysine, on the other hand, serves to combat herpes when an outbreak occurs and helps prevent outbreaks as well. Foods with high lysine content include cheese, chicken, eggs, fish, milk, potatoes, beef, brewer’s yeast, yogurt, sprouts, avocados, papaya, mango, apricots, apples, figs, beets and lamb.

Lysine – according to Griffith et. al. Lysine does indeed seem to suppress the clinical manifestations of herpes virus infection. This means that it helps speed up recovery and helps suppress another outbreak. HOWEVER. These results were found with a daily dose of just over 1,000 mg. The lower dosage studied in McCune et. al. Study on the same therapy (around 600 mg per day) found no results. While consuming these foods might give you an increase in lysine intake – you're better off talking to your doctor about options for when you get an outbreak and how to prevent them. If your doctor agrees that a Lysine dosage might help – they can assist you in getting a safe, reliable dosage so that you don't need to gamble on the unknown dosages you might get from foods. Remember – the amount you take matters. A dose too small might not do anything and a dose too large could do some serious damage. 

Sour

Other Dietary Considerations:

Broccoli, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts contain a compound known as indole-3-carbinol (I3C) that may be effective in suppressing herpes. Green tea is also a good thing to work into your diet, as it contains antiviral and antioxidant properties. Most organic herbal green or white teas are good. Consume lots of sprouts as well, because sprouts contain powerful enzymes and vitamins, even more than the actual vegetables themselves. Try to consume fruits and vegetables in raw form rather than cooking them, as cooked vegetables usually have lower vitamin content. Drinking fresh vegetable and fruit juice can do wonders for the immune system and your overall health. There are also some good enzyme and vitamin supplements on the market that can help control herpes. Vitamin C, B5, B6, zinc, and magnesium are all good choices.

Here's the deal on this portion. Have a healthy diet and you don't need to worry about any of this. Yes, green tea is lovely but the research is mixed, we can't say that it will do any good to help with HSV-1 because we don't have results showing this. Based upon the scant evidence I have been able to find in reliable places I am inclined to lean toward this not helping anything save a very minor effect in oral herpes infections that are currently active. Of course there is a huge placebo effect there still.

“Consume lots of sprouts as well, because sprouts contain powerful enzymes and vitamins, even more than the actual vegetables themselves.” What does this even mean? How can something contain more “powerful enzymes and vitamins” than the actual vegetable? I don't get it.

As for the cooking vegetables claim to somehow reduce the vitamin and mineral content in vegetables the evidence is mixed. The method of cooking, the type of vegetable etc. all make a difference. According to Masrizal et. al. Microwaving or steaming most vegetables retains most of the vitamin C, iron, and beta-carotene content. Other studies, one such conducted by Leichter et. al. Shows that what reduction there is in boiled vegetables is usually merely leached into the water it's boiled in. My conclusion from this? If you want to keep your cauliflower nutrients make a stew or soup out of it and poof, you still have them.

“There are also some good enzyme and vitamin supplements on the market that can help control herpes. Vitamin C, B5, B6, zinc, and magnesium are all good choices.” Or, take your valtrex, and talk to your doctor. If, and only if, you have a vitamin deficiency do you need supplementation and your doctor can help you with that. Otherwise you will merely have at best expensive pee and at worse too much of the vitamin's which can be harmful. Eat a healthy diet, get a bit of sunlight and drink water – the vast majority of people don't need supplements and if anyone other than your doctor (mind you that's a real doctor not a naturopath, herbalist, nutritionist or other such bunk) tells you to take a supplement because you're somehow needing supplementing get a second opinion from your doctor. For some more information about supplements check out the amazing work done by the Science Based Medicine people –  Here,  Here and Here.

As far as the whole “Drinking fresh vegetable and fruit juice can do wonders for the immune system and your overall health.” thing – yeah, fresh vegetable and fruit juice is a great way to get your daily intake of fruits and vegetables but what do they mean 'do wonders for the immune system'? What part of the immune system? How does it help? Does drinking your fruits and vegetables make any difference when compared to eating them? Yes we do need them to help keep up our health but it doesn't do anything different than consuming those particular edibles would anyway. You need the nutrients and your stomach isn't particularly picky about how it gets them. The immune system is complicated and saying things like it 'can do wonders for the immune system' is an immediate red flag for something not to take particularly seriously. Especially without a decent citation.

Other:

I took a look at the citations e-how provided (which don't show up on the tumblr story) and they were sketchy to say the least. Is it surprising that “global herbal supplies” is recommending supplements? Or that the naturopath over at herpes coldsores has a whole host of diet changes with no supporting evidence to recommend? Or that a site flogging books and herbs is recommending something similar with a similar level of evidence? I'll stick with the literature. I personally get oral cold sores and have my whole life, I do indeed practice what I preach and go to the doctor (again – a real one, a MD) when I have an outbreak. She gives me Valtrex – my outbreak goes away in a day or two. It's a virus, we have it for life and pseudoscience trying to persuade us to change our quality of life on the abstract hope that we can somehow prevent an outbreak is ridiculous. Go with the evidence, talk to your doctor and work with them to manage your progress. If you think you are deficient in a vitamin – again, talk to your doctor. There are simple tests that can be done to see and if you are a proper, safe supplement can be prescribed. Thanks to the lack of regulation in the supplement industry on the shelf pills may not actually contain what they are claiming. Some have been seen to have more or less of the dosage, some have other contaminates in them, some herbal supplements have even been found to have high levels of heavy metals. You can take your chances – I'll stick to something that is regulated and has been tested. Overall it comes down to your choice – do you go with something that isn't proven, has clear biases in the recommendations, and isn't regulated well or tested, regulated medicine given by a properly trained MD?

Have evidence I missed? Let me know. I would love to be wrong.

Sources:

Leichter et. Al - http://agris.fao.org/agris-search/search/display.do?f=1981/US/US81054.xml;US7940855

Masrizal et. Al - http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1745-4557.1997.tb00483.x/abstract

Griffity et. al. A multicentered study of lysine terapy in Herpes simplex infection. Dermatologica. 1978;156(5):257-67.

McCune et. al. Treatment of recurrent herpes simplex infections with L-lysine monohydrochloride. Cutis. 1984 Oct; 34(4):366-73.

Naito et. al. Antiviral effect of arginine against herpes simplex virus type 1. Int. J Mol Med. 2009 Apr;23(4):495-9.

On Passing

Why do so many trans sites and trans people seem so concerned with “passing?” I don't get it and yet I fall prey to it as well. Sometimes the overarching concern is to be attributed as cis but sometimes the effort seems to be in deliberately being either misgendered or confusing. I know the second part if a choice (though in my gender classes I have felt pressure to 'show' my gender fluidity, which is ridiculous) but it's the first one, the pressure to be attributed as cisgender that really gets me.

I understand wanting to appear cis for safety reasons. There is a huge privilege you gain by being perceived as a part of the typical cis binary. This helps smooth the way in so many ways that cis people likely don't realize. Just not having the thread of being harmed, verbally or physically, by appearing cis (or at least lessening that threat) is likely worth it for many trans and non-binary people. There isn't anything wrong with choosing to accept a certain level of misgendering and dysphoria for safety reasons. That being said, it is an individuals choice to make and one which shouldn't be a decision which others try to influence.

Unfortunately the pressure to 'pass' is something that a lot of people, trans and cis both, put on trans people who aren't passing or who don't 'fir' a mold for their identity. For example, currently the 'in' thing for gender queer people is a kind of hardcore androgyny. Those who don't fit that are questioned to see if they are “real” gender queers or if they are faking it. Unfuck that, a person's gender expression doesn't necessarily equate to their gender identity for one and for two holy no true Scotsman fallacy badman. They aren't “real” gender queers if they don't “fit” a preset idea of what a gender queer person “should” be. That's bullshit flat out. The range of “acceptable” presentation for cis males and especially cis females is massive. Why do those who aren't cis and who aren't binary have such a narrow range of acceptance?

Just look at the difference between a cis female and a trans female. The cis person can range in gender expression from a super femininity to the most hardcore butch and they are still accepted as female. Their femininity, may be questioned, their orientation may be questioned, but almost never their gender. Now for the trans person, unless their gender expression is what is typically considered feminine or they pass well and no one knows their trans history their gender is regularly questioned and is often rejected, even by other trans people. Hell, likely especially by other trans people. I have heard more trans people accuse those of us who aren't trying to pass of “making trans people look bad.” No we aren't, those who insist on being in a box of trans expressions with no deviations are.

This behavior is ridiculous, those who are trans have every gender expression represented just as cis people do but this policing of what is a “true” trans or gender queer or neutrois expression is just horizontal oppression and merely perpetuates the idea that if you don't “fit” you are other. As a whole trans* people are already showing that cis ideals aren't working, non-binary people are showing that binarist ideals aren't working. Rather than accepting that peoples expression needs to “fit” to their gender identity we need to allow for people to express themselves and their gender how they feel is right for them not for some ideal of gender. The cis privilege of gender expression needs to be taken up by trans* people. No matter your gender identity cis male or trans gender queer you should not be condemned for your choice of expression of that gender. We need to move away form this oppressive dialogue of passing and allow people to freely express who they are.

Let's talk about Sex

Don't get your hopes up, I am not meaning intercourse. Lets talk about bodies and what our brains tell us our bodies should be. The hypothesis I am working on when it comes to sex has it broken down into a couple of different areas as I outlined in my last post. These are (C)ASAB, Sex Identity, Sex Attribution and Body Map Fluidity. I am not entirely sure that this is what will end up as sticking in this category but it's a place to start. I'll go into more detail on each of the categories then go into ideas on how to do the research for this and potentially how it can be used.

(C)ASAB stands for (Coercively) assigned sex at birth. This can be assigned female at birth (AFAB), assigned male at birth (AMAB) or assigned intersex at birth which is then typically coercively assigned female or male following that designation. A lot of people in the non-binary and trans* communities are not only unhappy that they were assigned a gender at birth but that people seem to reduce us to our CASAB rather than listen to us when we give our gender. This is the only construct that is entirely stable for everyone, as each person has been assigned a sex at birth.

Sex Identity is if your internal body map matches your body, as well as if you plan on altering your body to better match your body map. This can be broken down into three categories. Cis sexual is where your body map and your body match. Trans sexual is where your body map and your body don't match and you have, or plan to have surgery or take hormones to align your body and map. Trans* sexual is where your body map and body don't match and you don't have plans to align your body either because you don't feel the need or can't do so. This body map and body match doesn't entirely have to do with sexual characteristics, it can also be other major aspects of your body. For example, a person who is a furry may have a body map that has a tail and since their body doesn't they may be considered trans* sexual.

Sex Attribution is what other people attribute your sex identity (usually assumed to be your asab) to be. This varies depending on the social context, but the majority of people will assume someone to be their asab or what they think is your asab. In other social contexts this might not be as likely but most people don't know what a trans* background might entail.

Body Map Fluidity is the final category under sex and is the amount that a persons internal body map fluctuates over time. Some people will have very stable body maps, where their idea of what their body should look like doesn't change much over time. People whose body map changes every so often will have a small amount of body map fluidity, people whose body map changes a decent skamount, enough to be noticeable on a regular basis would have a moderate amount of body map fluidity. The final group that has a high body map fluidity would have their map change quite often and regularly feel that change.

There isn't a lot of research to be done into ASAB as it is an assignation rather than something which will change over time. My research into sex identity will need to be in the form of surveys and interviews where I ask people about their body map, their body, and what they identify with for their sex (cis, trans, trans* etc.). This would need to be done with a sample of people who are cis as well as people who aren't. Sex attribution would need for me to have a group of people determine what someone's sex identity is based off of sight. This would need to be done with a number of people from a variety of backgrounds who would be viewing people who have cis, trans and trans* backgrounds. Body map fluidity could go in a number of ways. This could be done retrospectively by asking people about how often their body map changes or by having people regularly journal on their body map and any changes in it over a long period of time. The second one may need to be done after a retrospective survey is done so that there is a better idea of how often peoples body maps change.

What can be done with this information? To be honest I am not sure, if this system is found to be true with research then measures may be able to be developed which can help a therapist get a better picture of what a client is going experiencing. This also helps legitimize a person's body dysphoria by acknowledging it and respecting its legitimacy. This information would likely be most useful as a part of a complete picture of a persons gender and sex rather then standing on its own.