Herpes dietary taboos

There are actually only two types of dietary taboos that are 100% avoidable during a herpes outbreak - the first is alcohol, high added sugar, and high trans fat foods that have been clearly proven to aggravate inflammation, and the second is that you will obviously feel itchy and itchy in the herpes area after eating it. For individuals who are intolerant/allergenic to foods that make the burning sensation worse and redness and swelling faster, there is no unified clinical evidence for the list of magical "hair-raising foods" posted online, and there is no need to blindly avoid them all. Many of the so-called "hair-raising foods" can actually help you speed up your recovery. Whether you have herpes simplex in the corner of your mouth that hurts so much that you dare not grin, or shingles that wraps around your waist and causes nerve pain that makes you unable to sleep, this core principle applies.

I recently treated a 27-year-old girl who had herpes at the corners of her mouth. As soon as herpes appeared on the corners of her mouth, the elderly at home told her that she should not touch eggs, milk, seafood, or pork. She drank plain porridge with pickles for three days. As a result, not only did the herpes not go away, but two more rupture points appeared. It took two weeks to recover. When she went to the follow-up visit, she felt aggrieved and said that she had lost three pounds due to hunger. I asked her if eating eggs would make her itchy or uncomfortable. She shook her head and her mouth had been closed for the past few days.

Speaking of hair, this is actually a typical point where the cognitive differences between Chinese and Western medicine are relatively large. Traditional Chinese medicine does recommend eating less warm, spicy, and hot foods during an attack, such as durian, lychee, smoked mutton, and stir-fried peppers. It is believed that it will aggravate the hotness in the body and slow down the repair of mucous membranes. ； But the logic of modern nutrition is that as long as you are not intolerant to this kind of food and don’t feel any discomfort after eating it, you can eat it normally. After all, high-quality protein and vitamins are the "fuel" for immune cells to work. If you always rely on the carbohydrates of white porridge, your immunity will not be improved at all, but it will give the herpes virus a chance to replicate.

But there are a few things that doctors of any school all require to stop. Don’t believe it, I have seen too many mistakes. Let’s talk about alcohol. Last month, a young man had a cold sore that was almost gone. A friend drank half a glass of cold beer on his birthday. He woke up with pain that night. The sore area was so swollen and there were three more small ruptured blisters that it hurt even to drink porridge. Alcohol will not only directly dilate blood vessels and aggravate inflammation and edema, but also inhibit the activity of immune cells, which is equivalent to opening a green channel for the virus. Whether it is liquor, beer or fruit wine, do not touch it even half a sip during the attack. There are also things with high added sugar, so don’t think it’s too sweet and not exciting. When my sister, a nurse, got herpes zoster, she couldn’t help but secretly eat a box of Magnum. That night, her nerve pain doubled, and she couldn’t sleep for half the night. High sugar will quickly increase the level of inflammatory factors in the body, which will not only make the redness, swelling and pain of herpes more obvious, but also prolong the healing cycle. Foods such as milk tea, cream cakes, and sweet drinks should be put away during this period. There are also foods high in trans fat, such as bread made with margarine and fried chips and chicken steaks that are repeatedly fried, which can also increase the inflammatory response, so don’t eat them if you can.

As for whether seafood, beef, eggs, and spicy food can be eaten, which are the most frequently asked questions, there is really no standard answer. It all depends on your own body reaction. I have met patients who were itchy and hot in the herpes area after eating a bite of shrimp. I have also met patients who ate two eggs a day and steamed fish every two days and recovered within a week. There is also a young man from Chongqing who continued to eat slightly spicy noodles every time he had shingles. His appetite was not affected and his recovery speed was faster than those patients who dared not eat anything. To put it bluntly, as long as you are not allergic to this food normally and do not feel any discomfort after eating it during the attack period, you can eat it with confidence. If you feel the pain and itching obviously get worse after eating it, then stop eating it for a week and wait until you feel better before eating it. There is no need to compete with your body.

My general advice to patients is that there is no need to go out of your way to find a food list and mark each item. Except for the three items mentioned above, which must be strictly avoided, you can try a small amount of the other items before eating them. If you feel no discomfort, eat them normally. Instead, eat more dark green vegetables, kiwi fruits, lean meats and other foods rich in vitamin C, B complex and high-quality protein. This is better than anything else. After all, herpes is caused by low immunity, which allows the virus to take advantage of it. Nutrition cannot keep up, immunity cannot improve, and it is useless no matter how careful you are.