The Crohnie

Here’s a few references about “Herbal Antibiotics”.

Antimicrobial properties of allicin from garlic.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10594976

In-vitro antimicrobial activity of four diallyl sulphides occurring naturally in garlic and Chinese leek oils.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11444776

Allylsulfide constituents of garlic volatile oil as antimicrobial agents.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11185736

There’s a lot of controversy of which forms of garlic are more effective: fresh pressed garlic vs. aged garlic vs. garlic oil vs. etc, etc. But there is little independent science out there: a lot of published results seem to be from companies that are pushing their own specific (and expensive) garlic preparation.

You can read a good introduction to the chemistry of garlic here:

http://www.herbalchem.net/GarlicIntroductory.htm

Other plants with antimicrobial properties include ginger, galanga, turmeric, lemon grass and chilli. Which is great if you like Thai or Indonesian food.

Although ginger is readily available, you’ll probably have to go to an Asian food shop to get the rest. Believe me, fresh turmeric is worth the effort: so much tastier than that nasty dried yellow powder!

Coconut oil also has significant antimicrobial properties, particularly the lauric acid which makes up ~ 50% of coconut oil. Other active ingredients of coconut oil are capric and caprylic acid.

http://www.mercola.com/fcgi/pf/2001/jul/28/coconut_health.htm

And when you get into essential oils, there are many that have antimicrobial effects. Tea tree oil and peppermint oil are purported to be effective against candida.

http://www.carenewengland.org/body.cfm?id=170&chunkiid=21475