Some articles on the internet help us understand there are herbs and foods that can help support our overall health, and can offer an ounce of prevention when it comes to warding off simple infections (as in healing an uninfected insect bite, or more quickly recovering from a mild bladder inflection).
But serious diseases, including cancer, and even staph infections, need diagnoses and treatment by qualified medical practitioners. So, articles like this are misleading and can even be dangerous:
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/314366.php
It's true that frankincense was a cleansing agent in ancient times, and that it may have been used to wash Jesus as a baby. But, when it comes to serious matters of health, we need doctors and pharmacists.
If frankincense has anti-cancer properties, that's for scientists and pharmaceutical companies to work on in laboratories. That's not for us to dabble with in community.
Anyhow, I found that article about frankincense when I was trying to confirm something I suspect about a plant other than the frankincense tree. I was looking for something very specific about the plant we call "lemongrass."
Some articles, on the internet, suggest lemongrass heals staph infections; BUT THAT IS NOT THE TRUTH.
Although lemongrass is perfectly safe when cooked in Asian, Indian, and other sauces, I suspect that, if uncooked (in a tea, for example), lemongrass should be used seldom. I think there can be a danger in putting it on open wounds, and a danger in drinking it in tea, if you are immune-depressed or very sick.
So, for me, lemongrass is best used to discourage mosquitoes, outdoors!
... What I mean about there being potential danger in using lemongrass on wounds, oral sores, or internally, is that it kills white blood cells. At least one scientific study says it lowers white-blood-cell production: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25162916. Although this article doesn't explain that lemongrass actually kills white blood cells, other studies and articles do a better job explaining how lemongrass affects white blood cells.
It's really a shame, but I think someone got the idea that lemongrass heals staph because it reduces puss and inflammation. But, again, lemongrass does not cure staph; and only reducing the puss and inflammation of staph is NOT a good thing.
The puss and inflammation of a serious staph infection, comes from white blood cells doing their job. White blood cells try to fight infection.
When lemongrass reduces white-blood-cell activity, there may be fewer symptoms of an infection (for example, less puss), but the infection is still there.
Not only is the infection still there, but, without the white cell activity, the infection may more easily spread; the infection may even become resistant to antibiotics (making it possibly deadly, in some cases), which is why I was very cautious when I began taking personal notes about lemongrass.
I've long intended to find out more about its effects on white blood cells, and I've avoided the lemongrass in our yard for that reason.
My approach to lemongrass is to use it with caution — or with knowledge.
One thing I know about lemongrass is that it can be added to bathwater or applied to unbroken skin as a kind of disinfectant, without becoming a health threat to someone who is immune-depressed. And lemongrass can be used in that same way to shoo away mosquitoes when we're outside, by rubbing the ground lemongrass on our skin.
And, again, it also discourages mosquitoes from taking up residence in a yard, in the first place.
The bottom line is to be knowledgeable and not accept everything you see on the internet, no matter how often something appears on the internet. Some salesmen are pretty good about putting misinformation out there about what they believe should be the next big thing to sale. Apparently, some of those folk have flooded the internet with news about how red-blood-cell production increases when people drink lemongrass tea, not taking into account that the red blood cells partly may be more plentiful because white-blood-cell counts are being wiped out — dangerously!
That's not to say every herbal trend is dangerous or bogus. It's absolutely true that daily consumption of pure black teas and pure green teas can help guard some types of cells from the threat of cancer (as part of a proper diet and appropriate medical care).
And there are many fruits and vegetables that also discourage inflammation and cancers, when eaten regularly as part of a balance diet.
... We just have to be knowledgeable, as well as cautious — and blessed in having caring, knowledgeable help from health-care providers.
