For the Cyclospora Outbreak, Try an Ounce of Prevention

There is a lot in the news these days about cyclospora, an intestinal parasite that one can get from raw fruits and vegetables. But listening to some in the media, who are pushing people to avoid raw fruits and vegetables, my concern is that the proposed remedy may be far worse than the illness.

Why?

Cyclospora outbreaks have occurred in the U.S. every year for decades. It is not passed from person to person but rather comes from eating contaminated produce. It has affected less than 1 in 40,000 adults. In reality, it's mostly a nuisance.

But those of us with CFS/FMS have long known that an ounce of prevention is often very worthwhile. But the solution in this case is not to avoid fruits and vegetables. Instead, use common sense approaches like simply washing whole fruits and vegetables.

Instead of limiting healthy foods, early animal research suggests that increasing curcumin intake may dramatically speed the elimination of this parasite — more effectively than even antibiotics. So instead of eliminating healthy foods, you should increase your consumption of other healthy foods with curcumin, such as curries (and save yourself a week and a half of sulfa antibiotics for severe and persistent cases). I personally take CuraMed® 750 mg each day because of its long list of health benefits for pain and inflammation. So we can now add its ability to help keep bugs like cyclospora at bay as yet another (the list goes on and on ;-).

The CDC notes that the current outbreak has 1,645 confirmed U.S. cases of cyclosporiasis with 5,100 cases that require further testing. Although this is much more than previous years, and many cases have likely been missed, this still translates to only one case per 40,000 Americans, even if all the above tests come back positive. Although there have been about 141 hospitalizations from dehydration in very vulnerable people, no deaths are expected.

Completely Avoiding Fruits and Veggies Is Overkill

For perspective, on any given day over a million Americans get acute diarrhea even without the this parasite. So, although it's always sensible to routinely wash fruits and vegetables you bring home from the market, the extreme recommendation to not eat fresh fruits and vegetables at all (or only eat them if boiled) is over the top and simply a really bad idea…

Eating raw veggies — not cooked ones — is associated with a 15% lower risk of heart attack death and 13% lower risk of overall death. It has been estimated that an adequate fruit and vegetable intake would contribute to millions of preventable deaths from heart attack and stroke each year.

So, getting people out of the habit of eating fresh fruits or vegetables that could save millions to prevent zero deaths from the current cyclospora outbreak is a horrible bargain.

A Wash and Rinse Is All You Need

Instead, common sense approaches like simply washing whole fruits and vegetables make far more sense. To be even safer, rinse the fruits and veggies in a solution of 1 part vinegar to 3 parts water, while occasionally swirling them around for a minute. Then rinse them in a colander for 30 seconds.