Artipot - Free Ezine Articles
 
Home » Health

What Causes Cold Sores - Why Are You Getting A Cold Sore

By Denny Bodoh
Aug 4, 2009
Do you want to know what causes cold sores? The answers may surprise you. Read this excellent article to uncover what causes cold sores for you.

The short answer to what causes cold sores is the herpes simplex virus.

35% of those infected never get a cold sore. For the other 65% of us, repeated outbreaks are common.

If the conditions are right, the herpes simplex virus becomes active and quickly moves up the nerve to the surface. To replicate, each virus particle enters a cell and forces the cell to create clones.

As the cells fill up with new virus copies, swelling of the tissue occurs. Then the cells burst open. This releases the new virus and creates your cold sore.

Yes - the herpes simplex virus is the common cause of all cold sores. But, if you want to prevent them, you must know what causes cold sores in some infected folks but not others.

Below you will discover the top three triggers responsible for herpes virus activation and replication.

1. YOUR IMMUNITY IS INADEQUATE TO FEND OFF THE HERPES VIRUS.

High cold sore immunity depends on strong antibodies. These are the soldiers your body creates to protect your cells. Building effective antibodies requires specific nutrients.

The vigor of your antibodies is directly related to your vitamin and mineral intake - from food and supplements.

If you suffer frequent outbreaks, it is a sign of immune weakness. Eat more fresh, uncooked vegetables and fruits. These provide the best quality nutrients.

Also, you really should begin a high-quality daily vitamin supplement plan. But don't waste your money on worthless one-a-day pills.

Use only a high quality supplement or you will not notice any difference. You need high levels of B and C vitamins - they are important for stress situations, but need replenishing daily.

2. HIGH LEVELS OF ARGININE, LOW LEVELS OF LYSINE.

There is much news about arginine and lysine in relation to cold sore herpes activity. They are common amino acids important for good health.

Arginine is the protein needed to create new herpes simplex virus. If arginine is scarce, the cell cannot create virus clones - and no cold sore will appear.

Lysine is a protein that cannot be used to create herpes simplex virus. Your cells store both amino acids in the same storage area. Because of limited space, more of one means less of the other.

Saturating your cells with lysine will reduce the stored arginine. Eating high lysine food, such as dairy, works but lysine capsules are easy, cheap and effective cold sore prevention.

3. YOUR BODY HAS DROPPED INTO THE ACID ZONE.

To keep yourself in tip top health, you must keep your body on the alkaline side of the pH scale. 7 is the neutral point - above 7 is alkaline and below 7 is acid.

Your body works hard to maintain pH levels around 7.4. When you drop below 6.5, you are inviting illness - and creating the right conditions for another cold sore.

Acid pH means lower oxygen levels and weak resistance to pathogens. Contributing factors that can cause your body to be acid include soda, sugar, white flour and tobacco.

Cold sore outbreaks are most frequent during winter because of the many acid-causing factors. These include cold temperatures, spending more time indoors and drinks like coffee and cocoa.

Eating more green vegetables, particularly cabbage and asparagus, will help keep your pH levels healthy. And most vitamin stores carry alkalizing supplement plans that work well.

There a few other more advanced causes of cold sores I would love to share with you, but I am out of space and time here.

Hopefully, however, this short article will help you in finding an answer to the question of what causes cold sores for your particular situation and give you the knowledge to defeat the cold sore in your life.
About the Author
Please Rate:

Rating:

(Average: Not rated)
Views:19 
Print Article Email Article Reprint Article Comments (0)
More Articles from Health
Top Articles in Health