Taking What Comes Naturally to Repel Ailments on the Road

I never travel without echinacea, an herbal remedy made from purple coneflowers that I think helps me ward off colds. Some studies dispute its effectiveness, and people with such diseases as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and AIDS are advised to avoid it because it is thought to sometimes adversely affect the immune system.

Still, it’s a mainstay of my travel medical kit largely because it works for me without noticeable side effects. The idea that it’s natural is also attractive, partly because natural remedies have long been the province of people I trust, like mothers and medicine women. I’ve also been trying to incorporate other natural remedies in my travel medicine kit.

Jill Ruttenberg, a mother, herbalist and founder of Red Mountain Remedies in Tucson, assembled a travel medical kit entirely with natural medicines. These include ginger for motion sickness, antiseptic tea tree oil and zinc lozenges for sore throats.

On the other hand, Stuart R. Rose, an emergency medicine physician in Northampton, Mass., and author of the “International Travel Health Guide 2001” (Travel Medicine Inc., 2001), says that herbs “don’t play a role” in combating major illnesses that affect travelers.

Moreover, doses for natural remedies can’t be reliably specified. “The active ingredients in them are hard to quantify, and no standards are applied to their manufacture,” Rose says.

Dr. Alan M. Spira, founder of the Travel Medicine Center in Beverly Hills, is more open to the use of certain natural remedies. He thinks some, like ginger for motion sickness, have fewer side effects and work better than pharmaceuticals. Spira’s approach is to incorporate the best of both the natural and scientific worlds in his travel medical kit.

Joe and Teresa Graedon, authors of “The People’s Pharmacy Guide to Home and Herbal Remedies” (St. Martin’s Press, 1999), which explores scientific and anecdotal evidence on cures as varied as Epsom salts and coconut macaroons, agree with Spira’s approach. “If Sudafed and ibuprofen work for you when you get a cold, I don’t see a good reason to make a substitution,” says Teresa, a medical anthropologist. And Joe, a pharmacologist, adds, “We would never assemble an all-natural medical kit.”

Most of these experts agree that natural treatments and preventives should not be applied to diseases like malaria and dengue fever, and even recommend the use of strong synthetic insect repellents containing DEET over milder natural substances like citronella to deter biting bugs.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, telephone (877) 394-8747, Internet https://www.cdc.gov, is a prime resource for information on diseases overseas travelers can contract.

But for other common health troubles that plague travelers, such as stomach upset, colds and jet lag, some experts suggest natural remedies, alone or in combination with prescription drugs:

* Digestive disorders--Indigestion could just be a matter of adapting to new foods, Spira says. But if it turns into unabating diarrhea, he advises a prescription antibiotic like Cipro to kill “bad” bacteria, taken at intervals of at least two hours, with acidophilus, a natural probiotic found in yogurt and available in pill form that promotes the growth of “good” bacteria, thereby keeping the stomach in balance.

Ruttenberg’s natural travel medical kit includes Citricidex, a trademarked extract of grapefruit seeds with no known side effects when taken in small doses, also thought to promote the growth of “good” bacteria and used by some travelers to prevent stomach troubles.

I tried it, to good effect, on a mild stomach bug in Mexico. But Spira says there’s no compelling scientific proof that it works.

Nor is there definitive proof that alcohol in moderation at mealtimes helps prevent stomach bugs, or that coconut macaroons allay diarrhea, but the Graedons suggest both.

For constipation there are prunes, and for motion sickness, ginger, available in pill or crushed root form and from natural ginger ale, ginger candy and gingersnaps.

* Colds and respiratory ailments--”You’re going to be exposed to bad things when you travel, so pack your vitamins,” the Graedons say. For instance, if you’re used to taking vitamin C at home, you should take it with you.

The data on echinacea’s ability to boost the immune system and prevent colds remain inconclusive, but Spira has heard many reports from travelers like me who have found it effective, especially when taken in combination with goldenseal, another herb long reputed to be a natural antibiotic. (It should not be taken by pregnant women because it has been known to stimulate uterine contractions in animals.) Spira uses kwan loong, a Chinese medicated oil, for headaches and nasal congestion.

* Jet lag--Myriad natural jet lag remedies have appeared on the market, like melatonin, which, according to a 1997 article in the New England Journal of Medicine, effectively induces sleep.

But the Graedons say that correct dosages of melatonin are hard to gauge and that it should not be taken in combination with certain prescription drugs, especially antidepressants.

I’ve tried everything for jet lag with marginal success, including No Jet-Lag pills, invented by a medical researcher in New Zealand and made of herbs like Arnica montana . Some experts consider arnica unsafe if taken by mouth, but inventor Andrew Criglington says it is used in No Jet-Lag pills in diluted form as a homeopathic remedy.

And even travel medicine specialist Rose isn’t opposed to the No Jet-Lag formula because he’s found that it’s an effective placebo.

“Basically, there’s nothing in it. But some people who take it believe they feel better,” Rose says.

Natural remedies are like that. Still, until science persuades me otherwise, I believe in my echinacea and will stick with it.