Nail fungus is one of the most feared fungal infections, partly because it causes social stigma but mostly because it is so strongly resistant to treatment.
A recent study in the journal Antibiotics reveals an extremely powerful solution to eliminate the most resistant type of nail fungus permanently.
Best of all, the solution comes in the form of a common “food” item found in all health food stores.
Nail fungus is usually caused by fungi, as the name suggests, but it can also be caused by a yeast called candida, which is the third most common cause of this nail disorder.
The researchers were particularly interested in candida because it tends to form extremely strong layers inside our nails that researchers call biofilm.
The scientists carried out their study in several steps.
They first produced candida on flat-bottomed polystyrene plates and watched the biofilm develop. It developed into thick layers by the seventh day, as they expected.
They next acquired human nails and grew the candida on them to see whether the biofilm grew as thick as they expected. It did. It grew thicker on the underside of the nail than on top.
They then applied two propolis extracts to the candida biofilm on both the polystyrene plates and the nails to see how well they could infiltrate the infected layers.
With a daily application of the extracts, they could see an improvement with the naked eye by day seven, and their tests showed that both extracts could permeate the biofilms, an absolute requirement for curing nail fungus.
This study is interesting for several reasons.
Firstly, candida is a common agent of nail fungus because it lives on our skin. It is not a long way to go from skin to nail. Even worse, because it grows so well on the underside of our nails, according to their study, our nails can easily pick up candida from the skin on our nail beds.
Secondly, propolis extracts are obviously able to permeate this biofilm and work against the infection.
Propolis is a waxy substance made by bees from flower buds. They use it to build their hives, plug holes in them, and flatten their inside walls.
Previous studies found it has antifungal, antibacterial, and antiviral properties.