Cold sores and diet

To help speed up the healing of cold sores and reduce the frequency of their recurrences, it is recommended that you follow a high lysine low arginine diet.

Thing is, when the herpes simplex virus (which is the virus that causes cold sores) becomes active, it infects the nerve cells and gets them to create new copies of the virus using the amino acid called arginine. That's why you have to reduce the amount of arginine in your foods.

Here is a list of foods that are high in arginine and that you should avoid when you have a cold sore : Any type of milk or dark chocolate, Nuts, seeds, shellfish, grains such as wheat and oats, Fruits such as grapes, oranges, tangerines and Many vegetables like onions, peas, and squash.

Some of the foods in this list are very important for your health, so you don't have to avoid them for prolonged periods of time. Only during the period of a recurrence of cold sores.

As I said earlier, a good diet for cold sores is one that is high on lysine and low on arginine. Lysine prevents the duplication of the herpes simplex virus by starving it of arginine. Now here is a list of foods that are high in lysine and that will help you with cold sores: Beef,Fish (especially flounder), Chicken, Cheese, Milk,Yogurt, Eggs, Apples, Pears, Mangoes, Apricots, Summer Squash.

You can also take the necessary daily dose of lysine in a capsule. This will give you more control over the balance of you arginine and lysine intake.