Antibacterial Soaps – Helpful or Harmful to Your Health?

If you use antibacterial soaps, are you doing yourself a favor or doing more harm than good? Vast amounts of people have become overly obsessed with germs. Germophobes are prevalent in our society! Howey Mandel and Sean 'Diddy' Combs are but two of the most well known germ free fanatics! Everyone seems to want to jump on the germ free band-wagon however, is all this cleanliness really good for us? Or should we avoid antibacterial products altogether. Scientist Bill Nye thinks we should, although people who work in health care may be the only exception to the rule.

For everybody else, antibacterial products started out as a pretty logical idea, but it could also end up to be a huge mistake. These products may be unintentionally creating germs that are more resistant to antibiotics. Eventually, our antibiotics may not do much of anything to slow the spread of these germs and the diseases they cause. Scientists, for quite some time, have had a hard time keeping up with the ever-changing strains of bacteria’s produced because of the antibiotic properties found in antibacterial products. Bacteria have become resistant to many forms of antibiotics for this very reason.

Good old regular handsoap may serve you much better and be more effective than any antibacterial product. Think twice before you reach for your next purchase of them. Without exposure to some germs, your body cannot build up a resistance to them, or other germs you come in contact with. Living in a germ free world is virtually impossible!

When they were discovered, antibiotics changed the world. For many years, antibiotic drugs worked so quickly and so effectively that they were touted as a modern day miracle. Alexander Fleming is generally credited for realizing that Penicillium notatum fungus was inhibiting the growth of bacteria in his lab in 1928. He published his landmark paper in 1929. There must be an evolutionary advantage for fungal organisms that can produce chemicals to inhibit the growth of bacteria. After all, bacteria are always fighting off other bacteria to survive.

After discovering the antibiotic properties of Penicillium fungi, scientists found ways to brew up these compounds very efficiently. This was a modern way of destroying germ cells. People in the developed world don't die of diseases the way they used to. For example, if you take a walk in an old cemetery, you might notice the large amounts of people who died before they were 10 or 12 years old. Illnesses that were caused by germs were responsible for most of the deaths back then. Antibiotic compounds cured so many people so quickly that for many decades the term 'miracle drug' seemed to be the least we could say about their wonderful properties.

So what does that mean for you and me in simple terms? You may be keeping up with the latest health information and trends and making sure that your family is eating healthy foods, but using antibacterial soap and cleaning products to protect them from harmful germs may not be that good for them.

More than 45 percent of soaps contain antibacterial ingredients on the market today, and the list keeps growing. The more obsessed people are at killing germs, the worse its likely to get. The bad news is that it doesn’t look like the trend will stop anytime soon. Cleaning products, laundry powders, dish soap, trash bags, dusters, and sponges are among the growing list of consumer antibacterial options. If you can find them, avoiding them altogether might be the healthiest decision you can make for you and your family.

Antibacterial Soaps and Your Health