Oregano oil fights germs in lab dishes and mice; people are untested
In lab tests the oil stops many bacteria, and one of its compounds cut flu lung damage in mice. Whether a swallowed dose does anything similar in a person has not been tested.
What the study found
Oregano oil's germ-fighting has been seen only in lab dishes and mice
In lab tests the oil stops many bacteria and breaks up the films they form. In mice infected with flu, carvacrol, one of its two main compounds, cut lung damage and inflammation about as much as an antiviral drug. The action is real on the bench; in a person it is untested.
The caveat · A dish is not a swallowed dose
The carvacrol in the mouse study came from a different plant, and the mice were infected through the nose, far from a person swallowing a capsule. A dish holds the oil against the germ directly, and these studies do not show whether a swallowed dose reaches an infection at that strength.