In my work with chronic EBV, most of the time I focus on specific strategic nutrient-based supplements. I only use a few herbal supplements. Instead, I utilize herbs more for their EBV support as adjunct herbal teas and culinary herbs in the cooking for purely practical reasons (see my blog on anti-viral herbal teas for more on that wonderful topic).

I also try to stay within herbals that have been well researched for EBV, just because there is so much denial in medical community about the value of botanicals in the anti-EBV therapy that I want to make sure no one can argue with what I support in my EBV book and in the clinic.

However, with botanicals, medical research sometimes drags behind.  You may hear anecdotal stories about an herb instead, especially from other colleagues.  Olive Leaf Extract is one of those herbs; it has a great reputation as a broad-spectrum anti-microbial herb, and even my retired-nurse mom has been insisting on me doing more research into it and adding it to the book and to my work with clients. Well I did, and I am glad. With the wealth of anti-microbial herbs available, olive leaf extract can be easily missed.

Below is a short piece I wrote on Olive Leaf Extract in my EBV book, based on the research I found. As you can see, there are barely two good studies. Still, because it has such anti-microbial reputation and since co-infections (and “transactivations”) are common in the EBV population, Olive Leaf Extract may do some good cleaning of other opportunistic pathogens.

We just added it to a mildly EBV-reactivated client, and she responded very well within literally less than 24 hours, while my standard protocol was just not doing enough. She did not have her stool tested, so we will not know what confection she reactivated along with her EBV at that time. But as you will see below, Olive Leaf Extract can tackle so many pathogens that it may not matter!  All we know is that she got better, and soon she was able to stop using it.

You may benefit from Olive Leaf Extract as well, as long as you work with a clinician to make sure it is safe for you to take!

We have the right Olive Leaf Extract available:

We used Barlean’s liquid Olive Leaf Extract at 2 T a day, before sleep. You can find it in our Fullscript: https://www.healthwavehq.com/welcome/kasia (we provide 10% discount)

From my book The EBV Solution:

Olive Leaf has a tremendous reputation for health, especially due to its phenolic compounds like oleuropein and its derivatives including hydroxytyrosol and tyrosol, with research confirming their antimicrobial (both Gram negative and Gram positive bacteria and mycoplasma), antiviral, antioxidant and even anti-cancer properties (Omar, 2010). The antiviral qualities include mononucleosis but also a host of other viruses: hepatitis virus, rotavirus, bovine rhinovirus, canine parvovirus, and feline leukemia virus, quite an impressive list (Fredrickson, 2000). We can also add parasites, yeasts, fungi and molds to this impressive list, and especially our notorious resident trouble-maker Candida albicans (Nasrollahi et al., 2015). Olive Leaf extract is readily available in supplements and has a great reputation among functional clinicians for its antimicrobial activity. It could be particularly beneficial if we are dealing with bacterial, fungal or viral confections.

Fredrickson WR, F.a.S.G., Inc Method and composition for antiviral therapy with olive leaves. 2000: U.S. patent.

Nasrollahi, Z. and M. Abolhasannezhad, Evaluation of the antifungal activity of olive leaf aqueous extracts against Candida albicans PTCC-5027. Curr Med Mycol, 2015. 1(4): p. 37-39.

Omar, S.H., Oleuropein in olive and its pharmacological effects. Sci Pharm, 2010. 78(2): p. 133-54.