'Cattle feed' athlete's foot cure

Antifungal treatments are available

A cream containing a common ingredient in cattle feed could treat athletes foot, researchers believe.

A team at London's King's College, working with Polish scientists, found the alfalfa plant contained compounds that fight fungal skin infections.

The scientists told a British Pharmaceutical Conference in Manchester the active agents could potentially be used as herbal antifungal remedies.

But experts said it would be some time before these could be available.

A crude extract of alfalfa incorporated into a cream might find use as a herbal remedy to treat skin infections for people who don't like to use conventional medicines. Lead researcher Professor Peter Houghton

Professor Peter Houghton said alfalfa, also known as Medicago sativa, contains saponins, chemical compounds, that have been shown to protect against fungal attack.

His team analysed the activity of saponins extracted from the plant.

In the laboratory, the saponins stopped the growth of several fungi known to cause skin diseases in humans, especially one strain called Trichophyton tonsurans.

This is one of the common causes of ringworm. Athlete's foot is probably the best known form of the fungal infection.

Fungi

He said alfalfa extracts were likely to be as effective as conventional antifungal medicines.

"A crude extract of alfalfa incorporated into a cream might find use as a herbal remedy to treat skin infections for people who don't like to use conventional medicines.

Another possibility might be to use the extract as an antifungal wash for animals and humans in parts of the world where antifungal medications are not available, he said.

A spokesman from The Institute of Chiropodists and Podiatrists said the research was interesting but that such a treatment was still "some way off."

"We will have to wait and see what the results of more research will be and whether it is any better than what we have to treat these infections already.

"People can already go to see their GP and get effective treatments," he said.