The Best Antifungal Treatments

The Princeton Library defines fungus as an organism that lacks chlorophyll and feeds on organic matter. The most common kinds of fungus that use humans as hosts are those that cause athlete's foot, ringworm and dandruff. Because fungal and human cells are so similar it's hard to design a truly effective antifungal treatment, but some remedies do exist.

Start With The Right Diet

• Garlic is an incredibly effective fungus killer

  For several fungus-causing skin conditions, Home-Remedies-For-You.com suggests starting your fight against fungus with a healthy and balanced diet of raw fruits, raw vegetables and whole grains. This boosts the immune system by providing much-needed antioxidants.

  Also, include a moderate amount of yogurt in your diet as it contains acidophilus which helps to maintain the bacteria level in your body and serves to control the possibility of further outbreak. Garlic, with its high sodium content, is also good at combating fungus and tastes great in a lot of foods. Doctors recommend chewing a clove a day to help control the outbreak. Avoid foods with white flour or high sugar as this will only help the fungus get bigger, reproduce and spread throughout the body.

Try Antidandruff Shampoo and Olive Oil

• While it sounds rare, tea tree oil can be purchased at most neighborhood drug stores

  In addition to a healthy diet, applying treatments to the infected parts of the skin is a helpful and natural way of effectively killing fungus.

  Antidandruff shampoo, with its fungus-killing selenium sulfide, is very helpful in treating the infected areas. Once a day, you need to coat the affected skin with a thin layer of the dandruff shampoo, let it dry, and then shower to rinse it off. It will harden, so rinsing it off won't be as easy as normal, but a wash cloth should be able to do it. A little extra washing never hurt anybody anyway.

  If the problem subsides, a sea salt scrub remedy might be in order. You can find sea salt scrubs at any bath and body retail store. Once a week (preferably in the evening) rub your body with the sea salt scrub and then massage your entire body with this mixture: 10 ml. of virgin olive oil, 3 drops of tea tree essential oil 3 drops of margosa essential oil. The oils can be picked up at any neighborhood GNC and most drug stores.