Tea Tree oil + banana research

Hallopals,

I've taken some time to research two things that puzzled me about treatments
for TTM. Here's what I found.

1) Tea tree oil. The question is why does it make people feel better at
first, then later or after continual use cause itchiness. It turns out that
limonene, a component of TTO, seems to interfere with yeast cell "resting",
causing them to move immediately to replication. In this way it might not be
so different from the action of caffeine.

What this means is that TTO may work as follows: it relieves itch by working
on pain receptors, just as menthol and other related chemicals do. And it
does have some antibacterial and antifungal effects--although when it has been
tried on some fungal problems, it helps the symptoms but does not necessarily
kill the underlying organisms. What may happen instead is that some
components of the oil do help skin conditions some, but other components of
the oil lead yeasts to reproduce more quickly.

There was just recently a posting to the psoriasis newsgroup by one psoriatic
who found that TTO initially helps skin be less itchy, but then makes it more
itchy later. There is some evidence that skin yeasts are involved with
psoriasis, so I take this as confirming evidence, also.

Conclusion: use TTO only sparingly. It seems using it is sort of like
drinking sea water: thirst is first quenched, then doubled.

2) Bananas. Why do they seem to work? It can't be potassium, or else people
would be claiming miracle effects for potato skins or dried apricots. Again,
research indicates a possibility. Ripening bananas are high in an enzyme
that breaks down cell walls (which is why bananas turn mushy). The exact
enzyme they produce during ripening is the same enzyme (taken from other
sources) that has been found to break down yeast cell walls, too, and is used
in yeast research to do exactly that. So it may be that the best bananas for
TTM are not green ones, not brown ones, but the yellow ones just turning
sweet, as this seems to be the stage at which this enzyme is most prevalent.