Balanced Immune Health

Some new health stats came out yesterday ranking America’s most obese states. The honor–or dishonor–of first place went to Mississippi, followed by Alabama, West Virginia, Tennessee, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan and Ohio. Don’t get too smug if your state was far down the list (Colorado was last by a mile). Every state except three (Alaska, Indiana, Louisiana) showed a percentage increase in their obesity index over the prior-year data. And those three are still  in the top half of fattest states.

What’s this have to do with immune health? Plenty. A study on obese women, a mouse study, and epidemiological surveys indicate that being overweight inhibits or over-activates production of necessary immune cells to fight bacteria or viruses. We’ve talked a lot in this blog  about inflammation and the body’s inflammatory response to threats. In many cases, some inflammation is necessary to help curb spread of bacteria. Overly aggressive inflammation–a sign of immune system imbalance– leads to a number of health problems. Yet, another mouse study showed that obese mice infected with bacteria had difficulty generating even a minimal level of inflammation within lung tissue, allowing bacteria to proliferate and offering little resistance to disease progression.  Again, another immune imbalance episode, only under-active instead of overactive.

Bottom line:  losing some pounds not only helps your heart, your metabolism, your energy level, it’s also good for your immune system.

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How many times am I and others hearing the advice:  “Eliminate gluten from your diet.”  Or: “Get rid of all dairy

Don’t ever make me give this up.

products. You can get your protein and calcium from other foods.”  Many “eliminators” claim that any given person’s health will improve.  I can see where some might be swayed by this advice. I had an office colleague years ago whose mother suddenly became very ill. Overnight she began experiencing severe gastrointestinal problems, skin irritation, joint pain and constant fatigue. Medical specialists were fairly stumped, thinking it might be an autoimmune condition that didn’t have much of a solution. Then, almost as a last resort, she saw a nutrition counselor who recommended she get rid of gluten-containing foods from her diet. Bread and wheat-based foods, pastas, etc.

That did the job. She improved dramatically. Certainly, if one is diagnosed as gluten intolerant or is a celiac disease sufferer (a genetic condition that triggers an autoimmune response to gluten, present in approximately .5% to 1% of the population), dietary restrictions as prescribed by a health professional are a must. However, that does not mean gluten-free should be a universal mantra.

A recently published summary here shows how gluten is helpful in maintaining proper gut health, and in turn, immune health.  A big part of the human immune defense system resides in the gut in the form of beneficial microflora. In addition, dairy foods with quality probiotic content–yogurts, aged cheeses–can also play a role in maintaining immune health.

And another fine blogger also has similar thoughts.

The EpiCor immune-balance  supplement I take happens to be gluten free, but that’s simply a function of the raw material and process deployed to achieve the finished, desired ingredient profile. I think in the end, a diet that’s balanced and in moderation across a variety of whole foods is a good bet for most.

Filed under: Allergies, Bacteria, Balanced Immune Health, EpiCor, Gut Health, Immune Balance, Immune System, Nutrition, Probiotics, immune | Leave a comment

OK, the King of Pop, may he rest in peace, had some big problems in his life. ABC News, medical talking heads on the TV and others are all talking about factors that may have led to his untimely death. And medical examiner results won’t be available for a while. Did he do drugs, prescription or contraband? Did he OD on his doctor-administered Demerol? Was he emaciated? Did his heart just give out?

Until the physiological and medical answers are found, one thing most everyone agrees on is The Gloved One lived a life of enormous stress. From his childhood (or lack of one) under his allegedly abusive father, to the pressure he put on himself to exceed his world-beating record sales to his financial hardships (he was reportedly $400 million in debt when he died), Jackson endured a lot. And many people from some family members to his few close friends believe that this chronic stress may have fueled the physical issues that ultimately did him in.

As we’ve covered in this blog, chronic stress can easily lead to a severely altered immune system that is out of balance (over-reacting and under-reacting to various pathogens and conditions), which can lead to serious health conditions.

So I found some video footage that gives a great primer on the stress/immune system connection. How we manage stress and our immune response greatly influences our fundamental health and quality of life. The thing is, this footage isn’t taken from the latest and greatest research institute or cutting edge health think tank. It’s a CNN story that is so old, there isn’t event a date on the video. It had to be produced not long after CNN actually went on the air (or the cable, that is). Still, it’s reportage rings true today and is still every bit as relevant.

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“The ‘truth’ about probiotic claims” is the title of a piece written this week by Chicago Tribune health writer Julie

Our immune health friends

Deardorf. She points out some good tips and cautions that people should be aware of when scouting and purchasing a probiotic food or supplement.

This blog has published several posts on probiotics (and prebiotics), so rather than start with the basics of probiotics and what they do, here’s the link to the lineup of posts that can be viewed separately anytime.

The main concerns in the Tribune story involve:

• Probiotic quality (ensuring the micro-organisms are alive and efficacious at time of consumption);
• Quantity; are there enough micro-organisms in each dose to be effective? We’re talking in the millions;
• The fact that there are many kinds of beneficial bacteria within probiotic products, but not all may work the same or even at all in any given person’s digestive system.

In addition, is the probiotic material encapsulated or tableted in a way that survives stomach enzymes and acid that can break down the organisms before they enter the intestinal tract? That and other factors are discussed in a story in Nutraceuticals World, a leading supplement trade publication, which gives a very nice overview of the probiotic field.

The staff scientists at Embria have told me that the EpiCor immune balancing supplement I take does not deliver live beneficial bacteria, but may act as a stimulant of beneficial bacterial growth, kind of a probiotic “effect” or prebiotic characteristic. But there is no label claim made on this.

One small item in Ms. Deardorf’s piece : She mentioned that supplement labels, while vague because they cannot make health claims, are not required to be preapproved by FDA.  That’s true, but it kind of implied that labels and products are unregulated. I stated that is not the case. I Twittered to her today a note saying the FDA has come down hard on products whose labels overstated a health benefit, had misrepresented ingredients or were shown not to contain stated active ingredient amounts.  Good supplement brands must be and are cautious and diligent when it comes to ingredient quality, amounts and label content.

Filed under: Bacteria, Bacterial Environments, Balanced Immune Health, Gut Health, Immune Balance, Immune System, Nutrition, Prebiotics, Probiotics, Research | Comments (1)

Dr. Ed Wallace, who contributes to this blog from time to time, has written in the past about the basics of homeopathy. In a nutshell, it’s an approach to treatment of health conditions which relies upon introducing a minute amount of a pathogen or foreign substance into the body to “train” the immune system to respond in a healthy way to that material when it does appear down the road. Perhaps the most basic example of the homeopathic process is allergies. There are a number of homeopathic remedies for allergies on the market. These products claim to contain small amounts of ragweed and/or other common allergen-producing plant materials that are meant to help your system recognize the material. Once allergy season rolls around, hopefully your defenses won’t go crazy and prompt your body into a sneezing and itching fit.

Homeopathy, which as described here and elsewhere is not an immune balancing process, is now getting pounded this week  by the Associated Press due to some harmful side effects of Zicam nasal gel, a homeopathic cold “remedy.”  Besides the disturbing news of the side effects, including reportedly permanent loss of sense of smell, the story reveals that many homeopathic products tested contain copious amounts of rogue ingredients such as alcohol or even diluted pharmaceutical ingredients. If true, that is absolutely nuts! One doctor said these products give no more or no less of a therapeutic effect than a martini. And needless to say, many in the traditional medical community consider homeopathy a mystic alchemy ritual.

I’m not ready to completely write off the concept of homeopathy. As we’ve stated on this blog, early exposure in childhood to certain pathogens can make a difference in immune health development over a lifetime. And that’s been researched and supported by numerous legitimate scientific bodies. I am ready to write off any product that is mislabeled, contains dangerous, undisclosed ingredients, has no apparent connection to valid research studies or supportive science, cannot prove that it is manufactured in FDA-recognized cGMP facilities, and makes claims that run afoul of proper regulatory practices. It’s just a bummer that schlock products continue to be produced in certain quarters and risk painting the entire supplementation field with an unflattering color.

Always do your due diligence.

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My twin daughters both got their wisdom teeth extracted last week. It was chipmunk city around our house for a few days.  However both, have come through fine. Inflammation has subsided and hopefully no problems will emerge. The post-surgery aftercare instructions sent home with us from the oral surgeon discuss all of the things my daughters need to do to ensure complete recovery.  Ice, soft foods, gentle mouth wash rinsing, no vigorous activity, rest, all the usual things.  The doc’s instructions also emphasize the need to eat healthy, nutritious foods to help speed recovery and better manage the inflammation and pain.

I hope the docs really know why this nutrition thing is important. Foods rich in vital nutrients can aid in proper immune function, helping ensure that immune response is proportional and not over-aggressive, which could lead to prolonged inflammation and more trouble down the road to recovery.

A good summary of immune health and inflammation is here.

Both my kids are pretty good about eating healthy (except for the red licorice) and one of them takes EpiCor immune balance supplementation. So I’m pretty confident if anyone was ready to take on the wisdom teeth ordeal, it was them.

Filed under: Balanced Immune Health, EpiCor, Immune Balance, Immune System, Inflammation, Nutrition, Pain, Research, immune | Comments (2)

In the human health field, scientifically-controlled research is always in demand. That research can take many forms. The common forms are epidemiological studies (analyzing statistics of large populations); animal models (research involving rats, mice or other species that might approximate the human variables applicable to a certain study); and human trials, which we all know involve people. Many researchers will tell you a randomized, long-term, placebo-controlled study involving a large sample of human participants with frequent time-points is the ideal research model for collecting data.

But what about…get this….plants?  Can plants tell us anything about human physiological experiences?

Some recent research is suggesting the “immune systems” of plant can teach us a lot about human immune systems.  University of Missouri researchers are looking at overactive immune response in plants, noting that such aggressive immune function can actually damage plants more than it protects them. Sound familiar?

The study is being done so researchers can find ways to create more durable safeguards against pathogens.

This immune balance thing is sprouting up everywhere. Literally.

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And it’s not because I’m a jetsetter with a Learjet 85, a starlet 4th trophy wife and a condo next to Tom Cruise.  (I’m not. I have a 2003 Saab, not a plane but the car that GM is unloading, and I do have a trophy wife, but she’s my first and only and is more like Fort Knox and the Crown Jewels combined, not a mere trophy).

No, I like Vail because it and other Colorado cities and towns seem to have a lot of nutrition-minded people who understand the ways of natural health and virtue of harnessing nutritional science to address health challenges. Maybe its because Colorado is the home to the city of Boulder.  A 2005 story in Food & Wine stated: “Boulder was recently voted ‘Number One Running City’ by Runner’s World, ‘Best Place to Be an Überjock’ by Outside and ‘Thinnest City in America’ by Self.”

A recent story in the Vail Daily by a naturopathic physician illustrates this well. The story is about allergies and the author talks about the benefits of a balanced immune system in helping modulate over-reactive immune responses. The author uses “natural anti-inflammatory products” when assisting patients with allergy conditions. She’s right in my wheelhouse.  And I’m sure she’d make a great trophy wife for someone, too.

And, here’s some new video footage (below) on the same topic by an M.D. that seems to also make a great case for regulating the over-active immune system. I like how he talks about immune cells “being bored” and kind of looking for something to do. Hence, they jump all over harmless pollen when it enters the body, causing the familiar irritation associated with allergies.

Filed under: Allergies, Balanced Immune Health, Hygiene Hypothesis, Immune Balance, Immune System, Inflammation, Nutrition, immune | Leave a comment

Earlier this year I posted some observations from Dr. Ed Wallace on differences in the types of stress-related conditions he sees among his patients, specifically differences between males and females. “…I find that women are most likely to experience headaches, irritable bowel, fatigue, anxiety/depression, lack of sex drive and insomnia, while it is more common for me to see heart palpitations, high blood pressure and irritability in men,” said the Doc.

Now the male/female contrast continues.  This past month a study was published in  that indicates women’s immune response is better than men’s.  How’s that for a smack-down from the fairer sex.

But wait!!! The study was conducted on mice!  According the Science Daily story summarizing the research, “this study was conducted on mice that lack the Caspase-12 gene, meaning that the mice were extremely resistant to infection. The human Caspase-12 gene was implanted in a group of male and female mice, yet only the males became more prone to infection. “We were very surprised by these results, and we determined that the estrogen produced by the female mice blocked the expression of the human Caspase-12 gene,” explained Dr. Saleh. “We were also able to locate where the estrogen receptor binds on the gene in order to block its expression, which indicates that the hormone exerts direct action in this case.”

However, many researchers would say the findings are transferable to a human model because a human gene was used.

“This finding might therefore open the door to new therapeutic applications that reinforce the immune system, but a question remains: will men be amenable to the idea of being treated with an exclusively female hormone?”

Ask Manny Rameriz.

A link to the study abstract is here, where you can also purchase the full-text report.

Filed under: Balanced Immune Health, Immune Balance, Immune System, Inflammation, Research, Stress, Stress-Related Illness, immune | Leave a comment