The result of immune balance? The possibility of fewer sick days, fewer “dragging” days, fewer physical problems due to chronic stress’s impact on immune cells.

So what simple things can you do to balance and maintain your immune system?  Here are five:

1. Eat smart. Reduce processed sugar, increase fruits and veggies. The Mediterranean Diet is considered a very good immune health diet.
2. Get sleep. Research shows lack of sleep increases stress levels and weakens immune function.
3. Get exercise.
4. Wash hands often.
5. Take supplements containing 500 mg dosing of EpiCor. Human clinical trials show EpiCor balances immune response.

There you go. The Immune Balance Five. Go forth and do them.

The mind is an immune health amazement

medication for my allergies since I began taking an EpiCor supplement each day. How I’ve not had any serious cold or flu episode in that time, at least nothing that required more than some extra fluids and rest for a day or half day. How my kids have experienced significant reduction in missed school days since taking EpiCor.

Now, as a responsible health communicator, I cannot say that such supplementation has cured or treated anything.  To proclaim that, my experience and my specific  immune cell function would need to be studied and documented by outside researchers who could show causal cell activity that proved a mechanism of action that produced efficacious outcomes, and then observe similar results among thousands of other individuals, and then compare those results to thousands who took a placebo during the past two years, and thousands who took nothing. That study would need to be structured in a way that the results would be repeated at least 95 percent of the time (or higher) to demonstrate a confidence level that is statistically significant.

So, my experience is just that, my experience, and nothing more. There are some smaller clinical trials in which a number of participants experienced reduced cold and flu symptoms, but small trials are not considered definitive.

And what about my experience? Is it the EpiCor? Or is it something else that I’ve done in my lifestyle to improve my allergy/cold/flu experience? Am I washing my hands more often? Am I staying inside more and out of the outdoor pollen? Am I eating more immune-friendly foods? Am I getting more exercise? Is my stress level changed somehow? Who knows? I sure haven’t kept a journal of all these things.

One study that’s really intriguing shows that immune-related conditions might be mitigated simply by the power of the brain.

…”Scientists recruited healthy men and women and had them watch slide shows. All of the volunteers watched a 10-minute slide show about furniture; this was deliberately boring, to act as a control condition. Then a bit later, half the volunteers watched a fairly disgusting slide show, with images of skin lesions and oozing pox, in addition to garden variety sneezes and coughs. The other volunteers watched a slide show about guns–not just guns, but people brandishing firearms, and mostly pointing the weapons directly at the viewer.

The guns were important, because guns are very threatening–especially when they’re aimed at you–but they’re not related at all to disease or infection. The scientists wanted to rule out threat–any threat–as the cause of any immune response they measured. And that’s just what they saw. They drew blood from the volunteers before and after each slide show, and measured the levels of a cytokine called IL-6, a major fighter in the immune war. Those who had viewed the depictions of sickness showed a dramatic jump in IL-6 production–more than 23 percent. These same volunteers had no biological response to looking at furniture and–more important–the volunteers who looked at brandished weapons also showed no significant immune response.”

Many studies show reduced stress can improve immune health. Now this one shows fear of germs might also gird the immune system to work harder. Just goes to show how the mind/body connection is more powerful and mysterious than many realize.

It’s also filled with lots of moms…and a few dads…with young children in tow. And, from hearing the coughs and seeing runny noses all year round, a number of those kids are sick. This could mean that such coffee places are more potent breeding grounds for colds and flu than home, school or work, since there is such a mix of kids and adults from wide areas that frequent Paneras and other such places.

If I were a stay-at-home parent or anyone else who regularly goes to coffee places stocked with lot of kids (here’s one in Seattle that specializes in making the coffee shop as close to a daycare center as possible), I’d do a lot to make sure my immune system was as balanced and in sync as possible.  EpiCor every day, hands down.

BTW, someone has taken coffee and immune health to the next level. They don’t have a retail chain yet, but maybe it’s coming.

Just remember this: there is no FDA approved cure or preventive treatment for the flu or cold. There may be a number products that are effective against symptoms, or may provide proven immune health support, but at this point that’s about as far as any product can go in talking about efficacy. And, those symptom improvers should have some legitimate published, peer-reviewed clinical trials behind them in order to talk to consumers about the topic.

Social media is a big and growing forum where non-prescription health products get discussed. Within several of the forums I’m active in, I’m constantly amazed at the conversations about things such as “cancer prevention” or treatment.  And of course weight loss is the king of the hill when it comes to wild health claims.  Sometimes, these treatment and prevention discussions are coming from natural health physicians or even M.D.’s (or those who claim to be such). Sometimes those claims are connected to a product promotion. Sometimes they are not. Either way, these  health experts should know better.

What is legit in the social media world?  I’m not a regulatory professional. My take is that if someone is taking a certain product and is experiencing certain benefits, by all means, that can be talked about on a blog or other forums.  But that person should not extrapolate his or her experience to the general population, inferring that because something worked for them individually, it will work for everyone.  And any discussion about efficacy across the board, if supported by research, should still be presented in terms of ”possibly reducing risk”  or “may be associated with…” blah blah blah.  And if a blogger or health community high-volume commenter is being compensated by a product company for their writing, that must be disclosed. The FTC has some relatively new rules about social media and health products.

Just remember, even the celebrated medical breakthroughs in our lifetimes were not preventive cures. Mumps,  measles, tuberculosis were illnesses that many thought had been eradicated from the face of the earth, only to show up again years later. The vaccines that helped change the health outcomes of an entire planet were products that greatly reduced risk of these diseases to an extraordinarily minuscule level, but did not absolutely prevent or cure them.  So any consumer health product that talks about disease prevention, treatments or cures–even if the spokesperson’s last name is Salk– should be highly questioned or possibly ignored.

I also hear the some H1N1 activity has started up Georgia. Not a widespread thing…yet. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) blames low vaccination rates in Georgia as a contributor. Imagine that, in the state that’s the home of the CDC!

The government’s flu portal has an up-to-date map of seasonal flu activity, influenza-like illness (IFI), H1N1 lab results that shows where some hots spots are. Nothing in the epidemic or pandemic realm; Most of the country is color-coded as “sporadic” or “no activity” for influenza and H1N1. But for IFI, the southwestern U.S. shows up as “widespread.”  We’ll see what the next month brings.

My kids - Erin and Jill

So my twin daughters are winding up their senior year in high school. We just went to the last vocal jazz performance of their high school career. The same thing will be happening in all the other music ensembles they are in for the next 2 months. The last this, the last that. In a little over 5 months, my wife and I will be empty nesters…literally overnight.  

So, from a health standpoint, what are the trade-offs when facing this new living environment?  Here are some pros and cons:

Pro – More sleep. My kids are up at 5:00 a.m. during the week to get to early rehersals.  So, regardless of whether I need to be at my office or a meeting by 7:30 or 8:00, I’m awake (but not always up) with them at 5.  If I can just start getting an extra hour or so of sleep each day, that could change the world!

Pro – No more school cold and flu viruses/bacteria brought into our house. We’ve been pretty good in the past couple of years in not getting hammered by every bug that breaks out in school (thanks EpiCor). Now that we’ll have no “feeder system” coming to and from a crowded school each day, we might be in extra good shape.

Pro – No more weekend trips chaperoning band students on a bus.  Mental and physcial health takes an uptick there!

Pro – Travel.  Periodic road trips to see the kids at college means fun. Travel can be therapeutic.

Pro – I get my way now. I can watch sports…not American Idol… on the hi-def in the family room and not be banished to the basement with the crappy TV.  Sports is good for health!

Pro – The kitchen table can be used for eating, now. Gone are two laptops always running, homework binders, and assorted other school projects living on top of the table, where we squeeze in a plate of food if space can be found.  A proper dining environment–devoid of pathogen-laden books, computers and trumpet mouthpieces–may reduce risk of illness.

Con – Two outstanding, loving, accomplished young people who’ve been a huge part of your daily life for 18 years are suddenly home no more.  Stress from separation anxiety is a new companion.  Gotta work through that.

So, which scores the highest? Multiple pros, or one giant con?

• The Nashville Tennessean has a great column published this past week on immune system balance and the “dirt” exposure school of thought on immune system development. Good perspective and anecdotes.

• The Omaha World-Herald ran a story last Thursday on the possible return of H1N1. A new term was introduced, at least to me: “cytokine storm,” as in “some young people with H1N1 flu were sickened by their immune systems’ overreactions to the virus. That syndrome, called a ‘cytokine storm,’ can fill the lungs with fluid, among other problems. Cytokines are groups of molecules secreted by the immune system.”

• Vancouver would seem to be the most stress-free place in North America. Great scenery, beautiful city and architecture, moderate weather. I spent a little time there en route to an Alaskan Cruise. At one point it was known at the the city with the most outdoor sports enthusiasts in the Western Hemisphere.  Still, the Vancouver Sun published a piece yesterday on the Price of Stress. The story is a good tutorial on immune balance and stress.

• This Today Show video (below) has some good tips that address bacteria and inflammation, both of which are directly connected to balanced immune health.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

On the other end of the spectrum, Europe is launching an investigation in charges that the whole H1N1 pandemic scare was a fraud fueled by pharma companies eager to cash in on vaccines and related medical products. That’s kind of hard for me to buy, but film follows:

From the world of nutritional supplementation, it’s probably good to review a statement issued late last year from leading nutritional products trade groups warning that any supplements or non-prescription health products claiming to ward off or “treat” H1N1 is patently misleading and should be pulled off shelves. Totally agree on that one. I’ll continue with my immune balance supplementation, knowing that I’m helping support my general immune health but not insuring anything at all in terms of H1N1 avoidance or refuge from any other disease for that matter. Here’s the statement published in NutraIngredients.com:

Four major US supplement trade associations have issued a joint statement reaffirming an earlier condemnation of companies marketing dietary supplements as treatments for swine flu or H1N1.

They said they were not aware of, “any scientific data supporting the use of dietary supplements to treat the H1N1 virus (popularly known as “swine flu”), and recognize that federal law does not allow dietary supplements to claim to treat any diseases, including H1N1.”

The four groups: The American Herbal Products Association (AHPA); the Natural Products Association (NPA); the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN); the United Natural Products Alliance (UNPA) – along with the Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA) – condemned dietary supplements marketing in the H1N1 area.

The groups noted that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have issued 147 warning letters since May to companies marketing products

These products include air filters, face masks, shampoos as well as food supplements.

The groups recommended:

* Marketers and retailers of dietary supplements not stock or sell any supplements that are presented as treating or curing H1N1
* Marketers and retailers not to promote any dietary supplement as a cure or treatment for H1N1

Whilst condemning the practice, the groups noted that there are many dietary supplements that, “have much to offer in terms of enhancing general immune function.”

“However, therapies for the treatment of swine flu should only be recommended by qualified healthcare professionals or public health authorities,” they said.

Now, the immune balance supplementation science seems to be bearing itself out with respect to my experience. If immune balance doesn’t help ward off seasonal cold and influenza, it may help reduce length and severity of symptoms. The eyes are 90% cleared up after 24 hours. The bronchial crud made a very visible appearance, but has since receded in the past 36 hours. A mild cough did not balloon into a incessant hack and is not next to non-existent. I have not spent 5 minutes at the toilet coughing up gunk each morning and night. I’m sure sipping a couple of pear martinis at the neighbors’ house when this was starting didn’t help things, but I’m sure it wasn’t a game changer either way.

As for my daughters, one half-day at home for one of them has been it. The other is symptom-free so far. And throughout it all, no fever for anyone.  All in all, I’ll take this scenario any day.

What is it?

It’s this: The notion that a single nutritional supplement taken year round may deliver efficacy in the form of symptom alleviation for seasonal allergies (non-food, that is) winter season cold/flu conditions. And all this is done naturally through a novel yeast culture fermentate with no side effects and no safety issues.  No separate cold/flu remedies, allergy remedies, all of the potions that fill a medicine cabinet.  (And many of which are under new scrutiny from FDA due to new findings on side effects and even toxicity.)

Two things really hit home for me about this:

1) My own experience and my family’s experience. I’ve been free of any significant allergy episodes and symptoms for two years, when I began EpiCor daily supplementation.  I’ve also been free of any significant cold and flu experience during that time as well. My teenage daughters, who maintain a schedule more intense and insane than Churchill during the war, and who started the EpiCor regimen this fall, and who normally are hammered with sinus infection, strep, respiratory conditions during the winter and spring, so far have had minimal problems. One has spent two days home from school during H1N1 peak time this fall, the other has sailed through scot-free.  This is new territory for both of them.

2) The continuing stream of published research supporting immune balance supplementation with regard to cold/flu and allergies. A cold/flu study using EpiCor and an EpiCor allergy study both speak to the improved symptom experience I and many others are experiencing.

By the way, I pay full price for all EpiCor I take, and I buy it through normal retail channels.