I am mindful of this because my college daughter just presented a huge project for a huge grade in her architecture studies. She did great. But, to get it done, she literally got 2 hours of sleep a night, spending most of every evening and overnight during the past two weeks at her design studio. Many other students had the same sleep regimen.

But, so far, no health problems. No viral crud, no  fever, no missed class or studio time. As we all know, lack of sleep coupled with little exercise, iffy diet and nutrition, and unabated stress can knock one’s immune system far off the rails. And, as we also know, stress and tension being allowed to build over the course of time can also lead to getting sick once the stressful stretch is over. Hence, many students and adults get sick during holiday break once the job duties or semester studies end.

I do think taking EpiCor may have helped my daughter get through these sleepless, stress-filled stretches. I can’t imagine how she could have performed like she did if she had been out for the count for several days, in bed, waiting to get well enough to get back to class.

Of course, now that I think about it, maybe when she was home during Thanksgiving helped prepare her immune system for the end-of-year grind at college. Watching all the recorded episodes of Glee that she missed, plus massive shopping, seeing high school friends and Mom and Dad’s home cooking might have also helped the cause.

The bad is that lingering stress can knock immune function out of balance, clearing the way for seasonal health issues like colds, flu, or allergies to take hold.

The ugly is that chronic stress…long-term stress triggered by financial hardship, marital problems, radical change in diet (alcohol, high fat and sugar at every meal), or other life changes can set the stage for serious disease.

As we move into the holiday season–always a season ripe for stress–keep this in mind. Proactively doing things to reduce stress can make a difference in health, and make the season merrier.  This story might add some new thinking that may help as well.

The story talks about preparing your immune system for cold and flu season, as though your immune system is a downhill skier and needs to be exercising regularly, otherwise, the start of ski season and that big downhill run will produce sore, stiff muscles.  It compares that to the idea that protracted symptom duration is a function of poor, “out of shape”  immune response, not the virulence of the bug itself.  That’s a big 10-4 in my book and I’ve posted similar views here as well.

The story also says that “one teaspoon of sugar decreases immune function by 50 per cent for four hours.” I had not heard that before now, and would like to get some sourcing on that. I written about consuming too much processed sugar harming immune function, but had not seen that kind of “response ratio.” Interesting.

The story ends with something about “flu kit” vials. Not sure what that refers to. But all in all, it’s a good reminder that people can do a number of things–diet, exercise, sleep, stress management, supplementation–to keep their immune system in shape and ready for the winter cold/flu season.

Just like many are concerned that too many adults do not learn financial literacy as they grow up, I also think too many adults don’t possess basic health literacy as well. Thinking that the flu shot is like taking a dose of NyQuil is about as ignorant as thinking you can buy a half million dollar house on a $30K annual income.

Anyway, back to flu shots. NBC last night had some new data on flu shot effectiveness. It’s anywhere between 16% and 76% effective, depending on whether the flu shot czars were able to predict the correct flu strain a year ahead of time.  And, as we all know, those with weaker immune function–primarily the elderly–can benefit most from a flu shot. More on this is in the video below.

My only thought amidst the changing flu shot debate is to keep doing everything you can to maintain a healthy, balanced immune system. That can benefit you with or without a flu shot.

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Treg cell. Courtesy Davidson College and NIH.

This means vigorously attacking antigens (germs, viruses) that can be harmful if allowed to proliferate when they enter the body. It also means staying at rest if harmless substances (pollen, dust, certain food or air-borne materials) enter the body. This balance, ultimately, means better day-to-day health, with reduced symptom duration and severity.  Certain health conditions arise when immune response is too weak, or needlessly aggressive.

Recently, a study at the University of North Carolina has uncovered a “switch” in certain immune cells. This switch, called GATA-3, turns off or turns on the “attack” function in immune cells known at Tregs (Foxp3-expressing regulatory T cells).  The GATA-3 appears to steer the Tregs, helping determine if they will go full bore in attacking cells they sense as invaders, or stay mute and not engage a perceived enemy. This is important because imbalanced response among the Tregs can lead to attacks upon friendly, healthy cells. Tregs going haywire on good cells can results in inflammatory conditions such as arthritis, respiratory diseases in the lungs, or autoimmune conditions such as diabetes and  Crohn’s disease.

Being able to understand how the GATA-3 works in Treg cells may help scientists develop better therapies that can treat these conditions. If you know the molecular basis for GATA-3 commanding Treg cells the way they do–to either attack or stand down–you’ll have a better understanding of how to possibly modulate those cells to perform consistently in a balanced fashion. That would be an enormous breakthrough that could impact nearly every health condition, including heart disease, brain function, you name it.

But, as is the story with cutting-edge research, practical applications for this discovery are decades away, I’m sure.

Here’s another measure, especially if you are an employer that provides group health insurance to your employees: reduction in the number of doctor office visits by employees. Specifically visits for cold, flu and upper respiratory tract infections (URTI). That decline in employee doctor visits was the overriding result of a 6-month project undertaken by the City of Ankeny in Iowa.

Ankeny is one of the fastest growing suburban cities in the country and the fastest growing city in Iowa. It’s city administration embraces new approaches and strategies to city management, including employee wellness and health. Last October, the city partnered with Embria Health Sciences, headquartered in Ankeny, to initiate an informal trial of Embria’s EpiCor immune balancing nutritional supplement.  Eighty employees and 18 of their family members volunteered to take a 500-mg daily EpiCor supplement for 6 months.  During that time, the employees were asked to keep records of the any illness symptoms they encountered, and to log any doctor’s office visits for cold, flu or URTI type symptoms.

The results: doctor’s office visits declined by 28 percent over the prior year.

This, of course, is not a clinical trial or even a controlled pilot study. It was simply designed as an observational project to take a broad look at employee health and wellness experiences while taking EpiCor. The results, however, do closely align with results of other more structured, human clinical trials involving EpiCor, using  placebo control and gaining publication in peer-reviewed journals.

You can read more about this Ankeny employee health project here.

But one of them decided that it would be cool if we could jog together several days a week. She’s wanting to build some extra stamina for when her fall university marching band starts up. She’s a drum major and wants to be able to run around the field like drum majors have to do without getting gassed. And I just want to try to keep from having to increase my belt size. And so we run. Just 1.5 miles for now, and we’re not setting any land speed records. I’m working up to being able to run that distance without any stopping to walk. I’m almost there. She is there. When ever I do have to stop, I try to do it on a stretch of road where no one is outside to see me.

We all know that running is great exercise and can have many benefits: heart health, muscle tone, respiratory conditioning, weight control, stress management, you name it. What about immune health specifically? Well, a lot of data point to enhanced immune function (demonstrated by fewer colds, flu and URI incidence) with moderate exercise. See the chart of p. 3 of this article. It appears that either no exercise or heavy, extreme exercise can actually result in diminished immune function, as prolonged stress on the body can actually trigger release of stress hormones that send your immune balance levels way off kilter.  This isn’t to say don’t exercise hard, but if you do, an immune supplement (EpiCor anyone???) may help support immune health when your heavy-duty workout might normally zap it.

Click image to enlarge so you can read it better

My family and I are taking a vacation soon. And everyone probably knows how that goes. You get frantic trying to get everything done…at work and at home… so you can have peace of mind on vacation knowing that all is well back home.

Of course, what actually happens is that you run yourself ragged, in time-crunches and in worry, trying to beat the deadlines before vacation launch.  Then, once you’ve finally left, it takes a day to wind down. Then, you get sick because your body is finally catching up with reality and it does not appreciate what you put it through. So it rebels. You come down with a whopper of a cold or flu or both. And by the time you get home, you’re just now recovering.

Here’s a lot of dialog about this topic on Fodor’s Web site.

My theory–and I’ll bet it’s borne out in some research–is that the stress you put yourself through to reach vacation time (and maybe even during vacation) knocks your immune function off track. The lack of immune balance comes back to haunt you once you’ve set sail from the office.  An NIH immunologist gives some thought about it, too. And, we’ve seen in this blog some of the science showing stress actually alters the good/bad bacteria in the gut, leading to a profound change in immune function.

I’ll go into my vacation fully confident my immune system is ready (with my EpiCor regimen fully in place).

There's gotta be a supplement down there somewhere

I was at my doctor’s office recently for a check up. He asked if I take any vitamins or supplements. Among the 6 or so I take, I mentioned EpiCor, and told him its impact on my allergies, cold/flu experience, etc.  I thought he might say, “Really? Tell more about it…” etc.  Rather, he just kind of gave a little snicker and told me to see the receptionist on the way out.

My doc is a osteopathic physician, so I kinda thought he might appreciate some dialog on supplementation. But I guess not. Heck, he probably had 25 other patients to get to before noon, so he really didn’t want to chat for an extra minute or two about immune balance vs. boosting or probiotic effect or other stuff like that.

Hopefully, my experience is not what most docs think. One survey by the Council for Responsible Nutrition from a couple years ago shows that a majority of doctors…specifically cardiologists, orthopedists and dermatologists–recommend supplementation to patients and many of those doctors take supplements themselves.

Maybe my doctor, a family practice physician, isn’t as steeped in condition-specific supplementation knowledge as the specialists, and that’s why he was a bit dismissive. Who knows?

Pow! Supplements to the rescue!

about how vitamins or supplements are basically worthless, producing expensive urine, etc. Some reporter or expert looks at some metadata and concludes that because supplement takers don’t live longer  than non-supplement takers, supplements must be ineffective.

For that, I offer 2 things: 1) my own story  2) a CNN report from yesterday.

As for me, I continue to experience a life with very few allergy symptoms (and nearly no cold/flu episodes at all)  after now taking a daily EpiCor for three years. Also, I was at the eye doctor last week. He told me my retinal and macular health was excellent, absolutely no eye health issues at all. I told him it must be my lutein intake. He was a little amused, telling me that all the nutrition I need I can get by eating a healthy, fruit-and-vegetable-laden diet. And he’s right. It’s just that I know I cannot and will not eat a large bowl of spinach every day to get the lutein needed to maintain macular pigment density in my eyes. Hence, quality lutein supplementation may be a way to “supplement” lutein intake. Is there absolute proof lutein is THE reason for my good eye health (vs. genetics, lifestyle, etc.)? No. Is there absolute proof  EpiCor is keeping my immune system balanced and efficient so as to alleviate allergies, colds and flu? No. Will I stop taking lutein and EpiCor? No. If I think it may be helping, and it’s safe and natural, I’ll continue taking it.

CNN yesterday ran a story on vitamins and supplements. The report says half of all Americans take a vitamin or supplement, spending $27 billion a year on them. The story says supplements don’t have to prove safety or effectiveness (false…there are manufacturing, safety and labeling restrictions imposed on supplements by the FDA), and that it’s folly to think supplements can replace a healthy diet. Hello??!! Who has ever said that?? That’s why they call them “supplements,” not “nutrition replacements.” To give you a little more of what you might be missing in your daily diet from time to time. So, getting past these straw men and false arguments, the CNN story actually linked to a Consumer Reports story (CR is another traditionally anti-supplement media voice) which lists…hold on to your hats…11 supplements you should consider taking. I thought I was going to pass out. A positive, constructive story on supplement benefits.

Bottom line: supplement consumption in the U.S. is increasing for a reason. Medical people or marketers who are beholden to drug companies need to face that fact. People are using supplements because they perceive that there is a benefit somewhere. True, a number of people may buy a product on a whim, not knowing anything at all about it or what it actually may or may not do. But many doctors, eye doctors, naturopaths and consulting nutritionists take supplements themselves and recommend them to their patients. And many patients and docs research the heck out of a supplement before taking or recommending it. So, there is a place for supplements in this world. And as the price tag for health care increases and the offsetting benefits of prevention become more profound, that place will likely continue to grow.