But how about African medicine? Rooted in herbalism with a spiritual component, there may be several overlapping philosophies with other cultural/medical practices. I’m the last to offer any familiarity or overarching perspective on the subject.

However, I did come across a fascinating article on immune balance in The Nigerian Tribune. The story provides some information on probiotic benefits of indigenous African foods that can lead to immune system improvement, with some studies cited. Well done, I say.

Sauerkraut and sausage - two fermented mainstays

products to his cattle on his small farm. He eventually noticed that cattle eating those fermented material seemed to be healthier and require less attention than other herds.

Soon, he was developing a technology in 1943 for a natural, dried yeast-based fermentate as a livestock feed additive.  A lot of research was conducted on efficacy in animals, and as the science grew, the real-world animal health and production results grew and the company grew.  A similar natural fermentation technology was developed for human consumption, and is now the core ingredient product for EpiCor.  Which brings me to my point: fermented foods and beverages seems to be very good for you, and fermentation may be one big reason why EpiCor works so well in human trials. Why do fermented foods have such nutritional mojo? One source, Rebecca Wood, sums it up nicely:

1. Unprocessed fermented foods boost the immune system by increasing antibodies that fight infectious disease.
2. The flora in living cultured foods form a “living shield” that covers the small intestine’s inner lining and helps inhibit pathogenic organisms including E.coli, salmonella and an unhealthy overgrowth of candida (yeast).
3. Some ferments create antioxidants (glutathione and superoxide dismustase) that scavenge free radicals which are a cancer precursor.
4. Fermenting transforms hard-to-digest lactose from milk to the more easily digested lactic acid. It neutralizes the anti-nutrients found in many foods including the phytic acid found in all grains and the trypsin-inhibitors in soy.
5. Fermentation generates new nutrients including omega-3 fatty acids, digestive aids and the trace mineral GTF chromium.

What  fermented products, besides EpiCor, can you eat and drink that can provide even more imunne health benefit?

• Yogurt
• Sauerkraut
• Sourdough bread
• Beer (not too much)
• Miso, soy sauce
• Olives and other pickled vegetables (not mass produced, but traditionally marinated)
• Aged cheeses
• Wine
• Kimche (spicy Korean cabbage)

• The London Daily Mail Online has a story about research showing the immune health benefits of going on vacation (or holiday, as they say in Europe) wane two weeks after returning to work. That’s kind of a bummer. I was thinking vacation refreshes you for months, maybe even until your next vacation. The story also mentions the propensity to actually get sick when you go on vacation. “… in some cases, the immune system may be left out of kilter when the stress of the working day is suddenly taken away.”
• A new health community called Care2 (actually it’s not that new…I just stumbled upon it) has many groups formed around various health conditions and interests, such as stress. It also features some informative articles, such as a recent piece on antibiotic resistant bacteria, and the need to maintain a naturally healthy immune function, include pre- and probiotic food intake, to lower risk of bacteria-driven problems in the gut resulting from good/bad bacterial imbalance.
• A dental journal article goes into some detail on how immune health can influence periodontal disease formation and vice versa. I’ve written here about the “healthy mouth, healthy body” concept, that poor dental health can lead to other health problems, and all are connected by healthy immune function.
• A PR piece appearing in the  San Francisco Chronicle online talks about new acupuncture methods that may help alleviate seasonal allergy symptoms.  Allergies, of course, are an over-reaction of the immune system. “Acupuncture offers a relaxing, natural alternative that refreshes us, without the side effects of pills,” says a source in the story. Hmmmm. The same might be said of EpiCor, only without the needles.

bacteria to the human gut, helping to support digestive health by increasing the amount of good bacteria. Prebiotics (such as EpiCor plus a variety of fruits and vegetables) contain natural matter that help feed the beneficial bacteria already in the gut, helping to promote growth of that bacteria.

As we all know by now (right?!) a healthy amount of beneficial bacteria in the gut determines a great portion of how well your immune system functions. The health site Vitabase gives a good overview:

“The role of probiotics in immune function has been studied for decades. Scientists were curious as to why our bodies would strike up such a close relationship with these bugs. The most crucial role probiotics seem to play for humans is that of training the immune system. Most people don’t know that 60-70% of their immune system is located in the gut as a vast network of lymph tissue referred to as GALT (gut associated lymphatic tissue). The probiotics in our gut are constantly interfacing with the GALT and essentially priming the immune system for contact with other bacteria. They serve as a way for the body to learn how to respond to bacteria without actually having to suffer an infection. This becomes particularly important in young children whose immune system is in constant state of development until about age 7.”

One question I have on prebiotics vs. probiotics: Is one better than the other? One BBC piece does a head to head comparison of cowboy “poo” to try to find a winner. And prebiotics won. This study probably won’t find its way to the New England Journal of Medicine, but it’s fun to read.  Another source sizes up the two, and concludes both could be beneficial in certain health circumstances. With probiotics, one issue is that it is difficult to know if most or even a majority of the live bacteria in a delivery system (yogurt, pills/capsules, etc.) actually make it to the gut. A lot of bacteria can get destroyed during processing, shipping and shelf time. So you may be spending money for additional bacteria that are not bioactive anymore.

Researchers at St. Jude’s children’s hospital have identified a molecule in the body that “functions like a factory supervisor” to make sure the right balance of T-cells are available to fight infection. They call the molecule  phosphatase MKP-1. A summary of the research says that phosphatase MKP-1 “is an important regulator of immune balance, and “serves as a bridge between the innate immune response that is the body’s first line of defense against infection and the more specialized adaptive immune response that follows.”

Another piece of immune balance news this week was found in Slate, the online magazine. The article, which generated a good number of comments, talks about the pros and cons of probiotics, in light of the fact that more and more food and nutrition products are falling all over each other to add probiotic beneficial bacteria so they can claim their products aid in digestive health and support healthy immune function. The article looks at several studies in concluding that probiotic intake may only improve total sick days in a given year by a day or so. The evidence cited in the story, plus the evidence available in many other studies, may not be worth staking much of a claim on. The findings are generally products of small trials with many confounding factors, including the idea that a ton of live bacteria may not be present in the claimed bacterial volume on the product label, due to bacteria being destroyed during processing and shelf time.  One study of yogurt intake, in fact, was designed so that participants ate a pretty hefty helping of yogurt 3 times a day for weeks on end. That’s a ton of yogurt, with not-so-dramatic of outcomes.  One thing that most science does agree on, however, is that certain levels of gut microbiota can aid in digestive function, and may also be important in how certain components of the immune system perform.

The wrap on all this is that yes, our immune systems are complex and involve myriad classes of cells which produce other cells which produce other cells, all working together and performing extraordinary tasks at certain times. It is indeed, a monumental balancing act.  And it’s much, much more than the body launching a bunch of attack cells to destroy bacteria or viruses. Your gut health does influence your immune system performance. But it may take more than a lot of yogurt to make that happen.

For example, do most people know that allergies are a direct result of an over-aggressive immune response?  Do they also know that immune response can be a big part of joint and muscle inflammation?  Or how about cellular inflammation? That affects heart disease, obesity, etc. And don’t forget digestive health, where 70% of immune response starts. Digestive tract microflora, also known as beneficial gut bacteria, helps drive overall immune response, absorption of nutrients into the body, even brain health and cognitive function.

And I’m sure I haven’t even begun to cover all of the health ramifications of good immune health.

So when you talk about maintaining a healthy, balanced immune function,  just know it’s much more than colds and flu.

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?

Inflammation, in its most efficient, optimal state, is the irritation that accompanies the immune system’s response to an injury or illness that immune cells are trying to heal. However, when immune response goes haywire over the long term, the result can be chronic inflammation that leads to heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, arthritis and cancer, to name a few.  See a good introductory slide show of inflammation here.

More people probably think of a swollen ankle or a bee sting when they think of inflammation. Will consumers, outside of the hard core health information seekers, ever understand inflammation as something more that can impact a lifetime of health?

And even if consumers eventually understand inflammation as an underlying foundation for chronic disease, with so many nutritional ingredients being viewed as having some level of anti-inflammatory activity, what’s a consumer to do?

Here’s my strategy – keep doing what I’m doing. Simple and reliable. My EpiCor daily 500 mg capsule is most likely giving me some anti-inflammatory benefit (as has been shown in lab research) plus probiotic digestive benefits and antioxidant benefits, all combining to balance immune response. Who needs more than that?!

Further into the piece comes a section that helps spell out the role of intestinal bacteria and immune function:

“The gastrointestinal tract is a complex and dangerous frontier.
All the nutrients required for life must pass through, while the bad guys are kept out. Given the large area, there is much that can go wrong, leading to a huge range of ailments. In keeping with its immense surface area and intense exposure to foreign antigens, the intestinal tract is the largest organ of immune surveillance and response in the human body.”

Yes, the gut is ground zero for the immune cavalry’s ride to the rescue in the rest of the body.  But what about the relationship to those parasites? As the Galland points out:

“…over two-thirds of your body’s immune system is located in the wall of the small intestine. The immune cells (called lymphocytes) leave the intestine and travel all over your body. When activated by a parasitic infection, they can carry the inflammatory message to your joints, your skin, your eyes, and your lungs.”

Hmmm. Interesting. We’ve talked in this blog about over-reaction of immune defenders being a big reason for all kinds of inflammation in the body. Now, it may appear immune cells are coded with inflammatory instructions spawning from parasitic infections in the gut, kind of like creating a bunch of Manchurian Candidates that go out and take up residence in the rest of the body.

Goes to show that balancing these good/bad role players in the body is highly complex.