How does the body synthesize Vitamin D through sun exposure? Here’s a quick step-by-step summary.

How much sun should we get each day to produce enough Vitamin D?  This news summary recommends about 10 minutes a day outside during peak summer sun months, with no sunscreen, shorts and a tank top. The article says many dermatologists fear such regular exposure to intense sun may increase risk of skin cancer. Many health and immunology experts say the benefits of a full dose of Vitamin D outweigh the skin cancer risks. And during winter months, when bright, direct sunlight is not available north of Atlanta, eat Vitamin D fortified foods and take a daily vitamin D Supplement. Vitamin D3 is better absorbed by the body than other D forms.

And the benefits to your immune health? Almost innumerable.

So I brought up its site and signed on to a live chat with an Abbott nutritionist, Christy.  By the way, good job, Abbott, with your chat tool. It was fast and ready to go as advertised.

I asked about the new “ImmunBalance” label splash on the package. What’s behind it? Christy said it reflects the antioxidant benefit delivered through selenium and vitamin C (which were already in the product) plus newly added probiotics for balancing good and bad gut bacteria. According to many health experts, the gut microflora composition comprises up to 70% of the body’s immune system defense.   

Christy also said she’d check on whether any additional research using Ensure to measure blood or saliva immune cell changes exists and could be shared. I also told her it was interesting that Ensure was choosing to use the phrase “balance” instead of “boost,” which still seems to be the most common immune tag on packaging.

I’m glad Ensure is taking the enlightened, science-driven approach and promoting immune balance.  For sure.

Still, today I was scanning some of the industry news that’s recently been distributed throughout the supplement industry. Since I’m particularly interested in immune support, I’ve done some quick searching of what’s new in the market. All I can say is wow! There are now more immune support products than I can ever recall seeing in the past. Just a sampling, if  you’ll allow me:

PeakImmune4®, “an essential immune support dietary supplement that provides vital antioxidant and anti-inflammatory action.  The active ingredient in PeakImmune4 is Rice Bran Arabinoxylan Compound (RBAC). A polysaccharide dietary fiber derived from rice bran, RBAC is modified by an enzyme from Shiitake mushrooms using a patented biotechnology process.”  But to view any science, you have to order it from the Web site and say why you’re interested.  Not cool.

Immune Extra® is an “all natural, vegetarian, clinically-tested supplement containing Proligna®, a botanical extract derived from pine cones that optimizes your immune system.” Hmmm. And how many pine cones are typically in the humam diet? Actually, this product does put forth a good immune balance discussion and seems to have some respectable science behind it.

KalmCold – Its makers in India say the active ingredient “is said to increase appetite, strengthen digestion and diminish flatulence, hyperacidity and biliousness. It is also utilized for treatment of many conditions like bacillary dysentery, bronchitis, carbuncles, colitis, coughs, dyspepsia, fever, hepatitis, malaria, mouth ulcers, sores and tuberculosis. The roots and leaves have a reputation for being anthelmintic.”  But no published science to be seen.

Equilibrant. Nice name. Implies balance. No science posted at all. The ingredients look like a mish-mash of about everything: Vit. D, Vit. A, Calcium, Selenium, Astragalus Root Extract, Shrubby Sophora Root Extract, Licorice Root Extract, Shittake Mushroom Extract.

Immune health is a hot supplement category right now and growing hotter. For many reasons. That’s even more reason to make sure you’re a wise consumer when considering a supplement product.  Make sure the manufacturer is safe and qualified to be producing the product. Insist of solid science. If you’re not confident in judging research quality, find an expert and ask him or her to assess the science. Read all you can about the brand and ingredients. And consult your doctor before taking anything new and untested in your dietary regimen.

The author, Olivia Judson, an evolutionary biologist at Imperial College in London, states a mind-blowing statistic: that microbial cells living in our body outnumber our own “human” species cells by a factor of 10-1. (Our human cells are much larger than the microbial cells; that’s why we’re not a walking blob of biomass.)

How these genetically morphing, multi-species organisms impact health, disease, mortality or overall growth and development is the next frontier. Maybe even the next-next frontier. If unlocking the human genome was biology’s Manhattan Project, unlocking the microbial genome may be the Mission to Mars.

• Leukocytes
• Lymphocyte
• Monocytes
• Granulocytes
• B-cells
• Plasma cells
• T-cells
• Helper T-cells
• Killer T-cells
• Suppressor T-cells
• Natural killer cells
• Neutrophils
• Eosinophils
• Basophils
• Phagocytes
• Macrophages

If you really want to get into it, the site goes through a great explanation of other immune systems components, such as the lymph, or lymphatic, system and how it interacts with blood cells, antibodies, bone marrow, hormones and other body systems that contribute to immune defense.  The only thing I didn’t see much content for was the gastrointestinal system’s microflora and how beneficial bacteria in the gut impacts immune health.

But don’t let that stop you. Give it a read. It’s written in plain English and in very understandable style…almost as well as this blog!

While you’re at it, check out this cosmic animation (and music) of a macrophage cell recognizing a pathogen and latching onto it. Wild stuff.

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.

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.

One of the causes of travelers’ diarrhea can be a significant change in the type of food being consumed – a person’s normal, healthy flora are living very happily in a reasonably constant environment in terms of the food consumed. A single radically different meal can cause some perturbations, but moving to a different country can cause very significant shifts and put things out of balance.

As a result, even without consuming more harmful bacteria, the bad bugs already present may thrive more and cause digestive problems. Other factors leading to imbalance can be excessive use of antibiotics, illness stress in general, change of seasons etc. I should also add that there is probably not a “perfect” or even a “standard” population of bugs for humans. It will vary with age, location, type of food being consumed etc. So in general, a healthy person eating a good diet will have their own gut bacterial ecology that has developed to work efficiently on that person’s normal food intake.

Taking all this into consideration, it is doubtful if there is a single probiotic, prebiotic or synbiotic that is right for everyone. Our gut flora is as individual as we are, and what works well for one person will not work well for another. Trial and error is probably as good a way to go as any, always remembering to giving the particular choice of product time to work – beneficial effects should be established in a couple of weeks.

If you have been watching television lately you have probably seen that over 70% of the human immune system is located in the wall of the gut – the GALT – the Gut Associated Lymphoid Tissue. In one sense the “reason” the GALT is present is to prevent invasion of pathogenic bacteria, as might be expected. However, it is becoming increasingly obvious that gut bacteria (natural and probiotics) and the GALT “talk” to each other, and one can directly and indirectly influence the other.

Probably the most abundant antibody produced in the body is gut-associated secretory IgA. Originally, it was thought that its role was to attach to foreign and pathogenic bacteria and cause them to be passed out of the system. It is now becoming clear that it also has a major role in maintaining the balance of the normal gut flora.

So finally, if you are still with me, we get to why a healthy, balanced immune system can be an aid to a healthy digestive system. Keeping the appropriate levels of secretory IgA present in the gut can help keep the gut bacterial population in balance, and still have enough left over to repel pathogens. When there are pathogenic attacks, a balanced immune system will repel the attack, without going overboard on the inflammatory response. They are linked – a healthy gut can help keep the immune system healthy, and a balanced immune system can help keep the gut healthy. Who helps whom the most will depend on a host of factors, but anything that stresses the immune system can have a bad effect on general digestion.

(Editor’s note: As the holiday season moves into full gastronomical swing, some basic tips on gut health and how it can make a difference with your immune balance might be in order. Dr. Stuart Reeves of Embria Health Sciences explains how the world of probiotics and prebiotics works. Stuart has teased us with this. Today he posts Part 1. Stay tuned for Part 2 coming soon.)

Probiotics, prebiotics and synbiotics. There can easily be confusion about these terms. Although there are some general disagreements about definitions, it is generally accepted that:

• Probiotics contain “live microorganisms which when administered in adequate amounts, confer a beneficial health effect on the host” (World Health Organization). Basically this means that probiotics are a culture of live bacteria (usually) that can grow or metabolize in the gut and produce beneficial effects. Probably the oldest one around is yogurt, and there have been more and more suggested recently, and they are especially well thought of by consumers in Europe.
• A prebiotic is a component (usually a carbohydrate) that is normally indigestible by humans, but that nourishes or helps to stimulate the growth of either natural gut bacteria or added probiotics. Perhaps the best-known examples of prebiotics are the fiber inulin and also fructo-oligosaccharides. For prebiotics to work they need to be alive, so they are really only found in products like yogurts and carefully dried supplements.
• Synbiotics are combination compounds that give both pro and prebiotic effects.

Having got that out of the way, what has this to do with the immune system, you may ask, and the importance of balancing it? Well, for that you will have to tune in to Part 2, coming shortly.