If you don’t view the whole thing ,at least  make sure to watch the segment from 3:23 to 5:20, where he talks about the optimal immune health state:  the state of “balance.”  That’s where the nutritional and life management insights that we talk about in this blog come into play; attempting to create a healthy level of immune balance so that immune cells react appropriately to pathogens, but don’t overreact to point of harming healthy cells.

But, with her crazy hours, lack of sleep many nights and other factors, I’m totally down with the green tea. Keep it going, I say. There are immune health benefits to be had. Some new data published last summer suggests green tea “appears to be a natural, plant-derived compound that can affect the number of regulatory T cells, and in the process improve immune function…” The research said the most  prominent, active compound in green tea, EGCG, likely provides these benefits without long-term toxicity or damaging underlying DNA in immune cells.

Fact: My daughter also takes EpiCor regularly.

Fact: She hasn’t had a sick day causing her to miss class during her two years in college to date.

That’s why it’s great to know when a reliable consumer product receives even more confirmation that it is safe. The International Journal of Toxicology recently published a safety review of EpiCor, one of the leading nutritional supplements for support immune health (through immune balancing). As it states: “Results of the studies performed indicate that EpiCor does not possess genotoxic activity and has a low order of toxicity that is well tolerated when administered orally.”

That’s on top of previous safety studies over the past several years.

I’ll give another toast for an innovative ingredient that is safe, natural and effective any day.

The only problem: what about winter, especially in northern climes where sun exposure is weak?   Right now, I’m really missing being able to play nine holes of golf at 6:30 at night. Now, by 6:30, it’s been dark for an hour.

Low-angle sun in the fall, compared to the high-overhead sun in the summer, lacks the intensity to allow shorth-length UVB  rays to penetrate the atmosphere. Those UVB rays penetrating the skin are what stokes the body’s Vitamin D production factory.

For Vitamin D upkeep during winter, almost everyone recommends a good Vitamin D3 supplement. (D3 is best absorbed by the body).

For immune health upkeep, EpiCor has been shown to activate NK cells and antioxidant levels in the blood in as little as two hours. Taking it daily can help when sun and exercise are in short supply.

The point I want to make is about humor and laughter. There’s always been stuff written about laughter and immune health…how laughing can improve immune performance.  A little or a lot of holiday cheer…the non-alcoholic kind…could be just the thing to help keep your immune system in good working order, right?  Well, maybe. Or maybe not.

I found a very good research summary on PubMed from Complementary and Alternative Medicine. It puts a collection of studies in some perspective. The overriding conclusion (surprise, surprise) is that larger, more controlled studies are needed before any definitive pronouncements about laughter, humor and immune health can be made.

But the article does point out the problem with variables and definitions when trying characterize humor or laughter. For example, it points out that people who consider themselves possessing a significant  ”sense of humor”  exhibited no more or less immune cell activity than others who did not. And, of course, what defines a “sense of humor?”  It also pointed to increased NK (natural killer) cell activity among people who laugh and laugh hard, as opposed to those who smile or kind of chuckle. Does that imply that the physical component of laughing can have as much or more impact on immune response than anything else? And what about longevity of the act of laughing? Does one need to sustain laughter regularly over the course of weeks or months for laughter to be effective?  Who knows? And don’t even start in about laughter in combination with other lifestyle aspects such as exercise, diet, sleep, etc. that we all know can impact immune health as well. That would seem to be a maze of variables and definitions that are nearly impossible to define, combine and measure.

Oh well. If laughter is not necessarily always the best medicine, it sure can’t hurt.

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.

The study shows a 2% greater mortality rate with the women who took supplements vs. the control group who did not. Of course, this study, with its limited parameters and lack of direct causal evidence, now leads to headlines on Fox News such as “Are Your Supplements Killing You?”  Wonderful.

Several key points to consider:

1) Any supplement that claims to “treat” a disease  should be shunned. That’s bush league. A supplement is simply that, something that “supplements” one’s diet, especially if a person feels his or her diet is lacking in certain macro or micro nutrients.  A supplement is not medicine, not a drug, and not a meal replacement.

2) Supplements are not intended to be the fountain of youth and extend one’s life to 125 years. The NPR story today quotes researchers who are harsh on supplements because people who take them don’t live longer than those who don’t. Again, any nutritional product offering a longer life should be black balled. I look at it this way; Most people will live into their 70s and 80s, a few into their 90s, a rare few (but more each year) into their 100s.  No matter how long you live, something is likely going to set in late in life, be it cancer, a cardiovascular condition, cognitive issues like Alzheimers, etc. The key is how to stay as healthy as possible up to the end. In other words, maintaining a good quality of life before expiring. I take several–not many–supplements, and my hope is that I will be pretty functional and live a great life in my later years, then die pretty quickly, rather than contracting something in my 60′s or 70′s and living with it for 10 or 20 years. It’s not life extension. It’s not even prevention. It’s more like preemption and delay. I may have just coined a new phrase.

3) Supplements, when consumed as directed, can have functional value. The key term is “functional,” as in helping some part of your body function in a healthier way. Not “curative,” not “reversal.”  Functional. Take EpiCor, for example. Research has demonstrated it helps “balance” immune function in the body, thereby supporting a healthier immune system. Hopefully, that healthier immune function pays off with any number of health benefits down the road. That doesn’t mean that some health condition won’t emerge that that could knock you off your feet and eventually shut you down. All it means is that you may be giving your immune system and your general health a better chance through supplementation, especially if the rest of your lifestyle–no smoking, exercise, healthy diet, sleep, stress management–is managed well.  And, to be sure, anyone who takes massive amounts of supplements over the long term at many times the recommended daily amount may indeed by damaging themselves. That happens a lot.

And one more thing. If supplementation is ineffective and even harmful, how come a majority of physicians and nurses take them? So, please, medical research community, quit treating supplements like they are supposed to be drugs or medicine. They are not. They are just nutrients, some of higher quality than others, depending on the source and  manufacturer, and they can play a supporting role–not an ultimate solution– in maintaining good health.

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.

As I continue to read and digest the socioeconomic scene each day, week and month, I am reminded of remarks I heard last fall at a health business conference. The remarks from were Pamela Peek, a health and nutrition thought leader and NIH researcher.

She was talking about what helps centenarians live so long. Today, there are 72,000 people in the U.S. who are 100 years old or older. That’s nearly double the number from 20 years ago.  By the year 2050, that number could be anywhere from 265,00 to more than 4 million!

How is this happening? Well, genes, better diets and a new understanding of the benefits of exercise and activity. In fact, Peek mentioned studies that show physical movement can actually generate new brain cells, even in older age. Hence, a good fight against cognitive function decline.

But one thing she mentioned really stuck out. She said a common trait among members of the 100-year club, based on interview summaries, is a sense of possibilities and optimism, and an ability to move on quickly from setbacks and tragedies. She said centenarians have outlived their spouses, usually more than one spouse, and many times, their children. They’ve experienced adversity just like anyone else in life, but they have a mindset of not dwelling or reeling in adversity. Not that they don’t experience dejection, remorse, extreme sadness, etc., but they tend to shake it off and not let it drive their existence.

A New York Times piece from last fall talks about this same trait, calling it The Three R’s: resolution, resourcefulness and resilience. These traits also mirror research on immune system health and optimism.

So, as the tough times continue, those who can see possibilities, opportunities and hope through it all have a better chance of staying in the game for a long, long, long time.

Now we find out this week about some new research showing that non-alcoholic wheat beer may help support the immune health of highly trained athletes by balancing immune function. Huh?

According to story on the reseasrch:

“The study shows that after running a marathon race, athletes experience intensified inflammatory reactions. The immune system is thrown off balance and runners are much more likely to suffer from upper respiratory infections. This heightened susceptibility to illness following strenuous sport activity has been identified as an “open window.”

Furthermore it was shown that non-alcoholic wheat beer containing polyphenols has a positive, health promoting effect on the human body: inflammation parameters in the blood were significantly reduced, and there was a lower frequency of infection with milder symptoms.”

I understand EpiCor may have some research findings to release soon regarding athletes, EpiCor intake and inflammatory response changes . We’ll be watching. And drinking. Just a little.