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.

Here’s a brief explanation.

Stress can alter the bacterial composition of the digestive tract. When that happens, good/bad bacteria are out of balance. When bad bacteria rule the roost (in the gut), the ability of the body’s immune system to operate at top efficiency is compromised. Gut bacteria are the “educators” of the body’s immune cell behavior, signaling aggressive or passive response as needed, depending on the kinds of pathogens or antigens that enter the body and alert the immune system.

An even better, but lengthier, discussion is here. The author likens immune balance as a “four-way seesaw” that needs to maintain balance to work.

Go, stress, gut, immune. They make your health world go round. That’s why stress management over the long term is so important. It can impact so many other parts of your health and eventually, your quality of life.

Two thing recently happened that reaffirmed EpiCor’s sterling safety profile. One was what is called acknowledgement of EpiCor from the FDA  as a “New Dietary Ingredient” (NDI). The other was passing NSF certification.

The NDI acknowledgement means EpiCor has demonstrated to federal regulators a high degree of safety and efficacy for the product itself. The NSF process completion demonstrates that EpiCor is manufactured under industry-leading quality control and safety management practices.

And, add to this the fact that EpiCor is produced in what is recognized as a cGMP facility (that’s FDA speak for Current Good Manufacturing Practices), and you cannot really do any better when it comes to safety, consistency and reliability.

So I guess I’m thankful this Thanksgiving for continuing safe, effective supplement ingredients I can take to maintain good health. Happy, healthy Thanksgiving to all.

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.

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 a press release from something called HealthBeauty4U. While it does slightly touch on some immune health support factors such as sleep and diet, any release that is so poorly written with tons of grammar errors, no focus and no scientific citations or references should raise red flags about even looking any further at this product or company.
• Here’s a coffee that, on its Twitter account, claims to boost your immune system. Hmmm. I’ve seen research on benefits of coffee for cognitive health and overall antioxidant benefits, but nothing directly related to supporting immune health.
• Here’s something called Immuno Gum. It has several ingredients, each, by themselves have shown some impact on immune response, but the science is very sketchy, even on Vitamin C. And the product web content contains no links to studies involving the product directly. No human clinical trials. And, there’s no hint of where it is made, whether it is GRAS, or what kind of shelf life it has.
• Ever heard of colostrum?  It’s the thick fluid from human and animals that precedes newly produced breast milk. Colostrum has huge nutrient value for newborns, and plays a big role in developing a strong immune system through infancy and into the growth years. A product called CapraColostrum, collected from goats, is featured here.  There is good research on colostrum, however this product is making wild claims, saying it is “effective in treatment of the following disorders, but not limited to: Thrombocytopenia Anemia, Myasthenia Gravis, Guillain Barre Syndrome, Multiple Sclerosis, Systemic Lupus,  Rheumatoid Arthritis, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Crohn’s Disease.” Whenever a supplement claims it can treat a disease or multiple diseases, run, don’t walk, away from it. Such claims are most likely not FDA authorized. If those claims are not accompanied by quality clinical trials showing  ”treatment” efficacy and safety, that’s even more proof that the product marketer is not doing business appropriately.

But what about the converse? Can working to naturally improve immune function result in beneficial weight loss? It’s hard to say. But there may be some correlations. Take diet and exercise, for example. Both are important for immune health. Exercise can aid with production of antibodies and T-cells to fight infection. Research is also suggesting moderate exercise for immune health support. Extreme exercise can, at least temporarily, weaken immune function.

Healthy diet can influence gut microbiota–the balance of healthy bacteria in the digestive system. And sleep. Always important for immune health and stress reduction, which impacts immune health, too. Stress reduction can also impact release of “stress hormones” in the gut, which can contribute to mid-section girth and weight gain. One outlyer I’ve found, though, is the concept of colon cleansing for weight loss. The concept is that a colon cleanse will rid the intestinal tract of toxins that can inhibit healthy weight loss. Problem is, colon cleanses may also take out beneficial bacteria as well, leading to questionable health results, to say the least.

While I’ve not found any sizable clincial study showing a direct correlation between improved immune function and healthy levels of weight loss, to me, it appears to be a circular sequence. Many of the things that go into healthy weight loss…better nutrition, exercise, sleep, stress reduction…can contribute to a healthier, balanced immune system as well. And vice versa.

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)

Today, I stumbled across some information that gives an almost opposite take on emotions and immune health: that falling love can damage your health! What?!?!?  I’ve always assumed that a hot romance would be good for your health.

Here’s my theory: the first stage of romance–falling head over heels for someone–probably does something a little crazy to bodily functions: restless sleep, an upsetting of daily routines, obsessive thoughts, racing pulse, stomach turbulence, etc.  And I can see how this combines to throw immune function off kilter.

But the center of my theory of  love and health problems is FEAR! When the relationship is new and you’re nuts about someone, there is a constant, overriding fear that person may not be as nuts about you, and may have a different outlook on the relationship. Hence, constant worry combined with the exhilaration of new romance.   The result? Sickness. As that article says, that’s why they coined the term “love sick.”

Then when the relationship turns into a stable, solid one, maybe even morphs into marriage, perhaps the health parameters return to normal.

After that, when kids enter the scene, hello sickness again. Finally, after years of togetherness, knowing all the faults and foibles of your spouse, and living in an empty nest, you don’t give a rip about much of anything, and a healthy life returns again.  That’s my theorem of the relationship/health continuum. In which case I should be…and am…very healthy.

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.