Next time, maybe we’ll see a Top 10 List on immune health and stress. Stay tuned!

So how does one even begin to understand immune “balance,” if understanding the immune system structure is so complicated? One way to begin is to view a simple video on how immune balance happens, and what it means in everyday life. This video, below, also contains information on EpiCor. But the EpiCor explanation is useful, because it does tie in with immune balancing, and helps clarify the explanations and descriptions.

Hence, more parents are having second thoughts about kids playing football. My neighbors have an energetic 4th grader who loves contact football, but they are trying to steer him toward other sports, simply because of the new data that have emerged on brain health over the past several years.

A healthy brain is also more than just mental acuity, recall and intellectual function. A healthy brain helps drive many other health functions in the body, including immune health. The video below is a 47-minute lecture on the brain-immune function, presented at the Univ. of Calif. San Diego by American University Professor Esther Sternberg. It’s actually very interesting and watchable, not a geek fest of charts and stats.  It really drives home the point that your brain impacts all kinds of physical health parameters, and needs to be taken care of, just like your heart or your eyes or GI tract.

Still, this video recently posted on Asthma review might be worth a watch.  It’s called How to Relieve Allergies Naturally. I agree with some of the ideas: saline nasal spray, for example. Other suggestions have no science or reference to citations that could enhance the credibility of the piece. And, most of the suggestions are just symptom alleviation ideas.  In fact, one  remedy idea talks about eliminating bacteria. What? When did bacteria start causing allergies?

I’ll stick with my clinical science-backed, demonstrated-efficacy-supported EpiCor. And, Dr. Asthma (errr… Kelly), if you are out there and are real, and if I’m wrong about you, please let me know.

We’re bombarded with promotions everyday about some new world-beating health product. Problem is, there is very little, if any, legitimate science behind a lot of them. I think this video demonstrates how to view and assess the right stuff when considering a supplement choice.

Just to be sure, here is a summary of some of the clinical evidence that Dr. Reeves refers to. Thanks to i-HealthTube and Swanson Health for the access to this piece.  (Note: you’ll have to endure a 30 sec. ad for something else before the real stuff starts).

Click image to view

When we talk about the immune system and immune cells and and immune balance, it’s natural to picture such things in conceptual, abstract, fuzzy renderings. What’s an immune system look like?  How do leukocytes get around?

Some lab research published this month details new visualization technology that shows how a cell (marked with the white sphere) moves and devolves within a cluster of neutrophil cells (in green) in a rat lung. Neutrophils are a class of white blood cells that kill and digest micro-organisms.

Click the image at the right to view the video.

This is the second one of these cools videos I’ve come across. Here’s a video I posted a while back showing immune cells putting a major beat-down on an intruder.

The immune system cellular function is real…and now visible.  The thing is, with immune balance, you don’t want these immune cells doing this kind of job on healthy cells or on benign, non-threatening substances that enter the body. That’s where bad things…health problems…start happening.

Of course, I continue to do what I can to support my immune health…diet, sleep, immune balance supplementation…and hopefully preempt the effects of tree and flower pollen that will appear in a few weeks. Here are some additional tips from a recent CBS News segment. Some of these things I had never heard before…such as taking a shower at night to get the pollen out of your hair. Wow. See what you think.

Watch CBS News Videos Online

On the other end of the spectrum, Europe is launching an investigation in charges that the whole H1N1 pandemic scare was a fraud fueled by pharma companies eager to cash in on vaccines and related medical products. That’s kind of hard for me to buy, but film follows:

From the world of nutritional supplementation, it’s probably good to review a statement issued late last year from leading nutritional products trade groups warning that any supplements or non-prescription health products claiming to ward off or “treat” H1N1 is patently misleading and should be pulled off shelves. Totally agree on that one. I’ll continue with my immune balance supplementation, knowing that I’m helping support my general immune health but not insuring anything at all in terms of H1N1 avoidance or refuge from any other disease for that matter. Here’s the statement published in NutraIngredients.com:

Four major US supplement trade associations have issued a joint statement reaffirming an earlier condemnation of companies marketing dietary supplements as treatments for swine flu or H1N1.

They said they were not aware of, “any scientific data supporting the use of dietary supplements to treat the H1N1 virus (popularly known as “swine flu”), and recognize that federal law does not allow dietary supplements to claim to treat any diseases, including H1N1.”

The four groups: The American Herbal Products Association (AHPA); the Natural Products Association (NPA); the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN); the United Natural Products Alliance (UNPA) – along with the Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA) – condemned dietary supplements marketing in the H1N1 area.

The groups noted that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have issued 147 warning letters since May to companies marketing products

These products include air filters, face masks, shampoos as well as food supplements.

The groups recommended:

* Marketers and retailers of dietary supplements not stock or sell any supplements that are presented as treating or curing H1N1
* Marketers and retailers not to promote any dietary supplement as a cure or treatment for H1N1

Whilst condemning the practice, the groups noted that there are many dietary supplements that, “have much to offer in terms of enhancing general immune function.”

“However, therapies for the treatment of swine flu should only be recommended by qualified healthcare professionals or public health authorities,” they said.

I know I’m not a special case. Tons of others out there have schedules even more frenetic. But you can see that this time of year can send stress levels through the roof.

And that impacts the human immune system at the cell level. And as a recent study shows, stress can pull immune response in two opposite directions; over-reacting killer cells, and under-reacting suppressive cells. I truly think my supplementation is making a difference in helping balance that otherwise discombobulated immune function. If I got a couple more hours sleep at night (for some reason, I can’t hit the sack until the Daily Show and the first half of Conan O’Brien are over), I’m sure my immune function would be even better.  More fruits and vegetables, and less ice cream and Boulevard Pale Ale beer would help too.

The instruction on the video below is useful as well. Enjoy. Or at least, chill out.