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.

The City of Ankeny, Iowa, has launched a health initiative in which city workers are invited to take a daily EpiCor supplement over a six-month period to see if winter cold and flu episodes are reduced. Fifty-nine city employees, more than 25 percent of the workforce, across all departments have signed on to participate. ProActive Health Products will provide the EpiCor supplement supply to the city at cost. The city will pay for half of each employee’s EpiCor supply, with the employee paying the other half.

Employees will fill out self-assessment forms at the beginning, middle and end of the trial to document and describe the sick-day/absentee experience of the trial group.

It’s not a clinical trial per se, but the collective experience of the group could serve as a great observational tool and real-world illustration of the effectiveness of this unique immune balancing ingredient. I’ll be sure to report on progress as results are released.  Here’s some more background on the project.

Is this the patient or the doc?

The Huffington Post is one of my favorite news portals, simply because it offers so much in one place. From time to time I check in with its health section to see what’s being written. I like it because the story headlines have a little attitude and the pictures kind of pull you in. Beyond that, it’s usually pretty good information.

One story this week is on 8 types of stress in the workplace. The story provides some good tips on confronting those stressors. No doubt prolonged stress puts your immune system out of balance. I think I either relate to or know someone who fits every one of those 8 scenarios. It’s a jungle out there.

The other story was about the fact that many docs, especially medical interns and residents, come to work sick.  More than half of the docs-to-be said in a survey that they’ve come to work sick. One-third said they’ve done so more than once. Why? Because we all know that residencies and internships are the career phases where docs have to sell their souls to make the grade. There’s no such thing as an 8-hour day or a day off.  So why not spread some germs and viruses while you’re trying to cure people.

Just a few more reasons why preparing your immune system to perform at its best is good insurance for whatever life throws your way, even when you can’t always see it.

I’m not a big TV watcher, but there are three TV shows that my family and I never miss: “24″, “Glee” and “Fringe.” (Wow, those are all Fox shows. And, am I the only straight, white male with a wife and grown kids who thinks Glee is one of the greatest TV offerings to hit the air in a long, long  time?).  I “use” those TV nights as little goals for getting my work done. A night eating out with my wife is also a goal. Golf and disc golf as well. It’s a goal  system built on small, frequent rewards.

Some recent literature also says that rewarding yourself can enhance your immune system response as well. The benefit comes indirectly–exposure to Jack Bauer or dark chocolate does not immediately impact suppressor cells or natural killer cell activity. The reward system can work by enhancing mood, alleviating stress and anxiety, and increasing a sense of well-being, all which can then trigger changes in immune performance.

Even the American Bar Association–always aware of lawyer burnout and stress-related meltdowns that frequently happen in that profession–advocates rewarding oneself as part of a stress-reduction/immune improvement strategy. So make sure you have some goal in mind, however modest, that can give you some sense of satisfaction and contentment, and keep your immune health in tact.

Dr. Stuart Reeves

Here’s a radio interview you’ll want to listen to. It’s an interview with Dr. Stuart Reeves of Embria Health Sciences, talking about the human immune system and how immune balance works. The interview was recorded on KSTE 650 in Sacramento. Stuart discusses how EpiCor was “accidentally” discovered as a natural immune balancing agent for human health.

Stuart goes into some interesting detail about the manufacture of EpiCor, and how it was essentially stumbled upon as a human nutritional ingredient after employees in a facility that was producing a more basic version of the material for entirely different applications realized they hardly ever got sick, compared to workers in other divisions of the company.

Give it a listen, and see what you think.

Recently, I asked the forum about flu shots? Who is getting a flu shot? Why or why not? Some of the answers were very interesting and very genuine:

Janeen:  “I already got the regular flu shot. I’m not sure I can get the H1N1. Wasn’t there a restriction that pregnant women, babies and the elderly got it first? If not, then I’ll get it. My youngest has asthma and a severe egg allergy and is high risk. He can’t get it due to the egg allergy so the rest of us in the house get the shots to try and shield him the best we can. I’m not concerned for me. It’s my son that concerns me.”

Ellen S: “In the past we have gotten flu shots if my family’s autoimmune issues aren’t flaring badly. This year I’m not sure what we’ll do to be honest. With autoimmunity a real issue and much more of a battle I really want to know what I’m getting. I am not so worried about thimerosol preservatives, but the adjuvant controversies have got me concerned. I do NOT need a more tweaked out immune system hurting me further. Wish I was better informed about them to tell the truth.”

Dindin: “Sign me up, Dude (my WEGO handle is Immunedude). Give me any and all shots that are available. I’ve already had the seasonal flu (outrageously early this year!), and I have no desire to get another strain and/or H1N1.Not to be rude, but I honestly don’t understand those who don’t get shots. Can you explain your rationale a bit more?”

DK:  “Hubby and I got the regular shot three weeks ago. I have mild asthma and he had severe bronchitis this summer, still has a cough. Hubby is extremely healthy, but had five surgeries earlier this year after February’s horrific bicycling accident. Doctor says all the anesthesia made his broncial tubes susceptible, so i’m not messing around with flu this year. H1N1 is not yet here and, frankly, I’m a bit leary of it. There’s a big anti-vaccine movement here – and this is a big medical town! Scarier still, the movement is lead by healthcare workers! Don’t know what to think about that..”

As you can see, this is a complicated dynamic. I’m sure in earlier days, before the social media onslaught, many more people would be getting the shots simply because the public health establishment told them to. Not any more.  I guess that can be a good thing or a bad thing.

Well British research has just been published and summarized today in the Daily Mail (London) showing that kind of group story sharing can actually increase brain function anywhere from 8 to 12 percent among those with age-related cognitive decline. Those results were not achieved when study participants simply talked one-on-one with somebody. According to one researcher:  “I don’t think any drug would deliver anything close to that. If you had a drug that could do that, you could make a lot of money. The point is that the drug is the group.”

The opposite of this environment–isolation from friends, colleagues–can not only diminish cognitive function, it also can weaken immune response, negatively impact blood pressure and contribute to risk of depression.

Some relatively recent research at Carnegie Mellon drilled more deeply into the detrimental effects of social isolation on immune function. Research measured the immune response of students receiving flu shots. Freshman who charted their social networks of friends on campus as very small had lower immune response to flu vaccine strains compared to first-year students who diagrammed a larger social base. A separate UCLA study found similar results.

Bottom line: Don’t let Facebook or Twitter or online gaming be you network. You need people around you to realize greater longevity.

Obviously, this bodes well for the nutritional supplement and preventive health world. However, it is a double-edged sword. Self diagnosis in the name of saving money can be a risky business. If someone is having unusual chest pain and thinks a few days’ worth of heart-healthy fish oil or asprin can make it go away, that’s potentially lethal. 

On the other hand, a job change or any other life change may motivate someone to think:  ”Hmmm, I think I’ll start doing some things in my daily life that could reduce my risk of health problems months or years down the road. I’ll begin a supplement regimen (including the multifacted benefits of an immune balancing supplement), get some exercise each day, change my diet and even take part in some mind/body wellness activities.  And I’ll do so in consultation with a health care professional.  It’s not a guarantee against illness or doctor’s visits, but it has great potential for fortifying my general health and reducing risk of developing health problems.”

Now that’s the ticket. 

Come to think of it, that’s a great attitude even if you’re gainfully employed and don’t have an economic care in the world. Warren Buffet, are you listening?

At quote from the story summarizes the familiar theme we’ve emphasized in this blog all along: “Stress also creates biochemical changes that can affect the immune system, making it underreact to viruses and bacterial infections, or overreact, which can set off allergies, asthma and skin disorders like psoriasis and eczema. And stress can raise the level of inflammation in the body, which has been associated with heart disease.”

Overract. Underreact. It’s the epicenter of the immune balance story.

Many of us are under stress at the moment, due to the credit crunch, fear of job loss and the recession. Did you know that such stresses can adversely affect your immune system? In an extensive survey of published studies, Suzanne Segerstrom and Gregory Miller showed stress can affect both sides of the immune system. “Threats” that do not require a physical response (e.g., academic exams, public speaking, and chronic stress) may therefore have physical consequences, including changes in the immune system. More than 300 studies have been done on stress and immunity in humans, and together they have shown that psychological challenges are capable of modifying various features of the immune response.

In the studies they use five categories of stressors:

Acute time-limited stressors involve challenges such as public speaking or mental arithmetic.

Brief naturalistic stressors such as academic examinations, involve a person confronting a real-life, short-term challenge.

In stressful event sequences, a focal event, such as the loss of a spouse or a major natural disaster, gives rise to a series of related challenges. Although affected individuals usually do not know exactly when these challenges will subside, they have a clear sense that at some point in the future they will.

Chronic stressors, unlike the other demands we have described, usually pervade a person’s life, forcing him or her to restructure his or her identity or social roles. Another feature of chronic stressors is their stability—the person either does not know whether or when the challenge will end. An example of a chronic stressor is suffering a traumatic injury that leads to physical disability.

Distant stressors are traumatic experiences that occurred in the distant past yet have the potential to continue modifying immune system function because of their long-lasting cognitive and emotional results. Examples of distant stressors include having been sexually assaulted as a child or having witnessed the death of a fellow soldier during combat.

Their analysis shows that chronic stress is linked with both with reduced disease resistance (inadequate immunity) and diseases linked with excessive immune activity (allergic and autoimmune disease). This shows that chronic stress shifts the balance of the immune response. The most well-known model suggests that chronic stress elicits simultaneous enhancement and suppression of the immune response by altering patterns of immune messenger molecules, thus unbalancing the immune system.