My kids - Erin and Jill

So my twin daughters are winding up their senior year in high school. We just went to the last vocal jazz performance of their high school career. The same thing will be happening in all the other music ensembles they are in for the next 2 months. The last this, the last that. In a little over 5 months, my wife and I will be empty nesters…literally overnight.  

So, from a health standpoint, what are the trade-offs when facing this new living environment?  Here are some pros and cons:

Pro – More sleep. My kids are up at 5:00 a.m. during the week to get to early rehersals.  So, regardless of whether I need to be at my office or a meeting by 7:30 or 8:00, I’m awake (but not always up) with them at 5.  If I can just start getting an extra hour or so of sleep each day, that could change the world!

Pro – No more school cold and flu viruses/bacteria brought into our house. We’ve been pretty good in the past couple of years in not getting hammered by every bug that breaks out in school (thanks EpiCor). Now that we’ll have no “feeder system” coming to and from a crowded school each day, we might be in extra good shape.

Pro – No more weekend trips chaperoning band students on a bus.  Mental and physcial health takes an uptick there!

Pro – Travel.  Periodic road trips to see the kids at college means fun. Travel can be therapeutic.

Pro – I get my way now. I can watch sports…not American Idol… on the hi-def in the family room and not be banished to the basement with the crappy TV.  Sports is good for health!

Pro – The kitchen table can be used for eating, now. Gone are two laptops always running, homework binders, and assorted other school projects living on top of the table, where we squeeze in a plate of food if space can be found.  A proper dining environment–devoid of pathogen-laden books, computers and trumpet mouthpieces–may reduce risk of illness.

Con – Two outstanding, loving, accomplished young people who’ve been a huge part of your daily life for 18 years are suddenly home no more.  Stress from separation anxiety is a new companion.  Gotta work through that.

So, which scores the highest? Multiple pros, or one giant con?

• Yoga props. Tristan Andrews writes about the Triangle Yoga Pose as an exercise that delivers multiple health benefits. I’ve written about yoga here before, and I think it has many merits, including immune function support. It’s an interesting story, but I would have liked her to list some sources. She’s a freelance writer, not a health professional. The immune health passage reads:  The muscles of your abdomen and the hip joints become more flexible. The reproductive system functions better with the intensity of this pose. It helps in creating a proper immune balance to help you fight diseases.”
• The stress of stress.  The Low Carbohydrates Diet, a blog of health book reviews, has a lot of interesting stuff that makes me want to seek out more. Some anonymous person named Meadow runs this blog. (Why don’t more bloggers give us their real ID!?!?! This certainly seems to be a legit site, not an aggregator-bot site).  Anyway, the blogger reviews the book, The Stress Effect. It was published in 2004;  the info–what I’ve gleaned from summaries–still seems timely. Says the blogger:  “The Stress Effect helps readers understand the connection between their chronic stress and illness, and provides effective programs for correcting imbalances and repairing the intestinal tract lining. It also offers suggestions for managing psychological stress; a commonsense diet that promotes balance;….”
• Adrenal fatigue. This was posted just four hours ago. Adrenal gland function, especially in women, can be a big determinant of immune balance, since the adrenals regulate corticosteroids, the stress hormones that can interfere with immune response if they are overactive due to high stress. “Prolonged stress weakens the immune system and inhibits the production of white blood cells. Our adrenals regulate physical energy, the body’s metabolic rate (your metabolism), glandular energy (thyroid health) and the oxidation process….and these processes, when out of balance, can lead to the onset of illness.”
• Balance Your Health.  Here’s a nice little post describing immune cell communication in layman’s terms.

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.

As for immune health, I can’t find a lot of research support for the effect of massage on generally healthy people. But there are some very encouraging findings on specific massage efficacy among people with immune-compromised conditions.

One study among HIV patients:  “Major immune findings for the effects of the month of massage included a significant increase in Natural Killer Cell number, Natural Killer Cell Cytotoxicity, soluble CD8, and the cytotoxic subset of CD8 cells. There were no changes in HIV disease progression markers (CD4, CD4/CD8 ratio, Beta-2 microglobulin, neopterin). Major neuroendocrine findings, measured via 24 hour urines included a significant decrease in cortisol, and nonsignificant trends toward decrease of catecholamines. There were also significant decreases in anxiety and increases in relaxation which were significantly correlated with increases in NK cell number.”

And other findings among breast cancer patients:  “Participants, who were in the early stages of cancer, received 20-minute massage therapy twice a week for five weeks; others in a control group received no massage therapy. At the end of the five-week period, blood tests indicated an 11 percent increase in the number of natural killer cells that destroy cancer cells among the participants who received massage therapy. These participants also reported being less depressed, less anxious and less angry, as well as having more vigor than the control group.”

The University of Michigan Health System is also a believer.  I figure if massage can impart all these great benefits, doing it while I’m relatively healthy might be a great preventive measure. I think a massage on Friday afternoons around 3:00 might just be the ticket.

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

I’m interested  in this only because my daily supplement inventory is growing. I’m taking a high-quality (high absorption) multivitamin, lutein, EpiCor, fish oil, chromium and saw palmetto. I’d like to try some others perhaps, but then I start thinking that this is getting to be too many to keep track of and take every day.

Also, I’m wondering: If someone is taking 30 to 60 supplements a day–and not taking more than the RDA or the manufacturer’s suggested dosage for each capsule or pill–can that huge mix be harmful in the long run?

What do you think?  There have been a number of studies and commentaries on long-term vitamin intake, most of which I think are pretty thinly supported, performed in the wrong context (vitamins don’t make you live longer) and mostly rubbish. And I’m not talking megadoses of supplements, for which there is  research on toxicity and potential damage (e.g. 3000 mg of C every day is not good).  I’m talking mega numbers of pills.

Here’s one piece that touches on the topic but doesn’t have strong thesis one way or another.  Any other informed opiners out there who want to chip in?

More stats from the 2010 Abstract:

Childhood immunizations percentages have generally held steady or even increased slightly. Sixty-eight percent of children were immunized against hepatitis B in 1990. That rose to nearly 93 percent in 2007.

Bone and joint conditions can result, in part, from immune system imbalance. The Abstract shows that in 2007, 53 million Americans had a chronic joint symptom (30 MM women, 23 MM men) and 46 million had been diagnosed with arthritis (28 MM women, 18 MM men). There is no comparative data for 1990, but I’m sure the raw numbers have increased greatly since America’s population has grown and the older age groups are growing in proportion.

Asthma is also an immunostimulating condition.  73 million U.S. kids had asthma in 2007, or had it earlier in their childhood. 223 million adults had some kind of respiratory condition, including emphysema, asthma, hay fever, sinusitis and bronchitis.

And finally, alternative, complementary therapies. These can impact immune health significantly. In 2002 10 million American adults practiced some form of yoga. That figure increased to 13 million in 2007. Those doing deep breathing routines increased from 24 million to 27 million. Adults practicing meditation increased from 15 million to 20 million.

And here’s my favorite: Americans receiving therapeutic massage increased form 10 million in 2002 to 18 million in 2007.

What does this have to do with immune balance? Well, for one thing it might be interesting to look at some consumer health trends that can effect a healthy, balanced immune system. Diet and nutrition for one.

For example, fruits and vegetables in the diet can be a beneficial factor in maintaining a healthy immune system. Did you know that fruit consumption per capital in the U.S. actually decreased from 1980 to 2007, from 265 to 263 lbs. per person? With the health movement that’s been churning over the past decades, I would have thought an increase would be a no-brainer.

There is some good news. Vegetable consumption increased during that same time from 338 to 417 lbs per person.  Onions almost doubled, and broccoli increased more than fourfold.

Weight can also impact immune function. Body mass index tracked from 2003 to 2006 as a measure of obesity is not surprising. 70.6% of U.S. males are either overweight or obese. That figure is 60.5% for women. Women are also a bit lacking on the exercise front compared to men.  40% of women in 2007 said they engage in no leisure time physical activity.  29% get moderate to vigorous regular physical activity, and 17% take part in endurance and strength training.  For men, the percentages are somewhat better: 38%, 33% and 22% respectively.  As people get older, the percentages get worse.

The number of U.S. adult smokers has decreased from 25.3 % of the population in 1990 to 19.7% in 2007. Smoking among women decreased from 23% to 17.5% of the general pop. For men, the decrease was from 28% to 22%.  All age groups of women– from 18 to 64–currently tend to smoke at a population percentage of just over 19%.  Then at age 65 up, smoking drops dramatically to 7.6%.  Kentucky has the highest percentage of smokers;  Utah the least.

There’s a lot more in this abstract. Part II coming next.

Harvard Medical School online pub about the immune system

“The idea of boosting your immunity is enticing, but the ability to do so has proved elusive for several reasons. The immune system is precisely that — a system, not a single entity. To function well, it requires balance and harmony.” Couldn’t have said it better myself.

The article goes on to discuss many factors impacting immune health: diet, exercise, stress. It’s almost a microcosm of everything that’s been posted on this blog for the past year and a half.

Way to go, Harvard. You get a gold..no, crimson…star.

Jim Morelli

The tour is still happening (with updated appearance dates below), but the topic and featured expert are not what I originally wrote and posted. Here’s the real scoop.

The media tour will discuss the Medicine Cabinet Makeover. It’s an overview of what every medicine chest in American homes should have in it.  It will cover basic product needs involving kids health, nutritional supplements and natural alternatives,  year-round health and first aid, cold and flu remedies and more.  EpiCor, the immune balance supplement, may also be talked about.

Jim Morelli, a health journalist who does work for CNN and WebMD and  who is also a pharmacist, will be the featured interview source for the tour.

Here is the interview schedule:

• Mon., Feb. 8: Albuquerque, NM (KOB/NBC)
• Tues., Feb. 9: Milwaukee, WI (WTMJ/NBC)
• Wed., Feb. 10, Richmond, VA (WTVR/CBS)
• Thurs., Feb. 11: Washington, DC (NewsChannel8)
• Fri., Feb. 12: Hartford, CT (WTIC/FOX)
• Mon., Feb. 15: Grand Rapids, MI (WXMI/FOX)
• Tues., Feb. 16: Fresno, CA (KSEE/NBC)

Make sure to tune in if you live in these areas.