Supportuning Your Immune System

How do you support your immune system toward the end of the year? No one likes to get a cold or flu. Recent research confirms many ways we can stay healthy. For example, studies have shown that people with vitamin D deficiency are 11 times more likely to get a cold or flu, while supplementing with vitamin D can reduce colds and flu by 42 percent.

 Below are some suggestions for staying healthy. There are many simple things you can do and some extra supplements you can take.

First let’s review the controversy over the flu vaccine and then I will share exactly what you can do and what to take. The guiding principle of functional medicine is personalized care, not the one-size fits all belief that everyone should have the same treatment. This applies equally to vaccines. There is risk and benefit to every medical treatment or procedure.

Here are the 2 important facts to consider when it comes to flu vaccination:

1. The Center for Disease Control recommends vaccination for high-risk groups, not necessarily everyone. The key groups that would benefit most from the vaccine are health workers with direct patient contact, pregnant women, care givers of children younger than 6 months, children and adults under age 24 and adults who have underlying medical conditions, such as asthma, heart disease, or diabetes. If that doesn’t describe you, you should think twice about having the vaccine.
2. The multi-dose vials of the vaccine contain mercury as a preservative. This is the majority of vaccines. If you are a pregnant or nursing woman you should insist on the single dose vial which does not contain mercury. Unfortunately there are a limited number of the mercury-free vaccines.

That is vaccination is only recommended for high-risk individuals. But whether you get vaccinated or not, it is critical to support your immune system through natural means to help you prevent the flu.

Remember; Let Food Be Your Medicine!

• Drink plenty of fluids, especially warmer fluids. With the dryer air inside and out, winter can be a particularly challenging time to stay hydrated! Consuming adequate fluids supports all your bodies’ functions including the immune system. Make soups and broths (with fresh vegetables is always best) and have them throughout the week. Drink herbal teas like ginger and echinacea daily. Keep a bottle of filtered water with you at all times. Avoid concentrated fruit juices and sweetened beverages, as the sugar content is harmful for the immune system. If you do drink juice, dilute it with 2/3 water!
• Try a daily saline flush. Along with staying hydrated, flushing your sinuses with mild salt water helps to keep mucous membranes moist which protects you from microbes. You can use a neti pot, or easy to carry plastic bottles that come with saline packets to take with you when traveling or even at the office! Be sure to rinse them well with warm water and soap and air dry between uses. Studies have also indicated that flushing one to two times daily is appropriate and you should not go over this.
• Avoid simple sugars as much as possible! This includes those sweet treats and desserts but also the white flour and refined grain products that turn into sugar quickly. Studies have shown that refined sugars can suppress your immune system for hours after ingested.
• Have protein with each meal. Proteins are the building blocks of the body. This includes your immune and detoxification systems. Organic, clean and lean animal protein as well as plant-based (legumes, nuts/seeds) proteins are important to get with each meal and snack.
• Add garlic, onions, ginger, and lots of spices (oregano, turmeric) to your meals! Add these to your soups and vegetable dishes, as well as bean dips and sauces. Garlic and onions offer wide spectrum antimicrobial properties.
• Eat multiple servings of colorful fruits and vegetables high in vitamins C, A, and phytonutrients that supports the immune system. Choose more leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, brussel sprouts, and cauliflower), peppers, sweet potatoes and squashes. Aim for three to four servings of fruits and four or more servings of vegetables!
• Get sufficient sleep! We all know sleep restores and heals the body. Without adequate sleep, optimal immune function is next to impossible! Get in a better rhythm and head to bed earlier on those dark winter nights. Aim for seven to eight hours a night. Incorporating various relaxation and breathing techniques throughout the day to help with stress and allow the mind to rest is also very helpful!
• Get regular exercise. Mild to moderate exercise (for approximately 30-45 minutes) helps boost immune system. Avoid overexertion such as training for endurance events when you are feeling run down. This will lower your immune defenses.

It is critical to support your immune system through natural means to help you prevent the flu.

Supplements for Adult Immune Support

Here is overview of the vitamins, minerals, and herbs you need and why they are important.

• Multivitamin/Mineral: This is the foundation for any health support regimen. It’s a good way to cover the basic vitamins and minerals your body needs for day-to-day function. If you aren’t on a good multivitamin you should get and stay on one. Look for a high-quality, broad-spectrum multivitamin and mineral.

• Vitamin D3: Adequate vitamin D status is critical for optimal immune function and this cannot be achieved without supplementation during the winter months. It is best to get your levels of 25 OH vitamins D checked for accurate dosing. Blood levels should be above30 ng/dl. However, optimal levels are probably closer to 50ng/dl for most. Many need 5,000 IU or more of vitamin D3 a day in the winter. Start with 2,000 IU for adults, 1,000 IU for children.

• Buffered Vitamin C: The role of vitamin C in supporting the immune system has long been known. Take 500-1,000 mg throughout the day with meals and snacks.

• Zinc citrate: You can take an additional supplement or consume more foods high in this powerful immune supporting nutrient. Seafood—especially oysters—red meat, and pumpkin seeds are the best food sources. Take 30 mg per day.

• Probiotics: A healthy gut flora supports a healthy gut, a major barrier against pathogens and integral to the immune system. Look for brands that offer several species of good bacteria and contain at least 5-10 billion organisms per capsule.

• Fish Oil (Artic Cod Liver Oil): This old time remedy for good health and robust immunity still stands true! In addition to the good fats, cod liver oil contains additional vitamin A and D for added immune protection.

• 1-3, 1-6 Beta Glucans: Research has shown that these compounds up-regulate the function of the innate immune system. This part of your immune system is the first line of defense against viruses and bacteria. It helps your white blood cells bind to and kill viruses and bacteria.

Note: Patients with autoimmune diseases should not take this.

• Natural Anti-viral/Anti-bacterial Herbs: Many herbs have broad-spectrum antimicrobial effects or immune-enhancing effects. Formulas contain different immune boosters such as astragalus, echinacea, green tea extract, elderberry, andrographis, goldenseal, monolaurin, various immune-enhancing mushrooms, and beta 1, 3 glucan.

• Cordyceps and Mushrooms Extracts: These provide immune supporting properties. Cooking with medicinal mushrooms like shitake is also helpful.

Why Lead Poisoning Could Be Causing Health Problems

WE ARE TOO HEAVY — and I don’t mean overweight. We’re heavy with metals, not fat. Nearly 40 percent of us have toxic levels of lead in our bodies. And we don’t even know it. But that doesn’t mean we don’t have symptoms …

 You may have headaches, insomnia, irritability, a low sex drive, or tremors. You may have mood problems, nausea, depression, memory difficulties, trouble concentrating, poor coordination, or even constipation. Yet most of us attribute these symptoms to other problems. We don’t recognize that they may be caused by lead poisoning.

A study published in 2006 in the conservative medical journal Circulation, for example, should have been on the front page of the New York Times. Today I will tell you why the study was so important, and why you probably won’t hear about it from your doctor. Then I will give you 6 tips to help get the lead out.

Studies Show Any Lead in Your Body May be Unsafe

In the study mentioned above, researchers measured the blood lead levels of 13,946 adults who were part of the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. They were recruited from 1988 to 1994 and were then followed up on for up to 12 years. The goal of the study was to track what diseases people developed and why they died.(i)

Now, it’s important to remember that since lead was removed from gasoline and house paint several decades ago, the average person’s blood lead level has dropped dramatically. But our levels of lead are still a great deal higher than those of people who lived before the industrial age. That’s because we continue to be exposed to lead in our soil and water, as well as from our own bones, where it is stored once it’s introduced into our system.

Nearly 40 percent of all Americans are estimated to have blood levels of lead high enough to cause serious health problems.

Fifty years ago, the average blood levels of lead were about 40 micrograms/deciliter. The level considered “safe” by the government has continued to fall and is now considered less than 10 micrograms/deciliter. But this new study and others like it question the idea that ANY level of this toxic metal is safe.

In this study, researchers found that a blood level of lead over 2 micrograms/deciliter (that’s 2, not 10 or 40) caused dramatic increases in heart attacks, strokes, and death. In fact, after controlling for all other risk factors, including cholesterol, high blood pressure, smoking, and inflammation, the researchers found that the risk of death from all causes in people with a lead level that high increased by 25 percent, deaths from heart disease increased by 55 percent, risk of heart attacks increased by 151 percent, and risk of stroke increased by 89 percent.

What’s even more remarkable is that nearly 40 percent of all Americans are estimated to have blood levels of lead high enough to cause these problems. This is potentially a greater risk for heart disease than cholesterol! But this study is not the first indication we have of problems with lead.

A report in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that high blood pressure in postmenopausal women is strongly correlated to blood lead levels. This is because bones break down faster during menopause releasing stored lead and injuring blood vessels, which leads to high blood pressure.

High lead may also be responsible for kidney failure as well. A study in The New England Journal of Medicine found that using chelation therapy with EDTA to reduce lead levels in patients with kidney failure could prevent further loss of kidney function, save billions in healthcare costs, and eliminate the need for dialysis in millions of people.

Wow! Take a moment to digest that. Chelation therapy saves lives and billions of dollars. But your doctor probably isn’t offering this as standard treatment, because, as I have said many times, doctors, don’t learn two of the most important things in medical school: How to help people improve their nutrition and how to deal with environmental toxins.

Lead is not only linked to heart disease, high blood pressure, and kidney failure, it is also connected to the epidemic of children with ADHD, developmental and learning problems, and autism. Even though the “safe” blood levels of lead has been set as 10 micrograms/deciliter, recent studies show that the greatest drop-off in IQ scores in children occurs in those who have lead levels between just 1 and 10 micrograms/deciliter. This is particularly troubling, because more than 10 percent of poor and inner city children have lead exposure levels higher than 10 micrograms/deciliter!

A doctor recently treated a young boy with extremely high lead levels who had Asperger’s syndrome, severe ADHD, and violent behavior. He likely got the lead from his mother, who had very low vitamin D levels and had developed osteoporosis, which released a lot of lead from her bones during pregnancy. This lead got into the boy’s body in the womb across his mother’s placenta. Thankfully, the doctor got rid of his lead over time through chelation and nutritional support. Doing so dramatically improved his attention, behavior, and social skills.

This young boy is, unfortunately, not alone. We live in a sea of heavy metals. Lead is still found in our soil and water. In areas with a history of industrial pollution, people track lead into their homes from contaminated soil. The sad result is that regular house dust often contains 17 times the level of lead it once did. In Washington, DC, the water was so contaminated with lead recently that the government had to provide free water filters for everyone in the city. Up to 20 percent of the city’s tap water may be contaminated.

So what can you do about this?

6 Tips to Help You Get the Lead Out

Luckily there are steps you can take to help you heal from lead poisoning if you have been exposed. Try the following:

1. Find out if you are lead-toxic. The easiest test is a simple blood lead test. Be sure the lab can measure VERY low levels of lead accurately. Anything higher than 2 micrograms/deciliter is toxic and should be treated. Unfortunately, the blood test only checks for current or ongoing exposures, so you must also take a heavy metal challenge test with DMSA, EDTA, or DMPS, which can be administered by a doctor trained in heavy metal detoxification. Consider undergoing chelation therapy if your lead levels are high.
2. Reduce your exposures by having a “no shoes in the house” policy. A great deal of lead can be tracked into your house in the dust on the soles of shoes. Leaving your shoes at the door helps reduce the amount of contamination in your home.
3. Test your water for heavy metals. There are a number of home test kits available online. If you prefer to have a professional test your water, call your city water provider or look for labs in your area that will perform this kind of test.
4. Buy a carbon or reverse osmosis water filter for your drinking water. These filters remove lead and other toxic substances like PCBs. They are my favorite kind of filter and the type I use in my home.
5. Take 1,000 milligrams of buffered ascorbic acid (vitamin C) a day. This helps remove lead from the body.
6. Take 2,000 to 4,000 IU of vitamin D3 a day to prevent your bones from releasing lead into your bloodstream.

Even though many of us have toxic levels of lead in our bodies, there is a lot we can do to prevent it and treat it. Doing so is an essential step to healing your body and achieving lifelong vibrant health.