These days, much is made of the need to boost your immune
system. Ads for dietary supplements abound in the media. Corporations that
stand to profit from the sale of supplements would like to scare you into
thinking your immune system is in dire need of an expensive tune up.
The truth is this: immune function is so hard-wired from an
evolutionary standpoint that immune deficiency occurs only in the most extreme
settings: HIV/AIDS, organ transplants (by intention), some lymphomas, extreme
malnutrition and genetic immune deficiencies.
For example: The reason you get a cold or the flu is NOT
that your immune system needs a boost, it is that your immune system is
reacting appropriately to the virus you got exposed to from your kids or
coworkers. With flu and colds, EXPOSURE is the issue, not immunity. If you do catch
a cold, you become immune to that particular strain, but there are so many different
strains, the next one you encounter could lay you low again.
The real problem in most diseases is OVERACTIVE IMMUNE
FUNCTION. Consider the following:
Poison ivy rash:
immune reaction to the plant chemical on your skin
Peanut allergy: life
threatening immune reaction to peanut ingredients
Hay fever: immune
reaction to pollens
Asthma: partially
genetic immune reaction to multiple inhaled allergens
Drug reactions: severe
immune reactions to many drugs
Hives: immune reaction
to shrimp, strawberries, drugs, etc, etc.
Eczema: genetically
determined immune skin reaction causing intractable itch
Psoriasis: aberrant
immune reaction to numerous environmental exposures
Lupus: autoimmune
reaction to your body’s own cells
Ulcerative colitis: genetically
influenced autoimmune reaction in the intestines
Rheumatoid arthritis:
autoimmune attack on joints and other tissue
How about CANCER? It is a common misconception that cancer
is related to deficiency of the immune system. In normal settings, trying to
boost your immune system will not reduce your chances of getting cancer. Gene
mutations are the main cause, combined with certain environmental carcinogens
like tobacco and asbestos, to name only two. In the special setting where the
immune system has to be suppressed intentionally (as in heart and kidney
transplants), cancer becomes a higher risk because the immune system can’t do what
it does naturally: to seek out and kill abnormal cancer cells. If it were allowed, it would seek out and kill (reject) the transplanted organ.
Of the top ten causes of death in the world (see graph at bottom of page), only one has a
direct connection to low immunity and that is HIV/AIDS caused by the HIV virus which
knocks out major immune function. Most of the common killers have nothing to do
with low immunity. Heart disease, stroke, lung disease, diarrheal illness:
boosting your immunity has nothing to do with them. Too much immune reaction
(called ‘inflammation’) is much more often the real culprit. And overeating and
smoking play a significant role, too: 5 of the top 10 causes of death are
influenced heavily by smoking. Why? Because smoking increases inflammation at
the cellular level.
So, in short:
1. Don’t worry about boosting your immune system;
living healthy is enough.
2. Understand that you cannot improve on the immune
system you were born with.
3. Understand that successful treatments for the
diseases listed above consist of therapies that suppress, not boost, the immune response.
Vaccines deserve special mention. Vaccines induce immunity
to individual disease-causing viruses and bacteria. Polio, measles, mumps,
whooping cough are the most familiar ones. The flu vaccine induces immunity to
the influenza virus of that particular year only, so yearly vaccination is the
rule.
Shingles is a special case as well. Shingles (Herpes Zoster)
develops when there is a reduction in natural immunity to the chickenpox virus.
This happens with aging or severe illness. There is no proven method for an
individual to avoid reduced immunity with age. Fortunately, there is now a
vaccine against the virus, which is given at age 50 to 60 to literally boost
that specific immunity.
Best regards,
Related links:
SHINGLES (Herpes Zoster): Baby boomers: there is hope!
"Don't Pick That Mole"--- dispelling the myth
SUN PROTECTION: Myths and truths
Hormonal Acne in Women
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