Help Your Body Help You: Immune System Support
The immune system is an incredibly complicated system made up of organs with very specialized cells and its own distinctive circulatory system. This immune system is what protects our body from infection by repelling viruses, pathogens and parasites attacks. When there are problems interfering with the natural function of the immune system, our body is open to all manner of diseases. This is when immune system support is needed, which generally starts with the right diet and lifestyle and receives the occasional boost with the help of natural supplements.
The immune system consists of organs called lymph glands which are positioned at key areas throughout the body as a protective barrier. They secrete lymph, which is a transparent fluid that contains lymphocytes (a form of white blood cell): the fighters against infection. The spleen is also a part of our own natural immune system support in the battle against foreign invasion by producing those lymphocytes and filtering our blood.
There are a few things we can do to provide ourselves with a little additional immune system support so that our bodies can fight off impending infection better or recover from an existing one a lot faster.
Natural Immune System Support
Apart from genetic influences or disease conditions, the key immunity influences is diet followed by other lifestyle influences such as exposure to drugs, tobacco use, alcohol and other environmental conditions such as pollution exposure. So in essence, our defenses need much more support than our ancestors, who ate much more whole foods (unrefined foods) than we do now. The consumption of unrefined whole foods provides great foundation for immune health by providing vitamins, minerals, fiber and trace nutrients and many unknown substances that can work together to support your health.
It is said that sea vegetables are among one of the best foods for immune system support you can get. They act to support the immune system by detoxifying the body of toxins that could hinder the body's natural defenses. They are capable of assimilating heavy metals like cadmium and various other environmental toxins, providing huge immune system support to the body.
Some of the naturally available immunity boosters important for immune system support include:
Vitamin C, Zinc and Selenium are the classic nutrients often associated with immune health. They work in concert to improve the activity of various white blood cell components and may even help in the healing process as well.
For herbs, Astragalus is often promoted for its effects on the immune system, liver, and cardiovascular system. It seems to improve the immune response by stimulating certain kinds of white blood cell by improving their responses and production.
Another important item for boosting immune health is myco-polysaccharides which are a class of compounds found in mushrooms such as Maitake, Shiitake and Reishi mushrooms. These compounds not only stimulate the production and activity of various white blood cell components, they reportedly have anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial activities as well.Immune health requires a multifaceted approach to keeping it in functional balance. Though nutrition and lifestyle factors are major contributors to immune health, a few of the key supplements mentioned above in measured quantities might just be what you are looking for that little extra support.
Prescriptions by Dr. Balch
