To boost the immune system!

[lucs]

Hi everyone!

Please any recommendations to boost the immune system, vitamins or supplements?

Thank you !

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Lucs

To know what supplements will be helpful, you will need to test them first :

Vit D

B12

Folate

Ferritin

Post results with reference ranges, plus units of measurement for Vit D and B12 when you have them and members will be happy to help.

[lucs in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thank you!

[userotc]

Many vitamins could/should help including those listed by Seaside Susie and others including vitamins C and A plus things like zinc. Most of them you should aim/be able to get via foods rather than supplements (some exceptions, particularly vit D). Ideally get tested, as SS suggests. Also should ideally be part of an overall well-being protocol.

Following advice from various, respected sources my 66 year old father has also been trying echinacea as his lymphocyte count is relatively low (maybe due to age). Will know if it works for him at next blood test hopefully.

Also, if you do an internet search, be prepared to read that much is unknown at least as far as traditional medicine is concerned eg health.harvard.edu/staying-...

[lucs in reply to userotc]

Thank you!

[LynneG]

Hi Lucs, Sometimes it's what you don't take in that is so important. Sugar for instance - 1 teasp sugar in food that you eat drink depresses your white blood cell activity for 5 hours.

White blood cells are your immune systems first line of defence. (detailed info is in Paul Jaminet's book The Perfect Health Diet written some time ago by him (NASA scientist) and his wife, a microbiologist. They both started their health research when both their parents died at a young age. It's a great book and really informative

Not only does sugar depress immune system function but it also creates inflammation within the body therebye creating more work / more burden for the immune system to deal with

Sugar is not just added sugar but anything that digests to sugar rapidly eg any grain flours and starchy veg eg cornflour wheat flour rice flour, potatoes. So bread , pasta, rice. 1 slice of toast i think it is, is equivalent to 12 teasps of sugar

No point taking supplements to boost your immune system, while at the same time depressing it's function with what you eat

Another Immune system booster is exercise. Not mad , exhausting exercise like jogging or running but just movement, trying to move more often than you sit in a day. Walking and brisk walking. So walking everywhere you can as well as recreational walks for exercise. Carry those heavy shopping bags. If you are fitness fanatic and would rather run or jog well lift weights instead as in starting off light and progress to heavy things. Walking up and down stairs a lot slowly , with good posture,feeling your muscles on each step. Tai chi, yoga

So movement boosts your immune system.

Walking in nature and appreciating it boosts your immune system

Being in the sun, even just the light outside on a cloudy day boosts your immune system, edorphins (feel good)and mitochondria (energy creators - in this case think energy for immune system to function) Our cells feed on light (science has now discovered)

Fasting also boosts the immune system - it relieves your system of having to permanently digest food - takes a lot of energy to digest food. This can be daily (intermittent fasting - eating within an 8 hour period or less - so evening meal then don't eat again for 16hrs - basically you are asleep and skip breakfast.

Microbiome (gut / intestinal health) gut micro organisms - get in balance, encourage more beneficial/working for you, organisms is a massive factor in immune health. So eat organic, so that you are not permanently killing off your beneficial bacteria with insecticides, herbicides on/in your food (which washing and cooking does not rid your food of ) Try to eat some raw uncooked food - the beneficial organisms are living on that food so you are providing them with the food they need as they populate your gut. Dandelion leaves from garden (excellent) even if no other edible plants. Eat wild/raw. - eg pick blackberries when in season. You are what your gut bacteria eat, so eat, to feed them and the best way to get beneficial bacteria to populate your intestines is to eat healthy fresh food that they are already living on and obviously eat and thrive on.

All the above to boost your immune system is free with the exception of a periodic boost of a good probiotic (microbz .co.uk)

But if you want to spend some money to boost your immune system and every function including mitochondrial health and numbers, then you could buy a near infrared light. (not any old red light) specific wavelength near infrared. (I bought mine from redlight man .co.uk) hundreds and in most cases 1,000's of mitochondria in each cell. Numbers decrease as we get older, from age 20. I think we have lost 70% of our mitochondria between the age of 40 and 70 unless we are proactive in supporting them (see Ari Whittens work - Energy Blueprint)

Vit D is crucial for immune system function. Immune System along with organs require everyday. The form of vit D the immune system uses is not bound in the liver (as with for bones and teeth) but is diffused directly from the blood stream and used up by the cells. Has a half life in the body of 24hrs and so you need a supply of everyday. If dont get sun on a large percentage of skin then need to supplement that day. (usually recommended 2-4000iu per day. I find easier to take drops (Natures Answer 2000iu per drop) See Dr Hollis you tube video entitled dosing . 30 yrs of research of vit D - see the diagram a few mins in, explains immune system requirements

Note The immune system uses up vit D so if your body is under attack you will need more. I know a clinician that if she feels coming down with a cold, sore throat etc will take 25,000 iu of vit D for a few days. I take 4-6000iu and def increase if feel a sore throat coming on etc. Then usually doesnt get a hold of me and disappears the next day.

(Vit K2 should always be taken with vit D re calcium metabolism . Note K2 is not vit K1, it was only discovered in 1990's which is why NHS have usually never heard of unless used personally (I take Vitabay organic vit K2) Drops as with vit d drops last a long time and so work out as not as expensive as capsules, and far easier to take

Vit C is also crucial for fighting off viral/bacterial attack and oxidation/inflammation in the body. I have only just learnt how important, since researching re Covid 19.

We humans have to take in vit C from our food - it gets used up anyway but especially if we are under attack. So we obviously have to take more into our system especially if have inflammation, any inflammatory condition. Which explains why with Covid 19, people with heart, diabetes and overweight - all inflammatory conditions are said to be at higher risk

It has been reported that Covid patients in ICU plasma levels vit C tested in US / China/ Italy have no vit c level as all used up fighting the virus and it's effects ( I believe that would mean scurvy of organs) and no more vit C left to fight the virus. And people that ill are not eating and so getting none unless are being treated with intravenous vit C (IVC) . Which is happening in China, some hospitals in US and trials in Italy but not in the UK

Zinc daily. Vit C and Zinc work synergystically I believe.

A must if want info re vit C is to listen to Patrick Holford interviews conducted during the Covid crisis

patrickholford.podbean.com/

[lucs in reply to LynneG]

Thank you very much ! Really appreciate!