Immune
System
According to a recent report presented to
the U.S. Senate, infectious diseases are the leading cause of
death worldwide and the third largest cause of death among
Americans. Each year, more than 13 million people die from
infectious disease. In addition, during just the next hour,
infectious disease will end another 1,500 lives!1
Our immune system is constantly being
bombarded by infectious diseases every day. Usually we can
withstand these bombardments, but when we are overly stressed,
are not consuming the proper foods, or are frequently exposed
to disease, our immune system is weakened. This allows colds,
flus, and other highly contagious disorders to invade our
bodies. In order to prevent these diseases from infecting us,
it is necessary to give our immune system a boost.
As sickness and disease continue to
spread throughout the world, health companies have desperately
tried to come up with a solution by creating a whole new wave
of immune products. The Greatest Vitamin in the World
incorporated the most powerful and effective of these
immune-supporting ingredients in our formula, along with a
patented delivery system to ensure that these nutrients are
delivered to the body better than they ever have been
before.
Probiotics are the body’s best defense
against sickness, which are good bacteria (see Probiotics).
These bacteria strains function as our body’s second immune
system. They promote health by secreting tiny amounts of
antibiotic-like substances; lactic acid, acetic acid, hydrogen
peroxide, and others. These substances have a wide-range of
activity against ‘bad’ bacterial strains of salmonella,
pseudomonas, E. coli and other harmful food-borne
bacteria.2
When the intestine is flourishing with
these ‘friendly bacteria’ there is no room for the harmful,
disease-causing strains to implant and grow. This is called
competitive inhibition.
Studies show that most North Americans
have less than half the amount of flora needed for optimal
health.3 As bowel flora is
depleted, the body becomes vulnerable to numerous diseases
including colitis, diabetes, meningitis, rheumatoid arthritis,
thyroid disease, even bowel cancer, and a host of additional
symptoms associated with bowel toxicity. As stated previously,
the healthy intestine requires the presence of friendly
bacteria. However, common dietary and lifestyle factors
destroy these bacteria.
Stress is to blame for much of our
probiotic depletion. Probiotics are also diminished by strong
antibacterial herbs, cortisone, carbonated drinks, laxatives,
birth control pills, and lack of sleep.4 Poor diet, toxins in the blood stream, and the
natural course of aging further rob the body of the flora it
needs.
Signs show that probiotic depletion is
becoming widespread, and as a result, infectious diseases,
which were once considered to be under control have re-emerged
with more ferocity than ever. Flus and colds are more frequent
and more debilitating than ever before.5 Ironically, the strategy used to protect us
from disease further complicates the situation and puts us at
greater risk.
When an individual has an infection or
cold as a result of a depleted probiotic supply, a doctor’s
first inclination is often to treat it with an antibiotic.
Antibiotics not only kill the bad bacteria, they kill the good
strains of beneficial bacterial strains. Those very same
strains have already been depleted by the lifestyle and
environmental factors noted above. This practice of
prescribing an antibiotic for every sniffle is slowing down
within the medical community as new evidence comes to light
about the disasterous affects of wrongfully prescribing
antibiotics for bacterial illnesses.
Women may be all too familiar with the
antibiotic vicious cycle. Many women have gone to the doctor
because they had a throat or an ear infection, were given an
antibiotic and within a few weeks have had to go back to the
doctor this time with a yeast infection. The antibiotic may
have done its job of killing the virus which caused the flu or
infection, but at the same time, it depleted the stores of
friendly flora that kept yeast overgrowth in check.
There is a solution to get microflora
depletion other than leaving yourself open for bacterial
invasion every time you eat, drink or breathe. Improving and
protecting your immune system from the effects of stress and
lifestyle is a matter of making proper nutritional
choices.
|
1. Global Health Act of 2000 (Intr
to House). HR 3826 IH, 106th Congress, 2d Session, H.R.
3826.
2. Fernandes CF, Shahani, KM, Amer MA.
Therapeutic role of dietary lactobacilli and
lactobacillic fermented dairy foods. FEMS Microbiol Rev
1987; 46:343-356.
3. Shahani, Hem M., Ph.D. and
Nagendra Rangavajhyala, Ph.D. "Role of Probiotics in
Clinical Nutrition and Immunity" Paper presented at the
Ann. Conf. of the International American Assns of
Clinical Nutritionists, Orlando, FL, Aug. 28-31,
1997.
4. Garrett, Laurie. The Coming Plague: Newly
Emerging Diseases in a World out of Balance. New York:
Penguin Books, 1994.
5. Ibid. |
CLICK BOTTLE TO ORDER
NOW | |