How Calming The Gut Strengthens our Health & Immunity Beyond Just Colds & Flu
Once you are inflamed, your immunity goes down the drain!
Did you know that one of the leading drivers of common health complaints is actually an overactive immune system, not a weak one?
Up to 80% of your immune tissue is located in your gut. So when this dense source of immunity gets upset and starts to react, it can trigger widespread inflammation that manifests in all sorts of unpleasant ways - from digestive complaints to fatigue, brain fog, joint pain, anxiety, skin problems, and many, many more.
In fact, gut-mediated immune responses can worsen virtually any other inflammatory condition simply by fanning the flames...And this includes the frequency and severity of typical winter colds and flu. Excess inflammation makes your immune response less beneficial. It might work, but how much discomfort or agony did you have to go through to get there?
Most immune-boosting supplements and strategies miss this crucial gut-immune connection. But Optimum Immunity is designed for it. Said simply, it stops your immune system from becoming worked-up when its not necessary. By nourishing your gut and calming inflammatory triggers, Optimum Immunity not only gives you potent protection from bugs, it can also help retrain your immune system to respond with just the right amount of force - more calmly, with precision and accurate discrimination about what is actually necessary to attack, hence reducing our tendency to become inflamed.
Keep reading to discover the simple, natural solutions that can help you finally feel your best again!
John
"In 30 years of consulting, if I had to pinpoint one factor that causes daily life health complaints more often than any other it's an imbalanced, indiscriminate immune response." -J. Biggs, BSc. NCP, OHP
As the school and work year begins people want better immunity from colds and flu. But did you know one of the most profound actions you can take to support the effectiveness of your immune response is to keep inflammation down by avoiding exaggerated immune activity itself?
If there is one area which is under-appreciated for it's ability to cause dis-ease and dysfunction, it is an overactive, over-inflammatory immune system, with a "hair-trigger"...and this is most often rooted in the gut.
From Blowtorch to Scalpel: Balancing Your Immune Response for Better Health
When our immune response is working the way we want it to, it is with precision and efficiency, i.e., accurately and quietly, without high levels of inflammation. I compare this to a scalpel. Yet, when the immune response goes awry, what often occurs is much more like a blowtorch, involving excess inflammation that degrades our quality of life.
In 30 years of consulting, if I had to pinpoint one factor that causes daily life health complaints more often than any other it's an imbalanced, indiscriminate immune response. Though the inflammatory "wildfires" that immune responses can cause certainly MAY involve a bug, they much more often involve the gut, where the greatest abundance of our immune tissue is found.
70-80% of the body's immune tissue is found in your gut! Hence, it is the most likely site for an immune response and inflammation to be initiated.
"In the body, the gut is the Seat of Inflammation " - Jeff Bland PhD widely recognized as the 'Father of Functional Medicine'
And this makes perfect sense because in our gut we are constantly exposed to incoming foreign matter from what we swallow.
Not surprisingly, the gut is always sampling things as they "come down the pipe". After inspection, your immune system may say, "Ahh, no big deal, it can pass", (i.e. you "tolerated" that substance.)
Or it can say to the rest of the immune brigade, "Sound the Alarm! Rouse the troops! Let's Go!" as it mounts an immune response against what you swallowed.
Hopefully this happens when something like a nasty pathogenic bacteria is present, but commonly it is in response to everyday foods.
At that point, someone might experience bowel urgency and a flush, or the gut and surrounding tissues may become inflamed and bloated. In turn, this can cause the cells of in your gut wall to spread apart, (i.e. leaky gut).
Yet, more frequently the immune response travels the other way out into the circulation, starting inflammatory "fires" in other organs or tissue sites, while not even causing any noticeable gut symptoms. Due to a lack of gut-associated problems, people can continue eating offending foods for decades.
Inflammatory "Fires" Can Manifest Anywhere
There is an A to Z list of health problems that can be caused by inflammation from unnecessary immune activity.
- gut and digestion disturbances
- bloating, diarrhea, and constipation
- liver and gallbladder problems/fatty liver
- fatigue, irritability
- runny nose, post-nasal drip
- high cholesterol, arterial plaque
- hypoglycemia
- headaches
- anxiety
- arthritis (both rheumatoid and osteo) and other joint problems
- coughs, transient breathing difficulties, asthma. and allergies/hay fever
- skin conditions like rashes/eczema/psoriasis
- kidney problems
- TMJ, nerve pain, numb limbs, lower back pain
...and the list goes on and on and on!
A perfect example of this, which I see often is "rheumatoid hands", where a person's fingers and knuckles are disfigured, bumpy and painful. This is virtually always improved, (often dramatically), by eliminating gluten and nightshades.
I have also seen quick relief in clients when they add supplements like Optimum Immunity and probiotics that calm the gut-mediated immune response, making it much more discerning. Once this calms down, other fires of inflammation throughout the body stop being stoked.
The Immune Efficiency Strategy
It's a lot easier to protect your castle from invaders when you don't already have fires to fight on the inside.
At Optimum Health, we try to go beyond just colds and flu, and are always trying to increase the efficacy of the immune response by getting inflammation down, i.e. how to make your immune response more efficient...like a scalpel, instead of a blowtorch!
At the heart of this heightened "immune efficiency" strategy is the Optimum Immunity formula. (This is one of my absolute favourites in our OHV-Brand line.)
Its broad-spectrum immune support ingredients include:
- Astragalus, Pau D'arco, Bitter Melon, and Golden Seal: These herbs are all antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal, helping to ward off colds, flu, and other infections. Yet, each of them is also acclaimed for their anti-inflammatory and gut-supportive properties.
- PANICIN (trademarked Andrographis paniculata): "An unsung hero." In Scandinavia this under-appreciated powerhouse is commonly used for colds and flu, similar to echinacea in North America. Yet it also has awesome immune-moderating effects, and calms gut-mediated immunity. This potent herb has been shown to be even more effective when combined with Siberian Ginseng, another ingredient in the Optimum Immunity formula.
- ELDERMUNE with Sunfiber: ELDERMUNE offers a highly concentrated Elderberry extract (great for fighting infections) along with soluble fiber to nourish gut bacteria, which then set up a protective barrier in the gut.
- Resveratrol and Zinc: Resveratrol provides additional anti-inflammatory immune and gut support. Zinc is also included in the formula and is critical for the gut to heal itself, as well as its classic roles for avoiding bugs
By calming the "blowtorch" effect while promoting effective immune function, with this product we have been able to help people with a surprising array of complaints, in addition to staving-off or better dealing with colds and flu
Read more about Optimum Immunity: Why Optimum Immunity is a "Must Have" this Cold and Flu Season
Companion Supplements for Total Immune Wellness
Of course, vitamin D is critical regardless of what kind of immune support you are striving for, and probiotics are often referred to as your first line of defense. Along with glutathione, these are what I consider to be the most critical components for immune support
I will get more specific in my next blog, where we'll examine how stressed our livers have become, and why so many of them are becoming fatty.
Until then,
Be Well,
John
> SHOP: THE OPTIMUM IMMUNITY FORMULA
> SHOP: HIGH-POTENCY, MICROENCAPSULATED VITAMIN D
> SHOP: OUR TOP-PERFORMING PROBIOTIC FORMULA
Supporting Sources and Discussion
Chronic stress, glucocorticoid receptor resistance, inflammation, and disease risk. Sheldon Cohen scohen@cmu.edu, Denise Janicki-Deverts, William J. Doyle, +3 , and Ronald B. TurnerAuthors Info & Affiliations April 2, 2012109 (16) 5995-5999
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1118355109
Cortisol is our most powerful anti-inflammatory influence. When the stress response is chronically activated from stress, or from ongoing activation of the immune system, cortisol insensitivity develops, and inflammation, formerly held at bay, infiltrates our tissues, viruses enter our cells, and we get sick, as intracellular inflammatory influences are activated. (Mechanism of action is through redox imbalance.)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41392-020-00238-z
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120402162546.htm
Astragalus:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6091064/
https://altmedrev.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/v8-1-72.pdf
As the Institute for Functional Medicine states:
Astragalus is well-known for its antiviral activity, for its anti-inflammatory properties, for priming the innate immune system, and for reducing NLRP3-mediated inflammation. (an inflammatory immune cascade response in the gut)
Andrographis paniculata
If you take just a brief trip through the literature on Andrograhis, you practically see the definition of Immune Balance: i.e. its main properties are that it is Anti-Inflammatory and Improves Immune Response. This means it is not only effective for viruses in general, but also Upper-respiratory tract infections,/the lungs/ sinuses, has anti-covid properties, is supportive for the gut, the treatment of allergies, treatment of cold sores ...and on and on
For a deeper description see the following IFM description:
The leaves of Andrographis paniculata have been used in traditional Eastern medicine systems for centuries for the treatment and prevention of upper respiratory tract infections (URTI), coughs, and sinusitis. Systematic reviews show a consistent and clinically relevant effect when used as a single herb or in combination with other herbal preparations. Andrographis has demonstrated anti-inflammatory, antiviral, and immune-stimulatory activities and has been shown, in vitro, to be effective against avian influenza A (H9N2 and H5N1) and human influenza A H1N1 viruses. It has been shown to inhibit platelet-activating factor–mediated inflammatory responses, to reduce the expression of cyclooxygenase-2, and to have analgesic as well as antipyretic effects. In addition, Andrographis is one of many agents that acts to decrease the activity of furin protease, a necessary step in SARS-CoV-2 spike protein activation and insertion into mucosal epithelial cells.
Or see This abstract entitled "Broad-Spectrum Antiviral properties of andrographalide"
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27896563/
Or see this review
file:///C:/Users/johnbiggs/Downloads/molecules-27-04479-v2.pdf
Or its effects on colitis
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006295219303454
Or this abstract on allergies
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20307638/
Or Cold Sores
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8619093/
Once again, Andrographis is not only effective for viral infections, (and bacterial...same as astragalus), but will be effective for exaggerated immune responses in general, which create way too much inflammation. This is the same phenomenon as the cytokine storms that people were getting with Covid, i.e. when the immune response gets too "fired-up"
The broad spectrum applications of Andrographis include not only, colds, flu, sinus infections, but immune responses to food or allergies, including skin rashes/ sensitivities.
Pau D'arco
Though Pau D'arco is best known for its anti-fungal/anti-yeast effects, it has also been used since antiquity as an antiviral, and not at all surprisingly is highly anti-inflammatory, and also antibacterial.
Here Dr. Josh Axe gives a good review listing the following uses/properties:
Reduces pain, anti-inflammatory... (particularly in the gut), Helps treat ulcers
Antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal, anticancer, antioxidant
https://draxe.com/nutrition/pau-darco/
Bitter Melon
Best known for its anti-diabetic effects, bitter melon is also highly anti-inflammatory and immune modulating, including being anti-viral, and again, soothing for the gut, which is surrounded by more immune tissue than anywhere else in the body.
See below for some references and reviews:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S037887410400159X
Over 100 studies using modern techniques have authenticated its use in diabetes and its complications (nephropathy, cataract, insulin resistance), as antibacterial as well as antiviral agent (including HIV infection), as anthelmintic and abortifacient. (NOT FOR PREGNANT WOMEN) Traditionally it has also been used in treating peptic ulcers, interestingly in a recent experimental studies have exhibited its potential against Helicobacter pylori. Most importantly, the studies have shown its efficacy in various cancers (lymphoid leukemia, lymphoma, choriocarcinoma, melanoma, breast cancer, skin tumor, prostatic cancer, squamous carcinoma of tongue and larynx, human bladder carcinomas and Hodgkin’s disease). There are few reports available on clinical use of MC in diabetes and cancer patients that have shown promising results.
Also see https://www.intechopen.com/chapters/77462
It has been shown to possess anticancer, antidepressant, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antiobesity, antioxidant, and antiulcer properties. Its common phytochemical components include alkaloids, charantin, flavonoids, glycosides, phenolics, tannins, and terpenoids.
This plant is rich in various saponins including momordicin, momordin, momordicoside, karavilagenin, karaviloside, and kuguacin, all of which have been reported to contribute to its remedial properties including antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, and antiparasitic infections.
Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5414453/
This plant is a traditional herbal medicine, possesses various biological, medicinal activities and pharmacological functions, namely antidiabetic, anthelmintic, contraceptive, antimalarial, laxative, antihyperglycemic, antimutagenic, antiulcer, antilipolytic, antifertility, hepatoprotective, anticancer, antibacterial, antiviral, antitumor, immunomodulation, antioxidant, antidiabetic, and anti-inflammatory activities of M. charantia have been reported.
Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphar.2019.00486/full Momordica charantia, a Nutraceutical Approach for Inflammatory Related Disease
Goldenseal
Nicknamed "the King of mucous membranes" for its highly anti-inflammatory effects on the nose, throat, lungs, gut, etc,, and its usefulness for upper-respiratory tract infections, the active constituents in Goldenseal, beberine, and hydrastine are also highly antibacterial, and antiviral, and antifungal. So In addition to helping prevent infections, goldenseal is soothing to sore noses and guts, and will help prevent candida overgrowth in the aftermath of being sick.
With its berberine content, Goldenseal, along with Bitter Melon is also balancing for blood sugar.
https://plantmedicines.org/goldenseal-stops-h1n1-flu-virus/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32594322/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3259432https://www.reliasmedia.com/articles/45624-goldenseal-for-upper-respiratory-infections
Resveratrol
In addition to being highly anti-inflammatory, anti-aging, antioxidant, and antifungal, Resveratrol is also highly antiviral. It is one of the most adaptogenic herbs I have encountered.
Review Antibacterial and antifungal properties of resveratrol
Antiviral Activity of Resveratrol against Human and Animal ...
Siberian Ginseng
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7558817/
Zinc
by SA Read · 2019 · Cited by 519 — The therapeutic use of zinc for viral infections such as herpes simplex virus and the common cold has stemmed from these findings; however, there remains much ...
The Mechanisms of Zinc Action as a Potent Anti-Viral Agenthttps://www.mdpi.com › pdf