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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 micro-flora 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.
This article courtesy of John Trout - www.vitamin4body.com
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.
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