Re: Flax oil, kefir, yogurt producing no immune system benefits

Sat, 21 Jan 2006 08:46:21 GMT in article
<xxmAf.341$1n4.154@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> "Knack"
<zymatik@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>Hi. I am age 51. For the past 15 months every morning I've been blending
>high lignan flax seed oil with either yogurt or kefir as part of my
>breakfast. And I've been keeping my daily intake of omega-6 fat approx equal
>to my omega-3 fats intake. And I avoid sugar except for what is found in
>about 6 different whole fruits every day. And I have 2 cups of green tea
>every day, along with a cup of cocoa and 2 cups of rooibos. And every day I
>also take 400 mg natural E-complex vitamin, 50 mg selenium, 1000 mg vitamin
>ester-C, 100 mg CoQ10, 400 mg alpha-lipoic acid, 400 mg quercetin, 100 mg
>MSM, plus individual garlic, cranberry, and grapeseed extract pills.
>
>Not to mention the healthy meals that I eat, that's a lot of daily
>nutrients. I'm hoping that my continued use of them will help to prevent me
>from some day getting cancer. However, that's not a realistic expectation as
>last May they could not even prevent me from getting a persistent cold/flu
>following an airline trip. Although I still continue to take all of the
>above stuff, it certainly has been quite a disappointment so far.
>
You are raising two different and very large issues here: prevention of
cancer and optimizing immune defence. You surely understand that it's
only possible to scratch the surface of these topics here. There is some
overlap in these topics, but the prevention of cancer it's not primarly
an immune system issue. To prevent cancer you need first to have healthy
life style: no smoking, no excessive alcohol, avoiding carcinogenic
substances, controlling the weight, getting enough exercise, healthy
diet etc.. Some of the supplements and food items you are taking may
help (although you don't want to take 50 mg of selenium/d, you wouldn't
live very long ;-)), but you may want to add for example broccoli and
curcumin (from turmeric) just to to mention a couple more.

Immune system cannot detect all cancers well enough and some cancers can
make immune system ineffective. Although it's important to try to keep
your immune system in good condition, there are many other ways to fight
cancer. By avoiding carcinogens and using antioxidants you may be able
to reduce the risk of cancer initiation phase. And by using natural
cancer fighters, which cause apoptosis of cancer cells, prevent tumor
angiogenesis etc., you may be able to reduce cancer growth rate and
inhibit its promotion.

An immune system, which cannot stop cancer, may still be able to fight
off viral and bacterial infections.

Many things can go wrong with immune system. One of the currently
popular hypotheses is that imbalance between type 1 and type 2 T helper
cells (Th1/Th2 imbalance) may play a role in many diseases. Often the
problem is the dominance of Th2 cells. Some lactic acid bacteria, some
herbs such as astragalus and propolis, and some vitamins and minerals
and trace elements (zinc for example) may help to correct this
imbalance.

As for influenza and common cold, black elderberry extract such as
Sambucol may help.


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-Matti Narkia
.

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