Immune system and the cytokine storm--long

[Guest guest]

I just got this from the Jon Barron online newsletter. This is an

explanation of the cytokine storm that happens with a too powerful immune

system. Something we talked about before when the bird flu was getting all

the media attention.

Samala,

Okay, so having a strong immune system is good...you would think? The

stronger the better...right? You should be buying whatever supplements you

can lay your hands on to pump up your immune response...who could argue with

that?

As it turns out, not necessarily. It seems that too much of a good thing, in

some circumstances, may actually be bad for you. Last month, a study was

published in Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology that just might explain why

the obvious ain't necessarily so.

The reason for the study was an observation that when it comes to raising

children, extended family units, or what is referred to as " cooperative

breeding " is not that common. At first glance, shared rearing of offspring

would seem to provide a host of natural advantages. It better defines the

home/nest. It allows for more food to be gathered, better care to be taken

of the young, not to mention, offering the potential for better education.

And yet, in most species it just doesn't happen. Think lions and bears, for

example. The cubs are raised by the mothers alone -- lest the fathers kill

the cubs. In fact, infanticide has been found in many species, including

gorillas, cats, dogs, whales, rodents, insects and fish. The bottom line is

that among species, cooperative breeding is the exception, not the rule --

common primarily in humans and birds. So the question arises, with all its

apparent " advantages , why do so few species do it?

As it turns out, the benefits of cooperative breeding come with a cost. Or

to put it another way, the benefits of cooperative breeding extend not only

to the immediate species, but also to the pathogens and parasites that

plague them. Quite simply:

Because of all the close contact among family members in cooperative

breeding, there is more interaction among individuals, thus more chance for

transmission of the pathogens.

Since the interaction is with close relatives, they share similar immune

system capabilities -- their bodies are actually selectively breeding

parasites better able to overcome those capabilities. (Any parasites that

survive, by definition, survive because they can resist those capabilities.)

As Dr. Spottiswoode, the lead researcher in the study said, " This hypothesis

predicts that cooperative breeders should invest relatively more in immune

defense than closely related species which breed in pairs. "

She tested her hypothesis by examining the PHA response of the immune system

in different species of African birds. The actual methodology was to inject

the birds with phytohaemagglutinin (PHA), a substance that induces an immune

reaction. In particular, when PHA is inserted under the skin of a bird's

wing, it causes minor swelling. Dr Spottiswoode reasoned that the amount of

swelling from a dose of PHA would reveal the activity of a bird's immune

system. The more at risk the bird was, the more swiftly its immune system

would respond to any challenge, and the greater that response would be. That

response, however, comes at a price. The stronger the response, the greater

the swelling. The greater the swelling, the greater the immune stress on the

bird and the more energy its immune system ended up using to fight off the

effects of pathogens. The bottom line was that among 66 species tested, the

PHA response was significantly higher in the 18 cooperatively breeding

species. Based on Dr. Spottiswoode's hypothesis, these results suggest that

cooperatively breeding birds, because of their increased exposure to more

virulent pathogens, had developed " stronger " immune systems than

non-cooperative breeders. But these stronger immune systems came at a cost:

Greater immune stress

More use of body resources

Increased inflammation

Although Dr Spottiswoode's research focused on birds, the principle is

likely to apply to other cooperative breeders such as human beings. Indeed,

the evidence is that many human infections -- malaria, measles and flu, for

example -- stem from the crowded living conditions shared by modern man. As

a result, we see more virulent infections, stronger immune responses, and

greater stress on the body. This gives a whole new meaning to Clinton

s line, " It takes a village. "

Back in August of 2005, I first addressed the issue of Bird Flu (although at

the time, despite the beginnings of the media frenzy, I said that I didn't

see it as an imminent threat -- which it turned out not to be.). More

importantly, though, I proposed that contrary to most of the advice you

would hear in the alternative health community, building your immune system

could be a major contributing factor in mortality rates if bird flu did hit.

As I said back then:

Many alternative health companies are trying to tell you to boost your

immune system to protect yourself. That's a questionable tactic with bird

flu -- at least if not accompanied by the use of pathogen destroyers. Death

from bird flu is most likely to come from a cytokine storm triggered by your

own immune system, not from the flu itself. This is the same situation we

saw in the great influenza pandemic of 1918/1919.

And now, thanks to Dr. Spottiswoode's study, we have an idea as to why this

happens. In the case of bird flu, the stronger immune response of " healthy "

people exacts too great a cost on the human body -- literally killing it by

virtue of its overreaction. Or to put it another way, the cost of an

extremely strong immune response is too high.

It's interesting that almost three years later, and even with the new study

now available for all to see, little has changed. Medical doctors still tell

you to get flu shots to protect yourself (even though they are, at best,

only marginally effective), and people in the alternative health community

still tell you to build your immune system (so that your body can be

overtaxed and die).

Once we understand the problem -- that an overly strong immune system forced

to address pathogens at full viral or bacterial load is an unbalanced immune

system and will exact a cost on the body, we realize that the problem is

likely to be endemic and appear in many different forms (some fatal and

others not) in many different people. And it does. For example:

Endemic immune system disorders

A significant increase in diseases/symptoms such as fibromyalgia and chronic

fatigue

Chronic systemic inflammation in joints, muscles, and cardiovascular systems

(Remember, just like in the birds, inflammation is an immune system

response.)

Dr. Spottiswoode conducted her experiments to better understand why more

animals didn't have extended families since doing so appeared to offer great

benefits. In the end, she went a long way to proving her hypothesis that

extended families demand much more active immune systems from individuals,

which extracts a heavy cost on the body. Kudos to Dr. Spottiswoode. For me,

though, I see other important information coming from this study --

information that can alter how you choose to " optimize " your immune system

and prepare for any invading pathogens. What the study showed, if you look

from a slightly different perspective, is that when it comes to the immune

system, more is not always better. Improving the strength of the immune

system comes at a cost. Optimizing the immune system, then, comes down to

cost benefit analysis. "

The bottom line is yes, you want your immune system to respond strongly to

any pathogens -- but not too strongly. If it responds too strongly, the

costs can outweigh the benefits. An overactive immune system can lead to:

Sustained systemic inflammation

Autoimmune disorders

Overactive responses to allergens

Even death, as in the case of avian flu

So exactly what does that mean:

It means that you do want to use immune builders such as

Echinacea

Pau d’arco

Suma

Astragalus

Medicinal mushrooms

AHCC

Beta glucans

Aloe Vera

Alkyglycerol

Lactoferrin

Bovine colostrums

Glutathione

Mangosteen

Colostrum

But it means you also want a supply of natural antipathogens on hand to

ratchet down the need for a high level immune system response.

Garlic

Olive leaf extract

Oil of wild mountain oregano

Grapefruit seed extract

It's also a good idea to regularly supplement with natural immunomodulators

that help to regulate immune response - moving a weak immune system up and

calming an overactive immune system down. These include

L-carnosine

Colostrum

CMO

When it comes to fighting disease and staying healthy, your immune system is

your best friend. You want the strongest immune system response you can have

without it being so strong that it overtaxes the body. If you can tone down the

strength of the pathogenic attack, then a strong immune system works in your

favor -- finishing off the invading little buggers as quickly as possible, but

without the need to drain down your reserves. But if you don't ratchet down the

strength of the attack, your immune system actually works against you -- causing

chronic inflammation, immune system disorders, overactive allergy responses, or

as in the case of avian flu, potentially killing you.