News

Our monthly nutritional news letter with the latest research and thinking.

Is prevention better than cure? Public health and flu

Back in April the Harvard School of Public Health published a paper on the preventable causes of death in the USA. The top six were tobacco smoking, high blood pressure, obesity, physical inactivity, high salt intake and omega 3 fatty acid deficiency. Together these accounted for over 1.6 million deaths each year. All preventable by simple lifestyle changes. I realise it’s an American study but we aren’t to far behind them here in the UK. While reading through the paper it occurred to me that smoking aside, we could begin to address these issues by a simple change in shopping habits.

• Walk to and from the shops
• Buy only free ranging, grass fed meat and dairy products
• Avoid buying processed foods especially baked goods, breakfast cereals, meats and ready meals
• Avoid buying margarines, vegetable oils and foods stored in vegetable oils (especially those in plastic containers)
• Buy enough vegetables to ensure half your plate/serving contains a wide variety of the non-starchy variety

Imagine, 5 small changes that begin to directly address the preventable causes of death in our population. No supplements, no expense, no effort. Just a simple change in shopping habits.

Influenza prevention. Is good hygiene enough?

Mucosal cells provide a huge percentage of our overall immunity protecting us from viral and bacterial infections. Nutri-Link Clinical Education have recently published a paper on optimising mucosal health using nutritional strategies.

• What is the mucosa?

Put simply it is a mucus secreting membrane coating all body passages and cavities. In this instance we are referring to the mucosa of the respiratory and digestive tract.

• Why is it important?

It is our first line of defence against invading pathogens, providing a barrier with a wide number of defence mechanisms

• What can you do to improve it?

Our secretory IgA (sIgA) provides the first line of immune defence at the mucosal surfaces of the gastrointestinal, respiratory, and genitourinary tracts, where more than 95% of infections are initiated. Certain probiotics may increase SIgA and improve immune tolerance, as well as restricting viral and pathogen adhesion and penetration.
One strain of probiotic known as Saccharomyces Boulardii has been shown in animal and human studies to be an effective promoter of SIgA.
Optimising vitamin D levels appears to have a profound effect on human immunity including the prevention of influenza. It is thought to do this by optimizing the immune response within mucosal cells.
In one 2007 study Colostrum supplementation was shown to be at least 3 times more effective than vaccination to prevent flu. Colostrum contains a range of immune regulating components thought to support the mucosa of the intestinal tract where many instances of flu start.

Please contact me directly if you would like any further information on this subject.

Save the Bees

I wrote a little about bees last month and this month I wanted to highlight The Soil Association campaign to save honey bees by banning neonicotinoids. If you can spare 2 minutes take a read and sign the petition here

That’s it for this month. Good health and happy eating to all of you.

These recommendations are not comprehensive and are not intended to replace the advice of your doctor or pharmacist