Immune enhancing herbs

[Nicholas]

I do not know if this is the right place to post this

but I would like to know more about some herbs

I have recently started taking; Chinese Astragalus

and also Elderberry(Sambu)

 

Anybody have anything to say about taking such

herbs to boost the immune system?

[zyncod]

They're both pretty good but to really boost your immune system, you'll want something like unicornberries or sumfundu. Really, why would the bark of a chinese tree do anything to your immune system?

 

If (*being serious now) you really want to boost your immune system, inject yourself with lipopolysaccharide (a bacterial cell wall component). It'll make you feel like crap and greatly increase your chances of heart disease, but it will also set up an inflammatory response that will make your immune system more aware of invaders. So you'll be less likely to get infected. The immune system is so old (probably predates the plant/animal divergence) and so complex that the chances of doing anything that "boosts" the entire system without other negative consequences is next to nil. And randomly eating herbs is not helping your chances.

[blike]

Just out of curiosity, is there any research supporting the use of these to boost the immune system?

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

As far as I know, a lot of herbs and compounds for sale are only backed by "our tribal healers have used them for centuries" type of deals. A lot of them can cause problems when mixed together and taken in quantities (many people do this because they want to be super healthy by eating the most herbal remedies possible).

I've heard of a few studies vindicating some of the herbs, but there are so many of them that it's quite possible that many of them are just made up.

[Bluenoise]

immune system is so old (probably predates the plant/animal divergence)

 

Nope plants don't have an immune system in the sense we do. They may be born with a resistances like toxins that combat infection, or waxy coatings to protect themselves, but no active immune system. Meaning no antibodies, they can't building resistences etc..

[Nicholas]

They're both pretty good but to really boost your immune system' date=' you'll want something like unicornberries or sumfundu. Really, why would the bark of a chinese tree do anything to your immune system?

 

If (*being serious now) you really want to boost your immune system, inject yourself with lipopolysaccharide (a bacterial cell wall component). It'll make you feel like crap and greatly increase your chances of heart disease, but it will also set up an inflammatory response that will make your immune system more aware of invaders. So you'll be less likely to get infected. The immune system is so old (probably predates the plant/animal divergence) and so complex that the chances of doing anything that "boosts" the entire system without other negative consequences is next to nil. And randomly eating herbs is not helping your chances.[/quote']

 

Lipopolysaccharide from bacterial cell walls?

 

Sounds like Beta Glucan derived from yeast cell walls.

[insane_alien]

well you could artificially grow some white blood cells of yours in a lab(is that possible?) and then put them in your blood stream so you have like 10000 times the normal count that would be one hell of a boost.

[mmalluck]

Stems cells, once reintroduced to the blood stream, differentiate into various kinds of white blood cells.

 

I'd would have to say Garlic is my favorite natural immune system booster. Garlic is great.

[zyncod]

Lipopolysaccharide from bacterial cell walls?

 

Sounds like Beta Glucan derived from yeast cell walls.

No, not like B-Glucan from yeast cell walls. Not at all.

 

Nope plants don't have an immune system in the sense we do. They may be born with a resistances like toxins that combat infection, or waxy coatings to protect themselves, but no active immune system. Meaning no antibodies, they can't building resistences etc..

 

No, plants do not have a circulating immune system but they have the ability to sense and respond to pathogens. And their "innate" immune system is related to ours - both animals and some plants use Toll-like receptors to recognize pathogens (one such receptor recognizes lipopolysaccharide). TLRs are actually so old that they were first recognized in fruit flies. So, yes, the immune system does predate the animal/plant split.

[Nevermore]

Hemp all the way.

[Rakista]

Are we talking about an immune system response or antioxidants?

 

One of the cheapest antioxidants you can use is.....

 

COFFEE

 

Many antioxidants never get to make it to your bloodstream no problems with coffee though.

 

If you get any dry herbs find out if they are lipid or alchohol soluble because some are pretty much useless taken in capsule form.

 

If you are making a tincture find out DOSAGE. Sometimes a capsule disolved in alchohol will increase the amount in your bloodstream by 10x-50x which can cause problems if they raise blood pressure they can destroy your organs if you take too much.

[LucidDreamer]

6 safe and effective ways to increase the efficiency of your immune system:

 

1) Vitamin C

2) Exercise

3) Quality sleep

4) Stress reduction

5) A diet rich in vegetables and fruits

6) Hydration

 

A lifestyle that included all of these elements would probably beat any herbal out there.

 

An overactive immune system is a double-edged sword. If you were to really somehow double the activity of your immune system you would end up very sick instead of healthier. There are a million and one kinds of diseases that result from an overactive immune system. Of course, I don't know your situation, so you may benefit from an immune system boost.

[reyam200]

echanaia and goldenseal are good immune system boosters as well.

(pardon my terrable spelling)

[muntedkowhai]

actually, echanachea has had some bad publicity.

in a test of 200 human subjects.

100 were given recomended doses of echanachea for half a year.

the other 100 didnt take supplements and were all given the same dose of influenza.

99% of them came down with the flu.

So maybe these herbs arent as immune boosting as the supplement companies want you to think.

 

and plants do have some sort of immune response which some papers have seen also happening in humans.

they assume that the system seen in plants are probably the first kind of immune system known to living things.

it is RNAi.

There has been tremendous research done on RNAi .

[GeminiinimeG]

I allways wasnted to have the immune system and healing abilities of wolverine, but the bad thims is that if you have too many white blood cells theys attack any litle intrusion into your body. You might take medicine and they will attack it. Having too many white blood cells would probably not help you out bud. By the way some people here are saying that herbs cant possibly help out immune system. How can you say that perhaps they have something in them that kills diseases that normally attack humans? I dont think you should say stuff with out you knowing exactly what they do

[claytonm]

If (*being serious now) you really want to boost your immune system, inject yourself with lipopolysaccharide (a bacterial cell wall component). It'll make you feel like crap and greatly increase your chances of heart disease, but it will also set up an inflammatory response that will make your immune system more aware of invaders.

 

Wow that is some really bad advice. You're telling people to go create hypersensitivity reactions in their bodies so they can have some kind of visual proof that their immune system is working overtime. Just ask anyone with allergies how much fun is to have their immune systems in hyper mode. If someone was dumb enough to do this, they could be putting themselves at risk of going into anaphylactic shock. Not to mention that all bacterial LPS is not created equal. Take for instance Neisseria meningiditis; its LPS and peptidoglycan are toxic and cause severe immune response. This is the main reason why treatment involves the use of bacteriostatic antibiotics not bacteriocidal. I realize you were half joking with your response, but believe me when I say there are more than a few people out there that would be willing to try it.

[buzsaw]

Wow that is some really bad advice. You're telling people to go create hypersensitivity reactions in their bodies so they can have some kind of visual proof that their immune system is working overtime. Just ask anyone with allergies how much fun is to have their immune systems in hyper mode. If someone was dumb enough to do this, they could be putting themselves at risk of going into anaphylactic shock. Not to mention that all bacterial LPS is not created equal. Take for instance Neisseria meningiditis; its LPS and peptidoglycan are toxic and cause severe immune response. This is the main reason why treatment involves the use of bacteriostatic antibiotics not bacteriocidal. I realize you were half joking with your response, but believe me when I say there are more than a few people out there that would be willing to try it.

 

I agree. This is typical of many popular drugs being pushed by the pharmaceuticals and the medical profession - dangerous side effects. One of the side effects of them listed on some of the bottles is DEATH, yet the food and drug admins allow them to remain on the market. It's a money driven profession at the expense of the public health! For this reason it's best to treat the whole body with good diet, proper exercise and suppliments, including herbals. This calls for the need to educate yourself on the alternatives. At 70, my wife and I have kept our family and ourselves well and healthy without the services of an MD. They're ok for injuries but with illnesses most of the medical profession is in the hip pockets of the pharmaceutals who fund the medical school foundations, et al.

[Drug addict]

I agree. This is typical of many popular drugs being pushed by the pharmaceuticals and the medical profession - dangerous side effects. One of the side effects of them listed on some of the bottles is DEATH[/b'], yet the food and drug admins allow them to remain on the market. It's a money driven profession at the expense of the public health! For this reason it's best to treat the whole body with good diet, proper exercise and suppliments, including herbals. This calls for the need to educate yourself on the alternatives. At 70, my wife and I have kept our family and ourselves well and healthy without the services of an MD. They're ok for injuries but with illnesses most of the medical profession is in the hip pockets of the pharmaceutals who fund the medical school foundations, et al.

 

Ever heard of risk/benefit analysis? Yes drugs can cause serious side effects (which is why they are tightly controlled), but they also have great benefits. Take statins for example - they can cause seriuos renal damage leading to death as a result of rhabdomyolysis, but the risk of this is very small, but the 4S trial showed that simvastatin reduced risk of total mortallity by 30% (http://emc.medicines.org.uk/emc/assets/c/html/displaydoc.asp?documentid=13432)

So would you take simvastatin off the market? At least give specific drugs you think should be withdrawn.

[YT2095]

alliums are good for most all immune activity, often taken with parsley (flat or curly leaf).

what particular Ailment needs sorting here?

[Douglas]

How about zinc ? It's supposed to help prevent colds, if so, I'd assume it builds up the immune system................No?

[zyncod]

Wow that is some really bad advice. You're telling people to go create hypersensitivity reactions in their bodies so they can have some kind of visual proof that their immune system is working overtime. Just ask anyone with allergies how much fun is to have their immune systems in hyper mode. If someone was dumb enough to do this, they could be putting themselves at risk of going into anaphylactic shock. Not to mention that all bacterial LPS is not created equal. Take for instance Neisseria meningiditis; its LPS and peptidoglycan are toxic and cause severe immune response. This is the main reason why treatment involves the use of bacteriostatic antibiotics not bacteriocidal. I realize you were half joking with your response, but believe me when I say there are more than a few people out there that would be willing to try it.

 

I was not being serious at all. Injecting yourself with LPS would be incredibly stupid, but at least it would work. And though it is true that LPS is pyrogenic and toxic, it is still used in vaccines among other adjuvants to prime the TLRs for an immune response to whatever bacterial/viral antigen you are injecting.

 

My point was simply that the immune system is so old in terms of evolution that you probably could not "enhance" your response without serious side effects. Since the immune response predates the animal/plant split, "boosting" your immune system by eating a random herb would be like boosting DNA polymerase activity by eating a herb. And even if you did manage to "boost" your immune system, you would wind up with serious side effects, as in the case of LPS. And all of this to prevent getting the flu or a cold? If you're that worried about getting sick, wash your hands a few times a day, get the flu vaccine, eat a balanced diet, and get plenty of sleep.

[1veedo]

Sorry to bump an old thread...

 

One of my teachers was telling us to take 1200mg calcium, so much vitamine C (500mg I think), melatonin, and something else, to boost the immune system. Melatonin looks kind of interesting cause it'll (suposedly) do a lot of things for you, the problem is there really isn't any non-biassed info on the web.

 

It's funny somebody earlier mentioned echinacea and goldenseal because the body building immune system page, http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/imm.htm , has them both listed. Neither sounds like they're that great though (they're both herbs after all...), bodybuilding.com is quick to tell you how great different things are.

 

My biology teacher though, last year, told us that bacteria / viruses can only infect acidic blood. Blood can be between 6.8 - 7.4 and the people with 7.4 get sick more often. The moral was to not drink soda and to drink things like milk or coffee. There might be another factor that just causes low blood ph and also boosts the immune system. It's not like you can really change it anyhow. If it goes bellow 6.8 you'd probably die.

 

Some people get sick a lot and others dont so there has to be a reason, if only genetics.

[Drug addict]

Your teacher is a fool. Melatonin is not harmless, it has been linked with liver damage, and in the UK it is only available on a 'named patient basis' - i.e. GP writes prescription and then pharmacy either has to have it imported or specially manufactured.

 

Herbs can be useful for certain conditions, for example St Johns Wort (Hypericum perforatum is effective for mild depression, however it is essential that proper trials are carried out to assess the merits of the claims put forward for these herbs. Some of them can also be downright dangerous, for example black cohosh has been associated with liver problems.

 

As for blood pH being between 6.8 and 7.4, look at http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2006/09/your_friday_dose_of_woo_acid_base_or_woo_1.php#more

Blood pH is very tightly regulated by the body, mainly by means of the bicarbonate/carbonic acid buffer system. If your blood pH is 6.8 you are in deep trouble.

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

Your teacher is a fool. Melatonin is not harmless, it has been linked with liver damage, and in the UK it is only available on a 'named patient basis' - i.e. GP writes prescription and then pharmacy either has to have it imported or specially manufactured.

Are you sure? It's on a 'named patient basis' in the UK because it's been deemed medicinal, not because of any perceived side effects. I have also not been able to find any other sources linking melatonin to liver damage.

[ecoli]

actually' date=' echanachea has had some bad publicity.

in a test of 200 human subjects.

100 were given recomended doses of echanachea for half a year.

the other 100 didnt take supplements and were all given the same dose of influenza.

99% of them came down with the flu.

So maybe these herbs arent as immune boosting as the supplement companies want you to think..[/quote']

 

That study was flawed. You're supposed to take Echinacea and/or Goldenseal as soon as you feel symptoms of a cold. It's supposed to support your immune system, by helping you recover a bit faster. It doesn't make any claims of complete prevention of a cold. Also, it doesn't really work unless you take it at the very beginning of the cold onset.