The most appropriate foods for stress-induced immune system suppression
Natural “immunomodulators” are becoming more and more popular, things that can naturally regulate our immune system. “However, this popularity often carries too optimistic claims and mediocre effects. ” Such mythical beasts have been around for centuries. This market is full of all kinds of supplements, that promise the golden fleece: cheap, no side effects, active improvements to our immune system. Many people simply make unjustified statements without almost any scientific justification.
On the other hand, there are the so-called beta-glucan, who have undergone 10,000 scientific studies and clinical trials. Wait, what? Beta-glucan is the fiber in the nutritional yeast I’ve talked about before, capable of reducing episodes of common illness in young children. What about the adults? First of all, why don’t they just invent it vaccine against common colds and viruses? Because there is no one common virus; there are hundreds of different viruses that cause it cold symptoms.
That is why there is so much interest in discovery of a general, non-specific immune stimulator. Beta-glucan intake may increase immunoglobulin A levels in saliva within four days, at a daily dose of 400 mg but not 100 mg. This means an amount equal to 2 teaspoons of nutritional yeast a day, not half a teaspoon. IgA is an antibody that plays a crucial role in immune function on our moist membranes, such as the eyes, nose and mouth.
A teaspoon of nutritional yeast does not help much until one starts to move. Two hours after a tense 50 minutes dynamic cycling in hot, humid environments, it turns out that the group that took beta-glucan from dietary yeast did indeed receive an increase in IgA. However, beta-glucan fails to stimulate the antimicrobial white blood cell activity taken from individuals, who took about 1 tbsp a day. What we are interested in, however, are the results of clinical trials. Whether people who consume beta-glucan suffer from significantly fewer infections? Okay.
How about a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial, to see if the beta-glucan is from the nutritional yeast can improve our immune system. 100 people were followed for 26 weeks, 50 receive about one tablespoon of nutritional yeast with beta-glucan per day and the other 50 with placebo. Count how many cases of common cold there is no significant difference.
Now, if you look only at the first half of the time during the cold season, there really seems to be less infection in the active group, which means the beta-glucan group. But this is called post hoc analysis, where you go back and see the data after the event, the scientific community frowns on this kind of analysis, because it increases the opportunity your discoveries are due simply to chance. But those who eventually became ill while taking beta-glucan, did indeed seem to have milder symptoms.
A similar larger study found similar results. Maybe the severity of the cold is reduced, but there is no significant difference in the basic analysis in the number of colds that people have caught. It is the same in other studies: no significant differences in the number of symptomatic episodes of respiratory infections.
There is also no significant effect on the results of upper respiratory tract infections; and so overall quite disappointing results. But wait a minute. Well the video about maintaining immune function in athletes with nutritional yeast? They find a significant decrease in the symptoms of a cold 2 weeks and 4 weeks after marathon as with beta-glucans worth 1 teaspoon of yeast per day, as well as 2 teaspoons.
Yes, but they have just finished running a marathon. Do you remember that study that shows that the effect seems to have only after strenuous exercise? This is where beta glucan seems to shine, counteracting extreme physical exertion on the function of our immune system. For an athlete, this can simply mean wasted training days, but for soldiers or firefighters, maintenance health, even in the context of severe physical stress, this can be of great importance. Okay. But it is counteracting the effects of physical stress.
What about mental stress? Stressful events in a person’s life can damage the protection of our wet membranes in such a way that psychological stress has also been shown to increases our susceptibility to common colds, we face more and more severe colds than people who are less stressed. So, let’s see if we can help. And really, in this study of healthy women, subjected to moderate levels of psychological stress, those who take beta-glucan worth about a teaspoon of nutritional yeast a day within 12 weeks, they were 60% less likely to report symptoms such as sore throat, a stuffy or runny nose or cough, which strongly suggests that the brewery is brewed and nutritional yeast and its beta-glucan can counteract the negative effects of stress on the immune system.
” They turned out to be 41% more vital, which is a measure that encompasses physical energy, the sharpness of the mind and emotional state. So, they just felt better. Gather all the studies and you’ll see that beta-glucan they really do seem to boost the immune system, or at least in children and people who are physically or mentally stressed.
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