My grandma didn’t know what omega-3s were, or that cod liver oil is full of them, as well as vitamin D — without which the human immune system doesn’t function. But she learned enough to know cod liver oil kept her from being sick. Cod liver oil is all my grandma had and she lived to be 91.
American doctors disregard this type of knowledge as bad medicine without scientific proof. They discount anything not processed through the medical protocol of so-called “research.”
Standard doctors also don’t treat the body holistically, that is, they don’t view the entire body as a whole. Our immunity varies with individual biochemistry. In other words, it matters who our parents are. It is not a guarantee that if our parents live long, healthy lives we will, but it puts the odds greatly in our favor. Symptomology doesn’t recognize this fact.
In our time, we can greatly help add years by supporting our natural immune system with supplemental nutrition and whole natural foods and by avoiding drug-based symptom masking.
This is one of my favorite subjects because conventional medicine — which means almost everyone — gets it so wrong.
The development of asthma and diabetes in children has increased substantially in the last several decades. Whether it is the crutch of constant immunizations, or for want of exposure to “bad germs” in nature, or a combination, is not clear. But it is clear that the immune system is strengthened by exposure to naturally-occurring microbes.
A groundbreaking study published in the journal Atherosclerosis titled, “Association of measles and mumps with cardiovascular disease: The Japan Collaborative Cohort (JACC) Study,” reveals that infection with measles and mumps is associated with lower risks of mortality from atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. There is also evidence indicating that a higher number of infections lowers the overall mortality rate from cardiovascular disease. So exposure to so-called “bad germs” early in life makes our bodies stronger.
A study published in The New England Journal of Medicine found that Amish children in Indiana who grew up close to barnyard animals had far lower rates of asthma than Hutterite children, who were raised apart from animals on large mechanized farms in North Dakota.
The study’s co-author, Jack Gilbert of the Microbiome Center at the University of Chicago, told The New York Times that the Amish suffer from fewer immune-related illnesses than the rest of us because they grow up with their livestock and the bacteria they host, as our human predecessors did for thousands of years.
Epidemiological studies are finding that children in households with dogs have a lower risk of developing autoimmune illnesses like asthma and allergies and directly relate that to the diversity of microbes the dogs bring into the home.
As The Times (no proponent of natural immunity) notes:…According to the so-called hygiene hypothesis, spending over 90 percent of our time in the bacteria-poor environment indoors, as we do (especially early in life, when our immune systems are being formed), can …
… properly.” Dr. Peccia said exposure to animal micro-organisms during the first three months of life helps to stimulate a child’s immune system so that it doesn’t become overly sensitive later in life.
And yet these same doctors promote practices — avoiding sunlight, which produces vitamin D within us, for one — which destroy natural immunity. Something is amiss. Is it cognitive dissonance, profit motive or something else?
Bad germ protection for life
Let us consider for a moment something that the immune system relies on greatly for a large part of our natural immunity. I am talking about iodine.
Iodine is a very potent anti-infective agent. It is hell on bacteria and parasites. David Brownstein, M.D., says that no virus, bacteria or parasite can resist it.
Low thyroid function is far more serious than anyone suspects because it predisposes one to a poorly functioning immune system. A poorly functioning immune system is characterized by low natural killer cells and low immunoglobulin levels, as well as a low white blood cell count. This sets the stage for serious illnesses and vulnerability to — yes, viruses.
The trouble is that most doctors are unaware of the seriousness of low thyroid function or hypothyroidism. If you ask to be tested, they pooh-pooh the need and when they do test, their system is inaccurate.
The self-test method is best and more accurate. For five nights in a row, leave a shakedown thermometer on the nightstand next to your bed. In the morning before you get out of bed, take your underarm temperature for 5 minutes and record each day. You could use a digital thermometer but I don’t think that they are quite as accurate. After 5 days calculate your average temperature by dividing by five. If your temperature averages as much as 1-1/2 to 2 degrees under 98.6 (which is normal) then you have low thyroid function. This means that your body thermostat is turned down causing all manner of complications.
If you need to take a thyroid hormone, do not take a synthetic hormone like Synthroid®. A natural one is best, by prescription, from your local alternative health care practitioner.
But that’s not all! Thyroid hormone alone will actually raise the body’s need for iodine and greatly increase the chances of illness.
If a person has an iodine deficiency, using thyroid hormone supplementation without first correcting (or simultaneously correcting) the iodine deficit will exacerbate the body’s deficit of iodine. I have repeated this often because no one knows about this problem. Think of the millions on thyroid hormone that are self-inflicting greater and more dangerous health complications just for the lack of a very low-cost trace mineral, iodine.
All of the glands of the body depend on adequate iodine levels to function optimally. The best natural source for iodine is kelp which also boasts powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.
Bob Livingston
