Protect Yourself from Swine Flu and Seasonal Flu

This is the year to do everything you can to stay healthy. A White House report predicts that as much as 20 to 40% of the population could experience swine flu symptoms. And 5% to 20% of the population gets seasonal flu during a typical year in the United States.

My clients have been asking what they can do to stay healthy this flu season.  Whether you get sick or spread the bug to others may be largely due to your health habits. I strongly encourage everyone to observe all the standard precautions during flu season and to play an active role in protecting their own health. I have included here some precautions, information about vaccines and how to improve your immune system through lifestyle habits.

Common-Sense Precautions Include:
Those who are ill with flu-like symptoms should stay at home in bed and limit contact with others for at least 24 hours after their temperature returns to normal (without the aid of any medication).

• Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing or sneezing. Cough or sneeze into the crook of your elbow, not into your hands, if no tissue is available.
• Wash your hands frequently, either with soap or water or with an alcohol-based hand gel.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth to avoid spreading germs from hands.
• Avoid contact with ill persons.
• Throw used tissues into the trash.
• Do not share food, drink, or utensils.
• Stay home if you are sick.
• Practice other good health habits. Get plenty of sleep, be physically active, manage your stress, drink plenty of fluids, and eat nutritious food.
• Use a regular household disinfectant to wash common surfaces every day. Make sure you wash: counters, taps and sinks in your bathroom and kitchen; bedside tables; children's toys; computer keyboards; desks and tabletops
• Wipe surfaces with paper towels that can be thrown away or cloth towels that can be washed afterwards. Use soap and water to clean the toys and objects that young children may put in their mouths.

Who Should Get Flu or Pneumococcal Vaccines
The CDC recommends people to get vaccinated for seasonal flu as it is believed that it will have a cross-beneficial effect by stimulating the immune systems.

Doctors recommend the regular seasonal flu shot for almost everyone, and especially for people with lung diseases like asthma and COPD. The CDC has placed people under the age of 24 in the top priority group for receiving the H1N1 vaccine.

Some medical officials are recommending that high-risk patients get backup protection from a common anti-pneumonia vaccine during the coming flu season. Most of the serious consequences linked to the swine or flu virus are the result of pneumonia, and a Pneumococcal vaccine can prevent, or at least limit, such complications in many patients.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now recommends that the pneumococcal vaccine be given to adults 19-64 who smoke and to those who have asthma. Adults 65 or older and those with chronic illnesses have long been advised to get the pneumococcal vaccine. Check with your doctor to see what vaccines are right for you.

Improving your Immune System with Lifestyle Factors
The immune system fundamentally is influenced by overall health. All the antibiotics, vaccines, and medications in the world don't compare to the inner workings of your immune system.

Nutrition plays an important part in maintaining immune function and a balanced diet is key.  Give your body all the resources it needs by eating a balanced diet so you have all the ingredients available for antibody production.

Other important factors in boosting your immune system are having the correct caloric Intake, be at your ideal body weight, get cholesterol to normal levels, exercise moderately and get enough sleep.

Important Vitamin Mineral Nutrients
There are certain nutrients that are essential in promoting good immune function health. Unfortunately most of us are not eating the foods that provide them. So to protect our immune system, a multivitamin is well worth taking. If you have even a slight deficiency of certain nutrients --particularly the B vitamins, A, C, E, selenium, iron, and zinc -- your immune system's function could be damaged. These nutrients work in many ways. They increase the number of infection-fighting cells, natural killer cells, and helper T-cells, boost the production of B-cells, the immune cells that produce antibodies that kill bacteria and some act as antioxidants that mop up excess free radicals that accelerate aging.

Protein
You need protein to build the cells that power your immune system. If you don't consume enough protein, you'll make fewer white blood cells to fight antigens. (Substances that prompt the creation of antibodies and can cause an immune response)

Dietary Fat
High-fat diets appear to weaken the immune system by decreasing the function of T-lymphocytes.

Reducing fat, can boost immune function by enhancing T-lymphocyte function. The type of fat you consume is equally important as the amount. Trans fats (found baked goods, deep-fried food, snack chips, cookie, crackers.) can contribute to chronic low-grade inflammation in the body. If your immune system is busy dealing with inflammation and damage to cells that result, they can’t do a good job defending the body.

Probiotics
Probiotics are helpful bacteria that stimulate immunity cells in the gastrointestinal tract. Normal, healthy bacteria that colonize the GI tract help you resist bad bacteria. In addition to their protective effect in the GI tract, probiotics also may help stimulate immune-cell production system-wide.

Probiotics are available in foods and dietary supplements and in foods. Examples of foods containing probiotics are yogurt, fermented and unfermented milk, miso, tempeh, and some juices and soy beverages. In a recent study of 33 women from the University of Vienna, those who ate ordinary yogurt daily for two weeks raised their T-lymphocyte cell count by nearly 30 percent.

Caloric Intake
Have the correct caloric intake. Crash dieting, anorexia, or nutrient deficiencies increase a person's susceptibility to infections, and conversely overconsumption of calories can also have harmful effects on cell production in the immune system. Overconsumption of calories leads to increased production of compounds called prostaglandins, which have a suppressive effect on T-lymphocyte cell production. Fewer T-cells patrolling the body increases the chances of an antigen taking hold.

Lose Weight and Get Cholesterol To Normal Levels
The immune system's cells don't function normally when a person is overweight or has high levels of cholesterol and triglycerides. Immune cells are not able to recognize bacteria or viruses and destroy them.

Exercise Moderately
Moderate exercise has been linked to a positive immune system response and a temporary boost in the production of macrophages, the cells that attack bacteria. It is believed that regular, consistent exercise can lead to substantial benefits in immune system health over the long-term.

According to professor David Nieman, Dr. PH., of Appalachian State University, when moderate exercise is repeated on a near-daily basis there is a cumulative effect that leads to a long-term immune response. His research showed that those who walk at 70-75 percent of their VO2 Max for 40 minutes per day had half as many sick days due to colds or sore throats as those who don't exercise.

Get Enough Sleep
Lack of sleep can reduce immune functioning making you susceptible to sickness. 

Sources:

Nieman DC, Henson DA, Austin MD, Brown VA. The immune response to a 30-minute walk. Med Sci Sports Exerc 37:57-62, 2005. David Nieman, of Appalachian State University

Nieman DC. Risk of Upper Respiratory Tract Infection in Athletes: An Epidemiologic and Immunologic Perspective. Journal of Athletic Training 1997 Oct.

Meyer AL, Micksche M, Herbacek I, Elmadfa I:
Daily Intake of Probiotic as well as Conventional Yogurt Has a Stimulating Effect on Cellular Immunity in Young Healthy Women.
Ann Nutr Metab 2006;50:282-289 (DOI: 10.1159/000091687)

Jankovic, V., l.  Messaoudi and J. Nikolich-Žugich. 2003. Phenotypic and functional T-cell aging in Rhesus Macaques (Macaca mulatta) : differential behavior of CD4 and CD8 subsets.  Blood 102:3244.

Francois Girodon; Pilar Galan; Anne-Laure Monget; Marie-Christine Boutron-Ruault; Patrick Brunet-Lecomte; Paul Preziosi; Josiane Arnaud; Jean-Claude Manuguerra; Serge Hercberg; and the MIN.VIT.AOX. Geriatric network

Impact of Trace Elements and Vitamin Supplementation on Immunity and Infections in Institutionalized Elderly Patients: A Randomized Controlled Trial
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Rail, Laura C. Vitamin B6 and Immune Competence

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http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2009/01/26/hlsc0127.htm

LA Times August 4, 2009