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As the first confirmed case of swine flu in Arizona was announced and 20 possible swine flu samples were sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), people continue to ask themselves, what can I do to help prevent getting this disease or if I get it, to recover quickly?
Probiotics may help
Although no one can say categorically that taking probiotics will prevent you from getting swine flu or any other kind of flu, there is plenty of evidence that these beneficial bacteria are good for the immune system. When the immune system is strong, it is in a much better position to fight off viruses, like the swine flu.
According to Andrew Weil, MD, founder and Director of the Program in Integrative Medicine of the College of Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, “there’s even evidence that without them [probiotics], the immune system can’t work properly, lessening resistance to infection.”
What probiotics may do
So should you take probiotics to ward off the possibility of getting swine flu? According to John R. Taylor, ND, author of The Wonder of Probiotics, probiotics significantly boost the immune system via several ways. Of the two primary types of probiotics—Lactobacilli and Bifidobacteria, the former enhances both cell-mediated immunity and humoral immunity.
Cell-mediated immunity is one way the immune system responds when viruses and other health-damaging factors invade the body. How does cell-mediated immunity protect the body?
• It prompts white blood cells called T lymphocytes to attack and destroy viruses and other harmful factors
• It activates macrophages (large cells that eat cellular waste and disease-causing organisms) and natural killer cells (cells that fight viruses)
• It stimulates the secretion of a protein that boosts the immune system’s response by activating natural killer cells and macrophages.
Humoral immunity is the immune system’s response to antibodies, which are proteins the body makes in response to viruses and other foreign substances. Thus when probiotics enhance humoral immunity, it means the immune system is better able to fight viruses.
A probiotics study on viral infection
In a double-blind, controlled trial of nearly 500 healthy adults, scientists looked at the effect of probiotics on viral respiratory tract infections (influenza, common cold) over a total of eight months. All of the volunteers took a vitamin/mineral supplement every day, but half of them also took a probiotics that contained various Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium species.
The number of people who developed illness was similar between the two groups, but the people who took probiotics were sick for significantly less time (about two days) than the people who didn’t take the probiotics. The probiotics users also had much less severe symptoms and had a large increase in T lymphocytes.
Probiotics supplements for flu
Dr. Taylor recommends taking 16.5 billion CFUs (colony-forming units, which are how probiotics are dispensed) per meal of a supplement that contains at least five species (e.g., Bifidobacterium longum, B. bifidum, Lactobacillus plantarum, L. casei, L. rhamnosus, L. salviarius, and L. acidophilus) for five days. Then continue taking 11 billion CFUs per meal for five more days. Then take 5.5 billion CFUs per meal until your symptoms are under control. A maintenance dose is 2 CFUs daily. For more information, you can see The Wonder of Probiotics.
You can find probiotics at many Phoenix-area natural food stores, grocery stores, and pharmacies, including Sprouts Farmers Market, Healthy Habit Health Foods, and the Natural Medicinary, which is part of the Southwest College of Natural Medicine.
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