HEALTH REPORT
Supporting your immune system against winter colds
I f you’re keen to stay as healthy as possible this winter, now’s the perfect time to take steps to support your immune health. The herbs astragalus and Siberian ginseng may help, as Erika Morvay explains. Your immune system consists of numerous body structures, organs and cells, which work together to help protect you from infections, and to fight against them when they take hold. How the immune system works The immune system is extremely complex and sophisticated, but a simple way to imagine it is as a layered system of defences, each of which is more specific in its action than the one before. Here are three of its most important components: On the outer surface of the body, structures like the skin, mucous membranes and fine hairs lining the nose (called the cilia) act as physical barriers aimed at preventing infectious organisms from entering the body If an infectious organism gets through those first lines of defence, the non-specific
immune system (comprised of several types of proteins and white blood cells, and also known as the innate immune system) steps in and attempts to fight off a wide variety of infectious organisms If an infection-causing organism evades your non-specific immune responses, the
more aggressively if you experience the same infection again.
Astragalus helps manage recurrent colds Astragalus is regarded as an important immune tonic in Chinese medicine (TCM), where it’s traditionally used not only to support healthy immune system responses, but also to help manage recurrent colds and flu and help reduce their frequency. In TCM, it’s traditionally considered particularly useful for people with lowered resistance to infection and for those who are recovering from illness. In particular, astragalus supports healthy non-specific immunity – one of the aspects of immune function that help fend off a wide range of infectious organisms. Siberian ginseng supports immune and stress responses Astragalus is often taken with other immune tonic herbs, including Siberian ginseng, which is traditionally used to support healthy immune system responses and aid recovery after illness in Western herbal medicine. Siberian ginseng helps to
On average, adults catch two to four colds each year*. Thanks to their still-developing immune systems, children are more susceptible, and can average six to 10 colds each year, although that may vary according to their age and their level of exposure to others who are infected*.
specific (alsoknownas acquired or adaptive) immune system moves into action. It’s slower to respond to foreign invaders than the non-specific immune system, but during the process it encodes a ‘memory’ of the microbe, enabling it to respond
address lowered resistance to minor infections, and like astragalus, has documented
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ISSUE 54 • 2019
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