The Immune System—Challenge & Response

By Alan Pelowski 2005

 

The Challenge / The Response / What Can Be Done Today?

 

 

 

The Challenge

 

Our children today face many more challenges to their immunity than we parents did years ago.  This holds true for rich and poor, white and black, and every culture in some degree.

 

Take food, for example.  The past fifty years or so have seen the mass production of incomplete and additive-riddled foods, television promoting those foods aimed at children, tuck shops and cafeterias distributing those same foods at schools and playgrounds, and supermarket shelves full of smartly packaged ‘processed’ foods sold at a discount.  Food companies can afford to sell their processed bulk foods—sugar, salt, flour, soft drinks, oils, colourants, preservatives, flavour enhancers, etc.—at low or even below profit because they have stripped the foodstuffs of their minerals and vitamins for selling on to ‘whole food’ subsidiaries at vastly increased markups.  The informed consumer has no choice but to pay outrageous prices for supplements that should have been left in the food in the first place.  On top of that, the supplements will not be as effective because they are not bound into the many co-factors found in complete foods that promote uptake and digestion.  The better health foods companies do make an effort in this regard (e.g. chelating with peptides), but the science of stripping foods is miles ahead of the science for putting it all back together. 

 

Modern agricultural practices insure that even before processing the grown foods are already stripped of micro nutrients.  Hybrids and genetically modified—GM crops are designed to resist the liberal application of herbicides and pesticides.  But herbs (nee Weeds) and insects (nee Pests) are fundamental in the food chain.  Without them the plant becomes deficient in minerals and vitality.  We who depend ultimately on plants suffer the multiple effects of micro nutrient and energy deficiencies.  And not only that; the relatively recent introduction of GM crops (especially tomatoes, corn, soya and oils) places an unknown and potentially species threatening burden on all animal life.  Some of these consequences are now known from animal studies—including infertility, gut dysplasias, tonic disorders, and immune disruption.

 

The question of sustainable agriculture is the same as the question of the overall integrity of the food chain.  It should be for us taxpayers to insist that more of our money is allocated to farmers and small-holders who know about this link and are willing to change.  In Austria the organic food sector is 40% of the domestic market.  Farmers in Kansas USA have recognised the limitations and costs of GMO and herbicide and are trying to upgrade to organic certification in large numbers.  They’re as fed up as is the supermarket shopper.  Organic growers and suppliers in SA are thin on the ground as yet, but what an opportunity awaits those in the know!  In the next 10 years or so, mark my word, exports will have to be certified organic, or at least GM-free.  It will be the only way to make sure of what you’re buying.

 

Well and deeply grown food in a natural ecosystem is a necessary foundation for good immune system function

 

 

Medical practices that directly or indirectly affect children’s immunity have become widespread.  In many countries today half or more births are ‘managed’ by doctors, not for the health of mother and baby, but for convenience and profit.  Caesarian rates in parts of South Africa approach 90%.  Apart from the effects of serious abdominal surgery to the mother, the scheduled Caesar deprives the infant of triggering its own labour.  This is a fundamental abridgement of children’s human rights with long lasting implications for immune system functioning.  Birth becomes an instant event rather than a carefully worked out natural process.  Is it any wonder than so many babies today are ‘delivered’ into a world for which they have had no preparation and are left in a state of alarm or shock that can persist for years—affecting bonding, growth, attitude and behaviour.  Similarly, the persistent disempowerment of women in society, sisters and mothers, is strongly reinforced in the standard medical birth.

The consequences for people and the whole world of this abridgement are incalculable.

 

Similarly, these past 50 years have seen the introduction of aggressive and untested ‘treatments’ with drugs and vaccinations for younger and younger children.  The damaging effects of antibiotics, steroids and vaccines for youngsters are largely ignored or played down, despite overwhelming research to the contrary.  The life saving potential of drugs has been diluted and distorted by the willy-nilly prescription of drugs and vaccines on a ‘just in case’ basis.  Up until the 1950s it was considered bad medicine to intervene in these ways with young children, because it was understood even then that children were especially vulnerable to distortions and damage, partly because of incomplete myelination or nerves and the slow development of the kidneys, liver and bone marrow.

 

Although the original intention behind mass vaccination was honorable, the devastating impacts are now becoming all too apparent.  The preservatives, antibiotics, stabilizers, and potentisers that are necessary in vaccines are all toxic—especially to children.  It is impossible to make vaccines (and many other drugs) without these additives, not least because no one wants the vaccine to change into something else during its shelf life.

 

These toxic additives can accumulate in the gut, skin and brain,and other organs, producing long-term gross and subtle damage.  The mercury compound in some vaccines causes variants of autism; the aluminium compounds are strongly implicated in Alzheimer’s; phenols and formaldehyde are known to produce learning and behavioral disturbances; MSG can kill the embryo Gerber’s Baby Foods have banned it).  The list of potentially toxic vaccine additives is long and grim. 

There is no such thing as a safe dose for each and every baby for any of these additives.  For some babies no problem; for others disaster.

 

 Scientists working for drugs companies are aware of the toxic harmful effects of many vaccines and other drugs; efforts are being made to get rid of some of the toxic additives.  The problem is that these efforts are now in the direction of using GM vaccines.  The consequences are unknown and would take generations to assess.  Yet, today some researchers are busy making a GM vaccine cocktail with 20+ antigens fed orally into babies.  Watch out!!

 

Early pioneers of vaccination compared it to laying down a fire break and then maintaining it with boosters, so as to contain and limit any coming wild fire.  Sounds reasonable.  The trouble is.. in the human ecosystem the occasional ‘wild fire’ is essential for overall health and life-long, transmissible immunity.  Nothing else will do.  More recent research shows that vaccination is more like ‘crying wolf.’  It leaves the system lazy when it comes to the real thing.  Far from preventing disease, vaccination merely dampens what otherwise would have a vigorous immune response (that is, when it works).

 

The entire program of mass vaccination of babies and children needs a complete rethink in the light of science and experience.  Has the vaccination programme been yet another case of dampening the symptoms to the cost of whole health and immune capabilities in future generations?

 

Antibiotics can save lives, but the overuse of broad spectrum oral ABs has led to the emergence of many ‘untreatable’ resistant microorganisms.  In addition, those ABs routinely given to children for ENT problems are especially adept at killing the friendly and necessary milk bacteria (the lactobacillus family) which inhabit the child’s gut.  These bacteria have a fundamental role in maintaining immunity, as well as in preventing unfriendly infections (e.g., Candida, E-coli).  Many respected researchers link the destruction of gut bacteria to the alarming increases in colitis in youngsters and gut cancers in older people, which on present trends will surpass heart disease mortality within the next few years.  In children, the establishment of gut symbiosis begins with breast feeding, the right lot of bacteria get in with the milk.  This is why breast is best.  Essential even, if you consider the whole health of the immune system.

Broad spectrum antibiotics also destroy many of our mast cells.  These cells produce histamine, which is essential for inflammation.  Inflammation is the way we deal with viral and other infections.  Yet doctors prescribe antibiotics even when the supposed infection is clearly non-bacterial.  By destroying mast cells the patient will soon ‘feel better,’ but at what cost?

 

The widespread indiscriminant use of ABs is part of the old destructive myth in medicine that if you decrease the symptom (inflammation), you deal with the disease.  This myth has led to fashionable episodes in medicine of removing by surgery the tonsils, adenoids, spleen and appendix, all of which are crucial immune system organs.

 

Steroids are another part of the ‘feel good factor’ and are now used routinely for inflammation of all kinds, not just those that might prove dangerous.  They are powerful immune suppressors and are prescribed on the crazy assumption that if you suppress the immune system, and thus feel better, you have suppressed the disease.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  It is important to know that the newer ‘non-steroidal anti-inflammatories’ also suppress immunity.

 

One would like to claim that these techno-medical practices have improved infant and mother survival rates, lowered birth defects, and generally prevented childhood diseases.  But this is not the case.  In the United States, where early aggressive intervention was pioneered, infant and children’s health has been declining alarmingly since the 1970s.  In 1950 the USA was in 3rd place on the international table of infant health; today it is in 27th place, despite being the richest country on Earth.  Up to 1 in 5 of American children are affected by ‘minimal brain disorders’—dyslexia, dysphasia, hyper- and hyperkinesias, and a myriad of psycho-behavioral disorders.  Many studies show that in parts of the world where Caesar rates are low, and where antibiotics and steroids are less often prescribed, children’s health has remained relatively good on all counts.  There is little correlation between wealth & health.

 

 

Widespread and rapid urbanization is creating a vast range of immune system challenges for us and our children.  The mechanization of agriculture and the international monetary system together insure the continuation of this process.  Greater Johannesburg now has a population of over 10 million.  This is expected to double in the next 15 years!  The same rates are expected in all major 3rd world cities.  Mumbai has gone from 3 mil to 18 mil in less than 20 years; Sao Paulo has increased from 5 mil to 27 mil in a similar period.  Most of the newly urbanized are driven off their land by machines and needs for hard cash.  The slums grow & grow and no economy can possibly catch up.

 

When you think of a slum (favela, refugee camp, informal settlements, etc.), think POLLUTED AIR & WATER, LACK OF PLAY SPACE, BROKEN FAMILIES, POOR SANITATION, POVERTY, INADEQUATE SCHOOLS, ROADS, TRANSPORT & HEALTH RESOURCES.  Think UNNATURAL!

 

Polluted air and water, lack of sufficient and safe play spaces, the economic necessity of absent fathers and working mothers, the lack of proper sewerage, the inability of any government to provide infrastructure (even well meaning ones), and the sad state of health services, taken together, herald the almost complete collapse of immunity.  Any common infection can become life threatening under these circumstances.  On average, the mortality and chronic morbidity of common diseases is 5-10 times higher in slums than in better neighborhoods or the countryside, including even poor communities in the countryside. 

 

What chance for our children in these slums?  What chance that crime levels will decrease?  What chance that wars and civil strife will diminish?

 

In the suburbs the child may not be much better off.  Here the threat to immunity lies in junk food and the flat screen.  Although creative play space may be available, it is seldom used;  instead, the time is spent in watching TV, playing computer games, and munching convenience foods.  This concoction kills the imagination, distorts neurological development, and can easily lead to attention deficits, hyperactivity, and eating disorders.  The healthy child needs creative play, making things, negotiation with peers, and the great outdoors.  These are essential for good immune development.

 

Lacking these creative elements, the flat screen child now gets a label—learning disabled, autistic, psychopathic, delinquent, ADD, anorexic, just plain lazy, dumb, etc., etc.  The label is a shield for the authorities, and an excuse to further the aggressive individual ‘treatments,’ which now compound the problem.  Labeling is itself immunosuppressive.

Most likely, after the label comes a series of drugs.  Take ADD/ADHD syndromes for example:  ritalin, metadate, concerta, wellbutrin, adderall XR, paxil, clonidine, zoloft, and now strattera, have all been prescribed; children often being moved from one drug to another, both uppers and downers, as the side-effects mount.  The dubious diagnosis of these syndromes goes hand-in-hand with this sad merry-go-round of drugs. 

 

 

 

 

The Response

 

The mere listing of some of the challenges to good immunity can leave one feeling utterly hopeless.  But this is misplaced.  Fundamental changes are needed, for sure, but this begins and ends with us, each of us.  And it begins at the beginning.  It will not come from those who presently profit from the situation.

 

Parents need to be empowered to make an informed birthing choice.  Only natural birth can guarantee a healthy immune response in the newborn.  This is not to condemn Caesarian, induced and medically assisted birth outright; there are genuine emergencies for which these practices are essential.  However, if given good information about the pros and cons of birthing choices, the vast majority of parents (mothers!) would choose the natural way.  This is the empowered way, both for baby and mother.  This reduces substantially the risks of shock and alarm, and of damage due to bungled resuscitation (which is common).  The passage through the birth canal is an important process for the whole musculo-skeletal and neurological vitality of the baby.  A naturally progressive labour establishes a pattern of healthy immune responses that last a life time.

 

In poor slum communities one would expect even higher levels of immune suppression than is in fact found.  This is because poverty and a lack of ‘modern’ techno-medical facilities results in higher levels of natural birth than is found in more wealthy suburbs.  Everything else may eventually overwhelm the slum child, but a good birth gives the best chance of surviving even the worst conditions.  Slum babies can be very healthy indeed!  Up to a point…

 

Babies and toddlers are designed to acquire their immunity and their identity in gradual steps.  The baby naturally puts all sorts of things in her/his mouth.  This introduces literally thousands of varieties of bugs, viruses, bacteria, protozoa, into the system, but in minute doses of each type.  In this way the child’s immune system is gradually prompted but not overwhelmed. 

 

The child who gets into a quantity of something specific and nasty will respond with inflammation and illness.  Vaccines mimic this large dose of singular or few varieties and is also unnatural.  The best way to counteract these inevitable threats is to breast feed the child and then wean onto whole fresh foods (blended, mixed, with plenty of things to chew). 

 

It is important to realise that infant formulas are dead foods—containing none of the enzymes and antibodies of breast milk.  Usually, such preparations also lack animal fats—essential for neurological development.  They may also contain GM soya and oils without being labeled as such. 

 

But immunity is about much more than good birthing and resisting bugs.  It is about safe and secure identity making throughout childhood.  The biochemical aspects of immunity are but one aspect of the process of identity, of self-realisation and boundary maintenance.  Ample doses of love and care, and of respect for the wisdom of the child, are even more important.  The secure child has a better chemistry, and greater resistance to threats of all kinds. 

The unloved, unwanted, abandoned child, even if well fed and given every modern advantage will not thrive.  This has been shown in studies of all mammals, and especially of the primates (of which our species is one).  This is the damaging aspect of poverty, where the mother is away to work, where the father is long gone, and where creative and safe play with peers is limited.  This is also the danger in the upwardly mobile household where the TV and/or the underpaid and stressed maid are the principal carers.

 

Without ample love and care, nothing works.  With it, even bad medicine, bad air & water, and the deficiencies of processed foods can be mitigated to some extent (though possibly not GMOs).

 

But even with all the love in the world, immune and identity crises will happen.  It is important to respect the role of illness and emotion in children’s development.  Singular doses of bugs and of threats to identity will prompt strong symptoms in the ­healthy child.  In most cases, these rather painful and frightening responses must be respected and not suppressed.  The vast majority of health and emotional crises require only good nursing and natural remedies.

 

Symptoms represent the best expression the body-mind can make at the time in an effort to rebalance itself.  Routine suppression drives the imbalance deeper.

 

The time to call the (natural) doctor/practitioner is when the strong immune/identity responses collapse:  when the fever is persistent & low grade, when the bowels fail to clear, when the cough and cold drags on & on, when rashes, sores and bumps fail to heal, when there is acute persistent pain, or when there is complete disconnection as in acute shock, seizures or delirium.  For the most part, healing crises are to be respected and allowed to run their course.  The common childhood diseases—flu, colds, mumps, chicken pox, measles—are signs of immune acquisition and healthy function.  Successfully healing these illnesses bodes well for immuno-strength in the child, and later for the adult who passes on these capabilities to her children. 

 

 

 

 

What Can Be Done Today?

 

Rebuilding a damaged immune system (and identity system) is not an easy or straightforward task.  It requires knowledge, patience, and the willingness to change our consumption habits.  Children easily become habituated to refined junk foods, to TV, and to low levels of exercise.  Their systems become dependent rather than independent.  The cravings for this & that mask the deficiencies of the real thing.

The nervous system, distorted by TV and lack of creative play, learns to function as best it can, but far from true potential.  Hence the explosion of dyslexia and other ‘learning disorders’ that plague this generation of children. 

 

The place to start is the kitchen.  Get rid of all processed basic foodstuffs—refined flours, refined salt & sugars, tinned soups, cheap juices, refined mixed oils, soya products, TV meals and virtually anything that doesn’t rot.  Think about it—can we digest something that doesn’t spoil in good time?

 

Options:            Whole wheat, rice and maize (flours, cakes & noodles)

                        Whole sea salt and vegetable salts (crucial for immunity)

                        Organic seasonal, fresh veg & fruits where possible

                        Fresh pressed and raw oils (not Cotton or Canola which are GM)

                        Free range eggs and meat

                        Deep sea fishes (essential oils)

                        Lots of herbs & spices (trace elements)

                        Molasses and comb honey (zero refined sugar!)

 

                        Simple foods, complex tasty sauces

                        A good juicer and blender

                       

Then the sitting room.  Sell or lock up the TV, limit its use to specific times and programs.  Do not encourage watching ‘school programs’ and the violent Saturday morning junk.  Similarly for computers and play stations.  Resist flooding the room with manufactured toys or making confined ‘play spaces.’  These will stunt natural creativity and distort the mind.  For the child everything should be play space.

 

On to the Bathroom.  Get rid of fluoride toothpastes, aluminium containing deodorants, chemical laden shampoos and lanlolin soaps and creams.  Use organic herbal alternatives. 

 

Then the school.   Ask your school how much time they give to creative play activities as compared to academic 3-Rs instruction.  For the under 9’s the ratio should be something like 4 to 1.  How much time do the learners get in outdoor activities—non-competitive sport, outings, plays and performances, and explorations in natural surroundings?  Touching and seeing a living tree, climbing it, and then naming it is a whole different experience to merely seeing it pictured in a book. 

 

Work with the school authorities and teachers to promote good health.  That means a freedom for children to explore—to actually learn—rather than to be sat down and be taught.  As parents we need to contribute our time, skills and knowledge to school programmes, including nutrition in school meals, drinks and tuck shops.  A good school is one that is doing something about these issues.  Choose your school carefully, if you have a choice!

 

Don’t worry if your young child performs badly at academic subjects.  He/she is probably rebelling against the stupidity of it.  If given the opportunity to explore creatively, he/she will rapidly catch up with all that in good time.  Creative late bloomers usually overtake the studious early readers after puberty anyway—if they can avoid distructive labels and keep exploring.

 

At the Supermarket

Be a careful shopper, not just for price.  Ask why genetically engineered foods and ingredients are not labelled.  Ask for organic.  Ask management about its sugary soft drinks policy.  Ask where it buys its eggs and meats.  In short, be a right pest.  Demand your right to know where your food comes from.

 

Finally at the doctors.  You as parent have the right (and responsibility) to refuse or accept any or all medical intervention on behalf of your child.  Be careful about accepting doctor’s opinion.  They may know about drugs, but they are no better than you when it comes to health!  In fact, being a doctor these days is one of the least healthy professions!

Ask for information rather than prescriptions.  Be wary of quick ‘diagnosis’ (read labeling). 

Try to locate and stick with doctors who have additional training in gentle and holistic medicine.  If antibiotics are offered, ask how they know that the supposed infection is bacterial.  If steroidal creams or anti-inflammatories are offered, ask if the inflammation is dangerous and whether there are non-immuno-suppressive ways to control it.

Resist all drugs and vaccinations for babies and children under 4.  Ask for research proving their worth and potential side-effects.  Good luck on that one!  This is the sacred cow of medicine.   Avoid doctors who react defensively to your questions!

 

 

 It’s up to us.  Every parent needs empowerment on these health issues.  We have swallowed enough expert advice, advertising, and promotions of miracle cures to last a lifetime—and what have our children to show for it?