Welcome to Fern's Homestead!
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Keeping our body's immune system active and at functioning at peak performance is one of
the keys to having good health. A strong immune system means fewer colds & flu's, protection from cancer and other life-threatening illnesses, slowing of the aging process, increased ability to handle stress and increased energy.
The immune system protects the body from invasion.
The body has the ability to recognize its own parts as "self" and other things as "nonself." Invaders are nonself and we will refer to them by the term antigens. An antigen can be a virus, a bacterium, a fungus, or a parasite, or even a portion or product of one of these organisms.
Tissues or cells from another individual, unless it is an identical twin, can also act as antigens. Because a transplanted organ is seen as "foreign" the body’s natural response is to reject it.
The body will even reject nourishing proteins unless they are first broken down, by the digestive system, into their primary building blocks. Antigens such as viruses, bacteria, and fungi must penetrate healthy cells in order to reproduce. That is their goal, and that is what the immune system seeks to prevent.
When we fail to take good care of our bodies by neglecting to practice good health habits, proper diet, adequate rest and regular exercise, we risk an invasion. In order to have a strong immune system; we need to have strong, healthy bodies to house them.
The immune system is not interconnected like most of our bodily systems. It is spread throughout our bodies.
Immune system tissues are called "lymphoid tissues." They include many things, tonsils and adenoids in your neck, the thymus gland in the chest, the spleen in the left side of your abdomen, the bone marrow inside the long bones, and various blood and tissue cells.
Also included in this is your "lymphatic system" a network of drainage vessels, which parallels the bloodstream, vital to the functioning of the immune system. Like a system of small creeks and streams that empty into larger and larger rivers, the vessels of the lymphatic network merge into increasingly larger tributaries. At the base of the neck, the large lymphatic ducts empty in the bloodstream.
Our first line of defense is our skin, which we can think of as a protective coating or shell for our body. It is specially equipped with secretions of fatty acids that have a deadly effect on certain microorganisms. Unless we damage it by some kind of injury, it is sufficient to keep most would-be invaders out.
The size of the invader is of little importance because tiny invaders can be just as deadly as those we can see. The AIDS virus, for example, is so small that 230 million of them could fit in a space no bigger than the period at the end of this sentence. A tiny scratch or pinprick can have a fatal consequence.
Another one of the features God designed in us is the respiratory tract. Here tiny hair-like projections lining the respiratory tract trap foreign bodies and prevent them from lodging inside cells, where they can begin to grow and multiply.
Also, special linings of our respiratory and digestive tracts called mucous membranes ooze out a thick, sticky substance that also traps invaders. Enzymes found in tears and saliva are harmful to many organisms, just in case we get some in our eyes or mouth. Many body fluids, including blood, also contain chemical substances to counteract an attack by antigens.
The macrophage is a large, specialized cell, whose job it is to engulf and consume foreign substances. A macrophage is one type of phagocyte, which engulfs and digests invaders.
If we get caught sitting next to someone who sneezes, a macrophage in our body comes along and sees that the sneezed particles are antigens and immediately tries to consume them before they can reach the safety of the interior of a cell wall. This is assuming that those hair-like projections failed to trap them in the nose and windpipe. Phagocytes are an extremely important part of our immune system.
Stem cells produce baby fighter cells that travel to other parts of the body to mature. If they mature in bone marrow, they become "B cells," whereas, if they go through the thymus gland, they become "T cells." Stem cells do not themselves participate directly in an immune attack, but they produce the fighter cells that do.
The immune defense system is often divided into two categories. One part is called "humoral." The other is called cellular or "cell-mediated." There are several types of T cells.
1. Helper T cell - Turns T cells and B cells on.
2. Suppressor T cell - calls off the fight after an immune response has successfully repelled an invasion.
3. Natural Killer Cell - Attacks and destroys other cells by puncturing their cell membranes. Killer cells will attack our own body cells if they have been taken over by antigens. Killer cells prowl around our bodies looking for abnormalities, like cancer cells, and destroy them.
Many more kinds of T lymphocytes exist in the ranks of our immune system, but these represent the major types of fighter cells.
B cells are born of a mother stem cell and then mature in bone marrow. The main job of a B cell is to secrete substances called antibodies. Antibodies are like snowflakes or fingerprints in that each one is different and made for one specific antigen.
Millions of antigens exist, and our body has the capacity make antibodies to fit each one, just as key fits in a lock. "By storing just a few cells specific for each potential invader, our body has room for the entire army." Thus, "The immune system stockpiles a tremendous arsenal."
When an antigen appears, the B cell that matches it swells into what is called a ‘plasma cell" and begins to rapidly reproduce antibodies. Many B cells are unable to recognize the foreign body until a macrophage displays partially digested antigen on its surface.
Antibodies do not all function alike. Some cause invaders to dissolve. Others change the surface of the antigens so they clump together, making it impossible for them to function. Clumping also makes it easier for macrophages and other scavenger cells to find and digest them. Other antibodies coat the antigens to make them attractive to phagocytes. Still others cover them with poisonous protein that renders the antigens harmless. Some surround an area and cordon it off.
T memory cells and B memory cells have "photographic" memories of invaders and can program the body to make antibodies against them at the drop of a hat. Memory cells live for years. That is why a child who contracts measles at age two will never get them again, in spite of the fact that they are exposed time and time again.
If you feed your body the right stuff, it will work for you, and if you don’t, it won’t. Some of our favorite foods literally paralyze our immune system. Let’s look at the worst offenders.
1. Sugar ~ Researchers have discovered that sugar decreases our body’s ability to destroy bacteria - it destroys our immune system! There are about 9 teaspoons of sugar in an average 12oz. can of soda. This means that if you drink 3 cans in one day you have immobilized 92% of your defense system.
2. Lead, Cadmium, mercury ~ Our food, water, and air have become contaminated with these metals. In animal studies these metals suppress all aspects of immune functions.
3. Dietary Fat ~ High dietary fat intake can seriously impair immune functioning and high dietary cholesterol may diminish cell-mediated and humoral immunity.
"A high-fat diet leads to elevated levels of bile acids in the colon. These break down into deoxycholic acids, which are dangerous carcinogens...cancer of the breast, pancreas, gallbladder, ovary, uterus and prostate, as well as leukemia, are all positively correlated with a diet high in animal protein fat and cholesterol. High fat diets and obesity also correlate strongly with the incidence, tumor size and speed of development of breast cancer.
We have a choice to make when we shop for medical care. Are we going to accept the "mostly drugstore" or the "mostly drugless" variety of treatment?
I suggest that we shop at the "nutrient pharmacy" for as much as of our cell/tissue/organ needs as is possible......
Why in less than 85 years, have we gone from just a few people dying annually of heart disease, to nearly one million? The answer is not simple, but it definitely involves changes in our eating habits.
In 1992 more than 1/2 million people died from cancer. That figure was up 225 percent from 1960! Why? The American Institute of Cancer Research estimated in 1984 that as many as 60 percent of these cases could be related to diet!
The United States now holds the worlds record for osteoporosis. Approximately 30 percent of women past menopause have it, and for the first time in our history, it is also being found in young women and in men.
Many research studies allude to the fact that high phosphorus and/or phosphoric acid (found in meat and soft drinks) pulls calcium out of the bony structures (bones, teeth, and nails) in the process of digestion and assimilation. This has a disastrous effect on bone density, leaving them porous and spongy.
According to the National Soft Drink Association, in 1993 soft drink consumption has increased to the point that Americans are consuming 51.8 gallons per person per year. That compares to 10.4 in 1950. Read the Colas and Carbonated beverages article. It will blow you away!
The incidence of kidney stones in the U.S. has doubled in the past 20 years. The cause, in 75 percent of these cases, is thought to be related to our high sucrose (white sugar) consumption.
Two to five hours after heavy sugar intake, there is a burst of two times the amount of calcium released into the urine. Another cause is our high acid-ash diet due to high meat intake. When calcium is pulled from the bones, it is released through the kidneys, resulting in stone formation before it is excreted.
The diseases Americans suffer do not happen overnight. It takes years for the body to break down and permit disease to overtake us. Cancer can take as long as 20 years to develop. Heart disease can be 30-40 years in the making.
We are told that more than 100 million Americans are suffering from these "new degenerative diseases" to one degree or another. How can this be true?
The answer is not simple. Keep in mind that Americans live in the highly stressful fast lane on a seven-day-a-week basis. This is accompanied by a high intake of drugs (prescribed, over-the-counter, and on-the-street types) and by much smoking, alcohol abuse, and high levels of junk food intake. The modern-day air, water, and soil pollution also create tremendous assaults on our health, as do the negative lifestyle factors that cause the breakdown of DNA, RNA, and our immune system. All of these play a part in our unwell-ness.
Excerpted from
Surviving the 20th Century Diet
OUR IMMUNE SYSTEM
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
--Psalms 139:14
How does it know whom and what is the enemy?
Our Many Defenses
Destroying the Invaders
Antibodies
Hazards ~ "The Bottom Line"
Wake up America.........YOU'RE SICK!
Two culprits: Meat and soft drinks.
Degenerative Diseases: Really BIG business!
Sickness in the making.
by Dr. Mary Ruth Swope with David A. Darbro, M.D.
To learn more about nutrition and lifestyle changes
that will strengthen and rebuild your immune system,
please visit my Nutritional Advice Page
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List where you'll learn
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~ the Temple of the Holy Spirit ~
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Page Created October 23rd, 2002
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