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What is the relationship between our
immune system and our health?
With the advancement in medical sciences,
it is well recognized that many diseases, besides infections, are
linked to our own body immune system. Allergy, asthma, inflammatory
bowel diseases such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, diabetes
and cancer are all conditions resulting from an abnormal behavior of
our own immune system. Either our body immune system is not working
hard enough to ward off the ‘intrusion’ or it over-responded to result
in an overwhelming inflammation that harms our own body.
Achieving Balance in
Immune System via Probiotic Health
A lot of money has been pumped into
researches to find a ‘balance’ in our immune system. To achieve this
balance, we need to find ways to “communicate” with our own immune
system. Before we manage to go further, we need to understand two
facts:
1. Human intestinal tract possesses more than 60% of the immune system
of our body and how the immune system in the intestinal tract is
affected will have a significant impact on our overall immune system.
2. Mankind has evolved over millions of years to today where we are
able to live with trillions of germs inside our intestinal tract.
Therefore, the intestinal tract with its living population of these
germs (or microorganisms) is viewed as the ‘origin’ of the human immune
system. These microorganisms are capable of recognizing and
communicating with our immune system. Our intestinal immune system, on
the other hand, can differentiate between different strains of “good”
microorganism (i.e. the probiotic strain called lactobacillus) and will
only be stimulated and influenced by certain strains. Lactobacillus
probiotic strain has the most number of clearly documented probiotic
health scientific research and clinical trials on its regulation on the
children immune system.
Probiotic Health and
Children Immune System
What is probiotic health and how do these
probiotics regulate human, especially young children immune system and
what good do they do to their bodies?
1. As a “good” microorganism, this probiotic strain sticks onto the
surface of the human intestinal tract and gets recognized by the immune
system cells found on the lining of the intestinal tract.
2. It is “live” microorganism so it can actively colonize and multiply
in the human intestinal tract to exert its effect.
3. The protein coding on the surface of these microorganisms as well as
some specific segments of their DNA can influence how genetic
information is expressed by the cells of the human intestines. This
process then determines how our immune system is stimulated or
transformed in health and disease, the basis of probiotic health.
4. This probiotic strain can secrete chemical molecules that in turn
stimulate our immune system, without having to make physical contact
with the lining of the intestinal tract.
5. Probiotic can also breakdown cow’s milk proteins leading to the
suppression of inflammation caused by the immune system. This is the
basis of how probiotic reduces cow’s milk protein allergy.
6. Using human milk as a media, this probiotic strain can “educate” the
immune system. Mothers who consume this probiotic secrete sCD14 in
their breast milk which induces development of the immune system in
their breastfed babies. This probiotic strain also enhances the
secretion of TGF-ß to reduce allergic reactions in newborn babies.
7. When a strain of probiotic is consumed, it has the ability to
promote the growth of other strains in the intestinal tract, which
further stimulate the immune system.
The degree of immune system stimulation by the probiotic is less
intense than that of the harmful germs, this means, unlike harmful
germs, immune system stimulation by the probiotic does not produce
inflammation that harms the human body, but instead, the stimulation of
the immune system by these probiotic allows the human body to have a
better defense system.
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