An Oct 2021 paper in BMJ Nutrition Prevention and Health explored the relationship between fruit and vegetable intake and mental wellbeing in school children[i]. This timely research, bearing in mind the progressive increase in childhood mental health problems, highlighted the direct association between fruit and vegetables consumed over breakfast and lunch and their related impact on mental wellbeing.

A koan (a Zen Buddhist derived a paradoxical anecdote or riddle without a solution) for pandemic times:

‘If a microbe silently and inconsequentially copies itself in a tissue, and the body doesn’t notice, did it actually infect?’

Note, the role of the koan is not to lead us to enlightenment, but on the contrary to make us lose our way and drive us to despair. Perhaps you have experienced some of these emotions since March 2020?

The obvious answer is NO, otherwise no one would suffer immune related illness and death.

The ability of your immune system to respond, repel and return to homeostasis after insult has many influencing factors. Yet our long history of survival as a species indicates that our immune response is adaptive and sustaining, subject to its challenges being manageable. This incredible plasticity involves ‘immunological trade-offs’ and shapes disease outcomes at individual and population scales. These ‘trade-offs’ mainly exist at a cellular level and impact the survivability of every organism. They may also be intentional behaviours that impact daily decisions or carefully mediated, innate behaviours.

#Vaccines are a highly effective way to prevent infectious diseases as well as reducing the need for #antibiotics and therefore antibiotic resistance. However, #immune responses to vaccinations vary hugely between different individuals and populations. Researchers from Flinders University, South Australia, and Stamford University, USA, have now concluded that the composition and function of an individual’s #gut #microbiota is a driving force in affecting responses to vaccination. The review published in Nature Reviews Immunology, showed how microbiota-targeted interventions could help infants and other at risks group receive the full benefit of effective vaccines.

Reading Time: 6 minutes

Published 17th February 2021 Ayurvedic proverb: “When diet is wrong, medicine is of no use; when diet is correct, medicine is of no need.” The shift in messaging since the allocated timeline for 15m vaccinations was achieved in the UK, is a fascinating process of dialogue and development. One can imagine that numerous pressures are

Reading Time: 15 minutes

How a Trace Mineral, Maitake Mushroom, and Adaptogenic Herbs Offer Comprehensive Immune Protection by Carrie Decker ND. The times when we need additional immune support often hit us by surprise. Whether it is waking up with a sore throat and the sniffles or leaving work early with a fever and the chills, we often don’t

May 2016 saw the publication of an open access article, that beautifully captures the zeitgeist of how the food we eat, the microbiome we possess, the genes we express and the metabolomics information we produce coalesce into a risk benefit model.[1]

A review article in Gastroenterologica e Dietologica explores the evidence for the use of LGG as a therapeutic probiotic.[1] Probiotics are becoming increasingly important in basic and clinical research, but they are also a subject of considerable economic interest due to their expanding popularity. They are live micro-organisms which, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit to the host.

From this very well-known definition, it is clear that, unlike drugs, probiotics might be useful in healthy subjects to reduce the risk of developing certain diseases or to optimise some physiological functions. They also may offer some advantages in already ill persons in relieving symptoms and signs, e.g. people with acute diarrhoea.

A fascinating open paper was published in microbiome in 2013, and its suggested conclusions are now more prescient than ever, as the relationship between genotype, phenotype, and metabolic repertoire in the microbiome is understood to be non-linear.[1] The requirement for a certain functional diversity to ensure a well-functioning cooperative intestinal microbiota is crucial to break down various complex dietary compounds and divide metabolic tasks among different community members.

A new study finds that when young people binge drink alcohol, it disrupts their immune system — and that disruption happens more quickly than drinkers might think.