flu shot Archives

Graphic with healthy habits for flu season: 1. wash your hands often 2. Cover nose and mouth 3. Pay attention to overall health 4. Get your flu shot 5. Take a probiotic

Take a Probiotic During This Dangerous Cold/Flu Season!

Are you REALLY prepared for the cold and flu season?

Depending on where you live in the United States, the flu season has already arrived much earlier than expected, and with a vengeance — spreading even more quickly in the Southern states.

Experts believe the flu season may peak much earlier than usual. As of now, more than 1.7 million cases have been diagnosed so far, according to the CDC — because one of the viruses now in circulation (a B/Victoria strain) usually doesn’t spread until Spring.

The signs point to many Americans being sick with the flu at the same time, leading some experts to suggest preparing for the worst.

We’re already in the “season” when we spend more time inside than outside. And, our respiratory systems are dealing with changes in humidity, thus creating opportunities for sore throats, and runny noses.

Fortunately, there are a lot of simple things you can do to protect and fortify your health during the cold and flu season.

Follow these healthy habits!

Wash your hands often, especially during the cold and flu season. Avoid using soaps, toothpastes or shampoos containing antimicrobial chemicals like triclosan.
When you’re sneezing or coughing, cover your nose and mouth.
Pay attention to your overall health. Get the right amount of rest, keep stress at a minimum, stay active and eat nutritious foods.
Be sure to get the flu shot, even now!

But, are you taking a probiotic too?

Improve your immune system!

There are good reasons for taking a probiotic, especially if you’re older. However, one of the most important reasons for taking a probiotic right now is boosting your immunity to the flu.

Based on a systematic review of studies, researchers concluded taking a probiotic or a prebiotic anywhere from 2-28 weeks, boosted the overall effect of receiving a flu shot — especially when taken for longer periods of time and by healthy older folks, too.

Take fewer antibiotics!

Patients and health professionals rely way too much on antibiotics. People fall back on antibiotics for many health problems, and doctors are all too happy to write prescriptions for them.

Yet, the CDC estimates about 47 million prescriptions written every year for antibiotics are completely unnecessary, raising the risks that when you really need them, they will not work as they’re intended.

However, a recent economic modeling study found taking probiotics may be the better (and safer) option to fight flu-like infections.

A daily probiotic could save the American economy (and your pocketbook directly) as much as $1.4 BILLION, not to mention decreasing the need for antibiotic prescriptions by at least 1.39 million.

Protect your kids!

When it comes to the immune health of your kids during the cold and flu season, don’t forget to protect your little ones with probiotics too.

A team of Swedish researchers recently found giving young children a daily dose of probiotics (containing strains of Lactobacillus) in a day care setting was very beneficial in treating common cold infections, according to t a study appearing in the European Journal of Nutrition.

Not only did their severity of symptoms fall sharply, so did the use of medications, absences from day care and even fewer instances of fussiness and crying.

Maintain your good health by taking a probiotic!

I cannot stress enough that a healthy immune system is the foundation that will help to protect you when everyone else around you is fighting colds and the flu.

Following the steps I outlined above plus taking a daily probiotic containing multiple strains of beneficial bacteria can go a long way toward keeping you and your family healthy.

EndoMune Advanced Probiotic and EndoMune Jr. Advanced Probiotic feature strains of beneficial bacteria from the Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium families plus a prebiotic (FOS) that feeds the good bugs in your gut.

References

Frontiers in Pharmacology

European Journal of Nutrition

McMaster University

Fast Company

Associated Press

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Are You Ready For The Flu Season? Take Your Probiotics!

Disease / By @drHoberman

Are you REALLY ready for the upcoming flu season?

Medical experts agree you can never be too careful — or too early — when it comes to being prepared for the flu season.

Preliminary numbers from the CDC estimate up to 43 million Americans were affected by the flu during the 2018-19 season and as many as 61,000 died from the flu.

If those early estimates of deaths attributed to the flu shock you, it’s an improvement on the 2017-18 season when some 79,000 Americans died.

The first takeaway for this article I cannot stress enough is to get your entire family vaccinated for the flu NOW. Please don’t put a flu shot off until it gets colder or even as late as Thanksgiving.

This advisory is especially true for seniors whose immune systems aren’t as robust as those of younger adults, according to the experts.

Plus, if you’re dealing with any of the risk factors associated with heart disease, protecting your body from the flu becomes far more important.

You may be six times more likely to experience a heart attack after being diagnosed with the flu, according to a 2018 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Help your gut and the flu shot do their work

The health of your gut plays a critical role in how well the flu shot does its work too.

Your gut can be an important anchor to a stronger, healthier immune system, until a very familiar culprit — broad-spectrum antibiotics — enters the picture, according to a very recent study appearing in the journal Cell.

Researchers from Stanford University and Emory University examined the effect broad-spectrum antibiotics plays in reducing the effect of the flu vaccine by testing 33 human subjects (ages 18-45) over two consecutive flu seasons.

In the first group of test subjects conducted over the 2014-15 flu season, exposure to antibiotics did the expected damage, reducing bacteria in the guts of patients by 10,000 fold. Also, the loss of bacterial diversity in the gut lasted for up to a year.

However, patients still had enough of the antibodies from the flu shot to protect them, suggesting exposure to current or previous vaccines may have been helpful.

So, researchers tried a different approach for a second group of 2015-16 subjects who hadn’t been vaccinated for the prior three years before the study, and the results were very different.

Like before, these newer patients lost huge amounts of their gut bacteria after receiving antibiotics, but this exposure also lowered levels of an antibody that reduced the immune response of one of the three virus strains contained in the vaccine, making patients more vulnerable to the flu.

But that’s not all…

Those who received antibiotics along with a flu shot showed signs of systemic inflammation only seen by researchers in seniors age 65 and older in a previous study. This inflammation mirrored a depletion of metabolites in the blood requiring help from the human gut to replenish.

These key metabolites (secondary bile acids) are responsible for easing inflammation process in the body’s immune system.

Probiotics to the rescue

As we know, probiotics are a great natural tool that may help in protecting your body from the flu. Did you know taking probiotics may mean taking fewer antibiotics and missing less work too?

Those are the key findings in a systematic review of studies conducted by the Cochrane Collective and York Health Economics Consortium, featured in Frontiers in Pharmacology.

Scientists were tasked with assessing how much the use of probiotics in the management of acute respiratory tract infections — from mild colds to the flu — would save Americans, and it’s a lot.

Based on increased productivity (using fewer sick days), taking fewer drugs and overall medical bills, Americans could save as much as $1.4 billion on their total health costs.

The only catch: Those savings apply if everyone takes probiotics regularly. No one enjoys having the flu, or taking an antibiotic that may do as much harm to your body as good.

Taking a probiotic, formulated with 10 strains of beneficial bacteria and a prebiotic that feeds the bugs in your gut, like EndoMune Advanced Probiotic may be a great way to avoid the doctor’s office during this flu season, but only after getting your annual flu shot!

Don’t forget to increase your child’s chances of avoiding the flu too with a daily dose of EndoMune Junior Advanced Chewable Probiotic, fortified with four essential strains of beneficial bacteria along with a prebiotic.

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Beat The Flu With Probiotics

Disease, Probiotics / By @drHoberman

If you and your family have stayed healthy throughout this latest flu season — one that many experts say may be one of the worst ever — consider yourselves lucky.

The huge majority of this year’s flu cases in America originates from the H3N2 strain, one that hit Australia hard last year, sending countless patients to hospitals and killing four times more people than the most recent five-year average for a flu season.

Also, treating the flu is very expensive for all of us, accounting for more than $27 billion annually in direct medical expenses and lost wages.

A very timely study appearing in Scientific Reports demonstrates how a single strain of beneficial bacteria may protect you from some of the worst symptoms of the influenza A virus and its many variations.

Scientists at Georgia State University treated mice with a proprietary strain of Lactobacillus casei (one of the 10 strains of beneficial bacteria used in EndoMune Advanced Probiotic) before infecting them with a lethal dose of the influenza A virus.

Surviving the flu

All of the mice that were treated with Lactobacillus casei survived their run-ins with influenza A, according to Dr. Sang-Moo Kang, lead study author and a professor at Georgia State’s Institute for Biomedical Sciences.

Among the survivors, their immune systems were strong enough to resist deadly primary and secondary strains of the flu and protect them from losing weight.

By comparison, the control mice that weren’t treated with Lactobacillus casei experienced severe weight loss within nine days after being infected with the flu, had 18 times more influenza virus in their tiny lungs and eventually died.

These results aren’t surprising, considering the findings of an older study that found treating patients with another proprietary strain of Lactobacillus after giving them a flu shot held onto a protective amount of the vaccine for at least four weeks.

Even if you hate getting a flu shot in the first place, there’s many simple steps you can take to boost your immune system, from washing your hands early and often with plain soap and water (no antibacterial soaps) to getting the right amount of sleep and staying hydrated.

Taking a multi-species probiotic with important strains of beneficial bacteria, like EndoMune Advanced Probiotic and EndoMune Junior Probiotic (for kids), can also be a safe and effective non-drug way to protect your family’s health from the flu too.

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Ready for your flu shot?

Disease, Drug interactions / By @drHoberman

As the fall colors come and the temperatures get cooler, you realize it’s time to start thinking about getting that annual flu shot.

All the reminders — signs galore along with being asked many times at your neighborhood grocery store, local pharmacy and even your workplace — are already in place. But you just say, “No, not today,” as politely and quickly as you can, then change the subject (or walk away quickly).

There are good reasons why some people shouldn’t get a flu shot (or a nasal spray vaccine). The most popular ones are linked to severe allergies to vaccine ingredients, age restrictions, problems with Guillain-Barre Syndrome and the current state of your health (review the full list on the CDC website).

Still, we know what you’re probably thinking…

The last time I had a flu shot, it made me sick.
The last time I had a flu shot, I caught it anyway.
I never get sick, so I can’t spread the flu around.
I take a probiotic… Isn’t that enough to keep the flu away?

Before you risk going it alone during the upcoming flu season, let’s address those aforementioned reasons/excuses with some solid health information.

The last time I had a flu shot, it made me sick. If a flu vaccine made you slightly sick, that’s not uncommon. Most people develop temporary soreness or swelling where the flu shot is delivered. Some reactions may include a low-grade fever and aches, and can last up to two days.

The last time I had a flu shot, I caught it anyway. Flu vaccines are made from an inactive or weakened virus that doesn’t make you sick. Also, the flu shot may take up to 14 days to create a protective effect in your body.

I never get sick, so I can’t spread the flu around. You may eat a healthy diet and wash your hands regularly, but you can pass the flu to others without showing any symptoms.

I take a probiotic… Isn’t that enough to keep the flu away? By itself, protecting your gut health helps. However, a recent study showed how good gut health may increase the beneficial effect of vaccines, and exposure to antibiotics diminishes it.

Taking a probiotic filled with multiple species of beneficial bacteria — like EndoMune Advanced Probiotic and EndoMune Junior — along with a flu shot, can provide the extra boost you need to stay healthy during this flu season.

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Probiotics may boost the benefits of the flu shot

Drug interactions, Probiotics / By @drHoberman

With the 2014-15 flu season coming, you may decide to forgo most of those 10 easy ways to boost your immune system naturally we discussed previously and, instead, go straight for a flu vaccine.

Unfortunately, you’ve probably also heard from some of your vaccinated and angry friends and family members coming down with the flu anyway. If you decide to get a flu shot, you’ll want to consider taking a vaccine-boosting probiotic too, based on recent research.

Lactobacillus improves flu shot response

The trick to making many vaccines work is much more than the inclusion of key antigens to help them recognize and attack diseases later on. Actually, many of these molecules aren’t able to provoke strong immune responses at all, according to the National Cancer Institute.

What’s just as important are the inclusion of adjuvants, substances that enhance the ability of vaccines to trigger protection against infection. Adjuvants work by activating the immune system, thus enabling antigens (pathogenic ingredients that provoke an immune response) in vaccines to stimulate long-term protection, according to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

A 2011 study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed how probiotic bacteria — a proprietary strain of Lactobacillus — would be effective as an adjuvant of a live-attenuated flu vaccine in a double-blind study.

During the study, all patients received a flu shot, then a placebo or Lactobacillus twice a day for four weeks. For the H3N2 strain of flu, 84 percent of patients who were given Lactobacillus had a protective amount of the vaccine in their bodies 28 days later, compared to 55 percent who were given a placebo.

Take a probiotic with your flu shot

A more recent study in the journal Immunity that linked vaccines to the health of your gut microbiota — not depleted by antibiotics — may dictate how effective a flu shot may be.

The roots of this study date back to similar research in 2011 that monitored the response of healthy patients to the flu shot. Scientists discovered a link between the response of antibodies to the vaccine and the expression of the Toll-like receptor 5 (TLR5) gene.

This gene stimulates a healthy immune response by detecting flagellin, a component of tail-like appendages used by bacteria in the body, including the gut, to help them move.

The latest study took the next step by comparing the immune response of these three groups of mice to a flu shot to a vaccinated control group of germy mice: Genetically modified animals that lacked the TLR5 gene, germ-free mice and those that had spent four weeks drinking antibiotic-laced water.

A week after being inoculated, all three groups experienced up to an eightfold reduction of vaccine-specific antibodies in their blood compared to the vaccinated, germy control group, according to Science. However, blood antibody levels appeared to rebound within four weeks in all groups, but dropped again 85 days later among genetically-manipulated mice.

(It’s also important to remember, compared to normal, germy mice, the bodies of animals raised in a sterile environment — too clean for their own good health via the hygiene hypothesis — also produced fewer antibodies.)

In another test, mice given the polio vaccine (made of viral molecules but, like the flu vaccine, not an active virus) produced fewer beneficial antibodies too, suggesting “weaker” vaccines lacking active adjuvants require more help from bacterial signaling, according to Science.

“These results demonstrate an important role for gut bacteria in shaping immunity to vaccination, and raise the possibility that the microbiome could be harnessed to modulate vaccine efficacy,” says Dr. Bali Pulendran from Emory University.

These studies underscore how important it is to take a multi-species probiotic like EndoMune Advanced Probiotic and EndoMune Advanced Junior (for kids) to boost your immune system, especially if you’re considering getting a flu shot.

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10 Ways to Protect Yourself this Flu Season

Disease, Healthy Aging, Probiotics / By @drHoberman

With autumn upon us and cooler temperatures on the way, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has already begun posting comprehensive dos and don’ts about the 2013-14 flu season (that can begin as early as October and end as late as May). These reminders include all the reasons you absolutely need to get a flu shot.

However, if you’re feeling a little shy about getting a flu shot, there’s plenty you and your family can do to protect yourselves from the flu. Here are 10 completely safe, effective and natural ways to protect your health from the flu and boost your immune system naturally without a flu shot.

1) Wash your hands early and often with plain ol’ soap and water for at least 15 seconds to get rid of germs that may linger. There’s no need to use antibacterial soaps.

2) Don’t forget the exercise. Staying active with some kind of exercise program will help you stay a few steps ahead of the flu.

3) Get the right amount of sleep you need every night. Skipping valuable sleep time to catch the end of a late football game will catch up to you over time, leaving your body vulnerable to diseases like the flu.

4) Don’t overdo the antibiotics. Taking antibiotics every time you’re sick can deplete your immune system residing in your gut, leaving your body more vulnerable to disease.

5) Drink plenty of water. Depleting your body of the natural fluids it needs is one more variable among many that makes your body more vulnerable to the flu.

6) Keep your home extra clean to repel the bugs. According to the CDC, human flu viruses can survive as long as 8 hours on common surfaces (doorknobs, books and doors).

7) Take care of your emotions. Our go-go-go lifestyles don’t leave much time for you to handle stress as well as you should, so give yourself the gift of time—ideally 30 minutes a day—for you.

8) Eat the right foods, every day all the time. Even something as simple as a hot liquid like chicken soup may more helpful in treating congestion than consuming the same thing at room temperature.

9) Get enough vitamin D. However, before supplementing your diet with vitamin D, health experts like the Vitamin D Council recommend getting your blood levels checked often.

10) Take a multi-strain probiotic every day gives your body’s immune system a much-needed boost. Not only can taking a multi-species probiotic restore the healthy balance of good and bad bacteria in your gut, but it also boosts your body’s immunities naturally and safely.

Also, studies have shown probiotics containing lactobacillus acidophilus and bifidobacterium lactus strains like EndoMune Jr. can decrease cold and flu symptoms in kids, too.

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