Top 5 Supplements for Immune System Modulation

During such uncertain times as these, it is important to take the necessary steps to ensure that you are doing everything you can to not only build robust immunity but to modulate the cytokine response that is associated with an active immune response.

Let’s take a look at the top 5 whole food supplements that can provide immune system modulation:

1. Colostrum– Maybe the most complete food in the world when it comes to building a strong immune system. Colostrum contains everything you need to develop a strong robust immune system, firstly it contains immunoglobulins are y shaped protein antibodies that literally neutralize viruses and bacteria in the blood. A study published in 2007 in an issue of Clinical and applied thrombosis and hemostasis compared two control groups of subjects one taking the flu vaccine and the other using colostrum, the colostrum group was 3 times less likely to get the flu than the vaccinated group. Colostrum also contains vital growth hormones that can help the body recover from pro-inflammatory responses like tissue damage. My personal favorite colostrum product is from surthrival, I have no affiliation with the company I just love their stuff.
2. Chaga– A fungus that has a parasitic relationship with birch trees, has been used in many cultures for thousands of years. Chaga isn’t like other mushrooms it contains chitin, a woody substance that humans cannot digest unless broken down. This is why chaga must be rapidly boiled for several hours, before consumed. If you’re looking for immune modulation the best thing to do would be to consume chaga as a tea. The tea is a dark amber color that contains vanillic acids or what is found is the vanilla bean so it has a very pleasant vanilla taste. It has many active biological ingredients all that help regulate the immune response. With a very high ORAC value which is essentially the antioxidant value in foods chaga is higher than blueberries.
3. Pine Pollen– The yellow dust we see covering our cars every spring is one of the most powerful tools we have to regulate our hormone health. It is loaded with amino acids like arginine, glutamic acid, cystine, methionine, and lysine just to name a few. It also contains a full suite of vitamins and minerals that are fully bioavailable. High in things like vitamin C, B5, B1, B6, vitamin D, and vitamin E. When thinking about ways to maintain balanced hormone responses in the body pine pollen should be on the forefront. There are many great sources of pine pollen on the market, either just straight powder or an extract. I personally like to harvest it every spring and make my own products throughout the year.
4. Vitamin D– Maintaining proper vitamin D levels is one of the most important things when it comes to immune health and hormone health. While supplements are beneficial to make sure levels are high enough, they can’t do what natural full body sun exposure does. The sun is one of the most healing things that we can use to build our health period. Vitamin D is a hormone, a hormone that regulates something like 5% of our entire genome. Nearly every single cell in the entire body has vitamin D receptors, making this extremely important for cellular production and immune function.
5. Vitamin C– Linus Pauling back in the 1970’s pioneered the use of high dose vitamin C as a therapeutic agent to fight viral infection. It wasn’t until extremely recent that researchers started taking a second look at his work with vitamin C. Most of the current research surrounding vitamin C is done with low dose studies 65mg to 100mg and done when there already is sign of infection. His work was using higher dose about 4,000mg daily to prevent a viral load on the immune system. When taking vitamin C it is important to consider the source. Oranges are what people usually associate with vitamin C, but there have been many studies to show that a conventionally grown orange can have very little to zero vitamin C. Ascorbate acid is what supplements are created with but again this is a ultra refined synthesized lab version of vitamin C that a lot of times doesn’t provide great therapeutic benefit unless in high doses. Consider the beach rose hip, it has 50x more vitamin C than a orange and also many other cofactors to help drive the nutrients into the cell. When looking at vitamin C not all foods are created equal.