
Photo by William Brawley c/o Flickr
As I sit here contemplating life and looking out my window at the snow banks in the frozen lake across the street, my reverie continues to be interrupted by a loud hacking cough-like sound. In fact, that coughing sound is emanating from my own mouth. That’s right, I have a cold.
Now, the question is, what to do about it. I’ve been told by the powers that be, that a trip to the doctor for a common cold is a waste of time. In fact, there is little that a doctor can do about the common cold aside from advise you to take products that may or may not alleviate the symptoms. The cold simply has to run its course. Antibiotics may have an effect, but our society is using antibiotics so frequently that they are beginning to lose their potency. So, for society’s sake, we should be using antibiotics only in the most serious of cases.
The best cure of course is to take action before a cure is necessary. I’ve been checking into some methods for improving the human immune system. Antioxidants may do just that. The immune system is the body’s defense system against bacteria and viruses – the bacteria and viruses that cause the common cold. If the immune system is not working at 100%, those nasty viruses can win this battle, and you end up having a reverie interrupted by loud hacking cough like sounds.
So, how to boost the immune system to make sure it’s running at 100%? Antioxidants do seem to play this role. They combat free radicals, nasty molecules that are often the result of our environmental degradation. These free radicals attack our immune system in several ways. They damage the immune system’s cells themselves, such as T cells, natural killer cells etc. that are our infantry in this immune system battle. Free radicals also can damage our cytokine pathways, which are the communication pathways between immune cells. In doing so they reduce their effectiveness because the communication within the immune system is vital. And finally they reduce the ability of microphages – vital elements of our immune system- to destroy viruses, parasites and bacteria.
So how do we increase our antioxidant level so that our immune system is running the way it should? One way appears to be with antioxidant-rich supplements from sources such as the Acai berry or blueberry. The Acai berry is particularly rich in antioxidants and regular supplementation does appear to result in an increase in the antioxidant level.
You have to be careful when ordering Acai berry supplements, however. There have been some scams recently, in which free samples of Acai berry have been offered. Unfortunately, these companies ask for your credit card in order to pay for shipping. Once you have your card, they then continue to send you a monthly order of the supplements at full price. And make it devilishly difficult to cancel your order or to receive a refund. Also, some companies have been employing deceptive advertising using Opera and her medical consultant, Dr. Oz, as endorsers of their Acai berry product. Dr. Oz did indeed run a segment on the Oprah show in which he discussed the benefits of the Acai berry for increasing antioxidant levels. However neither he nor Oprah have ever endorsed a specific Acai berry product. If you are interested in purchasing act library products, stay far away from any company that offers you a free sample, or shows either Dr. Oz or Oprah and its advertising. The company is obviously not ethical.
So, where do you buy credible act library products? You can go to a chain drugstore. Their products will probably be inexpensive and readily available. However, you often get what you pay for. Such products tend to have a lower Acai berry content and ineffective potency. I have found a supplier that appears to be credible. It’s called Pure Acai Berry Max. They use no deceptive advertising, offer a money-back guarantee, provide a supplement with 1500 mg of pure act library for serving – which is very high, use a flash freezing method in processing their Acai berries – the only way to really preserve the potency of the berries, and they ship almost any country in the world. So, if you want to buy Acai berry supplements, they would be a credible option.
Anyway, enough rambling. I have to hobble out my garage and carrying some more firewood. Yes, it’s a mundane job, but it’s one that keeps me warm, and cozy as I hack away and suck on my Fisherman’s Friends.