Improve Immune System in Time of Covid-19
Improve Immune System in Time of Covid-19
Submitted by Dharma Singh Khalsa, M.D.
President/Medical Director
Alzheimer’s Research & Prevention Foundation
My personal note to you.
I have created this report to help you understand the problem we face with Covid-19, the Flu, and other potential viruses. The information is very useful, but what I want to highlight here is that I believe taking immune-boosting supplements is an indispensable aspect of your Covid/Flu prevention program.
In addition to taking immune enhancers such as Vitamin C, Vitamin D3, and Zinc, it is critically important that you include other synergistic all-natural supplements in your diet as well.
Supplements with a rich array of B vitamins, antioxidants, and additional immune stimulating ingredients are vital – they activate and energize all of your cells, including your brain cells and immune cells.
Don’t forget to include Turmeric (either in food or capsule form), the most powerful anti-inflammatory nutrient in the world, as well as NAC to boost your glutathione and Milk Thistle to clean your liver and blood.
The latest research reveals that following all of these dietary recommendations will also increase the health of your DNA as they boost the level of your critically important enzyme, telomerase. Read on and gain important knowledge on Covid-19.
Remember, knowledge is power.
Your First Line of Defense
Your first line of defense comes from all the cells that are produced in your bone marrow. Marrow is magnificently productive, including that it builds one million white blood cells every ten seconds. Since you started reading this article, you have already built several million white blood cells. If you think about it, that’s pretty amazing.
Along with that, we have built 20 million red blood cells every ten seconds and 30 million platelets, which we use to clot.
Your Immune Cells
There are two basic levels of immune cells working.
Our innate immune system is what we are born with and there is a whole variety of cells involved in it. Each one of these cells is responsible for different aspects of what we get exposed to.
So, for instance, let’s take Eosinophil. If you suffer from allergies, Eosinophils are responsible for reacting to allergens.
Macrophages and Neutrophils typically are most active when we get exposed to a bacterial infection. Natural Killer cells have a variety of functions, but they are the ones most applicable when we are exposed to viruses at the onset. So, these cells immediately begin to react.
One of the ways they react is they can see a foreign invader, whether it’s bacteria, parasite, or virus. They see structures that look foreign and they take a bite of it and some of them engulf it and kill it right off the bat. But those that take a bite of it then turn around and present it to your T cells, which are shown in the Adaptive immune system.
Your Adaptive Immune System
Your T cells and your B cells are part of the Adaptive Immune System, meaning they change themselves based on what they end up getting exposed to.
T cells go on to secrete Cytokines. Everybody knows what Cytokines are because we have heard of Cytokine storm, which is responsible for the widespread inflammation found in Covid-19.
Cytokines are messengers, like call-over troops, to come to the site of infection to help beat it back. They create or promote a great deal of information and instantly fight other cells to help kill off the invading marauder.
We also get B cell activation. B cells produce antibodies. Antibodies are really a memory of an infection and can be seen as an extension of the nervous system, because they provide the immune system a way to remember that there has been an exposure.
Should you get re-exposed to that organism, you wage a more aggressive, immediate reaction and it doesn’t gain a foothold into the system.
Vitamin D, Vitamin A and Zinc
When the innate immune cells are working to recognize patterns that are unfamiliar to them, that ability to do so is mediated by Vitamin D. It is crucial to get your Vitamin D level measured and to have at least Vitamin D level of 50 or higher, because the higher the Vitamin D level the stronger your immune system.
Maintaining high Vitamin D helps keep the innate immune system aware and active. Zinc and Vitamin A also play a role in how well Natural Killer cells do their job.
The Coronavirus
We are aware that this virus has been known about since the 1960’s. At that time, it was found to cause Bronchitis in chickens and it’s been causing colds in humans for quite some time.
There are at least 6 or 7 versions of the Coronavirus that you may have been exposed to it in the past. But this virus is a little bit different, i.e. it’s NOVEL.
A virus is simply a piece of bad news wrapped up in a protein.
Looking at this virus, it’s interesting to know it’s a fairly sizable virus as far as viruses go. And in medicine we often say a virus is simply a piece of bad news wrapped up in a protein.
It has a circular membrane which is a pale green, round shape on the circumference. The important thing to remember about that is it’s just made of fat, nothing remarkable. It’s not a hard shell. It’s not an unusual coating; it’s just fat.
Coming out of that are spike proteins with the purple knot at the end; that’s why we call it the Coronavirus. It sort of looks like a crown. And those spiked proteins are exactly where they attach to the receptors of our own cell.
They are attached to specific receptors called ACE receptors that are located and abundant in certain tissues. ACE receptors are primarily in the airways, to some extent in your sinuses, and in your gut, heart, blood vessels, kidneys, and liver.
That’s why some people get GI symptoms and some people get primarily respiratory symptoms.
A Little Closer Now
Let’s look at this a little more closely now. You can see where the red circle is on the left-hand side of the image below. That’s the virus with the orange spikes coming out of it binding to the ACE receptor. The whole virus is taken into the cell through these little pockets called endosomes and you are going to see the importance of that ability to incorporate the whole virus within the cell.
Inside the cell, it releases its RNA and the RNA is the blueprint by which the virus will produce/replicate more of itself. The virus uses your own machinery to replicate.
This teaches us where each of the medications you hear so much about work to affect this organism. You can see on the left-hand side the SARS Covid virus with its rose spikes sticking out and how on the purple surface of the cell it attaches to the ACE receptor. It needs another little protein in order to get inside the cell. That’s where some medications work; they prevent the binding of those two receptors, which unlocks the cell and allows the viral particle in.
The virus then releases its RNA, and makes more copies of itself. That’s where you see Remdesivir works.
At the writing of this report, only Remdesivir has been shown to have some positive effect on reducing Covid-19 symptoms. It also reduces the number of days for recovery by 4.
What we know is that it must be given very early in the course in order to have its greatest benefit.
What Increases Your Risk
People over 60 is where we begin to see an increased risk, but much more importantly is the number of illnesses or what they call comorbid conditions someone had at the time of diagnosis.
Cardiovascular disease is by large the biggest risk factor. Obesity is a very significant risk factor as well.
Now one thing that’s very interesting is that pregnant women do not seem to be at high risk. So far, there have been no cases of transmission to babies and the virus is not detected in breast milk. So that’s very reassuring.
One of the reasons why is that pregnant women have much higher levels of Melatonin, which will be discussed below.
Men tend to be more at risk for severe disease, especially if they are obese. Obesity is an inflammatory state and the more one is inflamed, the more worries we have about the outcome.
Men generally tend to get sicker when they are exposed to viruses. One reason is that the X chromosomes carry more immune related genes and so women get a double dose of this.
Another interesting study showed that women tend to wash their hands more frequently than men and that’s another reason why women may be able to avoid infection more easily than men. Men also tend to clear viruses more slowly than women do.
In short: Men are at higher risk!
Illnesses That Increase Risk
Diabetes, heart diseases, obesity, and hypertension are by far the biggest concerns. Our goal is to limit progression by strengthening the immune system appropriately and preventing inflammation.
Hand Washing
Hand washing works because the membrane of the virus is fat and soap is an emulsifier. This is a critically important way to help keep the virus at bay.
Masks
Masks are our best bet to stave off the virus until we have a successful vaccine.
Wear a mask, it’s crucial.
But a key point is if you can blow out a match while wearing a mask– it’s an ineffective mask. This is because if you sneeze or cough through it, then you are transmitting the virus. If you see others doing that, you know it’s just something to be aware of.
The other real value with the masks is that they keep people’s hands away from their mucous membrane. For the most part, it doesn’t cover their eyes, but it does keep their hands away from their nose and mouth.
It’s reckless and dangerous to yourself and others not to wear a mask!
Incubation Period
The incubation period of Covid-19 is between 2 and 14 days, which is why people quarantine for 14 days.
Usually people start showing symptoms within 5 days after exposure and, unlike the flu which can come on like a ton of bricks, this virus usually comes on more gradually with different symptoms developing (although it too may come on hard).
The challenging thing is that this virus doesn’t just go away. It lingers and gets people sicker and sicker, rather than getting better.
Recall in the beginning of the pandemic we were told to look for fever, cough and shortness of breath. Then we went to fever, cough, shortness of breath and diarrhea.
Then we added loss of smell and taste and now we have to add a challenging new symptom, which is a blood clotting.
Inflammation is a big concern in how seriously this illness develops.
Prevention
Prevention is the only thing that makes sense right now. Now is the time to get really serious about your health and all the things that you have been wanting to do.
This is the time and your opportunity to make your health your priority because the reality of it is, every day the choices that you make are either helping you build resistance and resilience or increasing your risk.
When you are taking care of your health to protect you from this virus, you are also taking care of your health to protect from virtually every other disease, including memory loss, so overall you are just doing yourself a great service.
Diet
Your most powerful tool for wellbeing is at the end of your fork. Some of the foods upon which to focus are fermented foods. Incorporate more sauerkraut, kimchi, yogurt, kefir and pickles. Make these more of a regular part of your diet along with brilliantly colored fruits and vegetables.
The molecules that give the redness to a tomato or to a cabbage or to an apple or a pomegranate or the yellow of the bell pepper– those nutrients are utilized by the plants to protect it from infectious diseases. It’s pretty amazing that we can make use of those same pigments– those same nutrients to protect us from organisms.
Green tea is crucial.
Crush garlic and let it air out for 10 minutes, because that activates the allicin and then eat or cook with it. If that’s a little too strong when you cook with garlic, make it the very last thing you add to the dish so that you don’t overcook it.
The best herb for fighting inflammation is Turmeric.
Chili peppers and ginger augment immune function.
Quercetin is a bioflavonoid, similar to those other colors that were in the fruits and vegetables that were shown earlier. Quercetin is critical because, as previously mentioned, helps prevent the incorporation of the viral particles into the cell.
Kefir, red onions, red apples, goji berries, kale, okra, spinach, red grapes, and oranges all are rich in quercetin.
Badness
They call it the sugar blues and for good reason. Sugar is everywhere and is horrible for all your systems, including immunity.
We know that sugar is inflammatory, and you know that all junk, processed foods which are calorically high and nutritionally light, have no business in your diet.
I’m concerned that people are bored so they are turning to junk food. Please do not be one of those people. And please try to not gain weight during this time as fat cells organize and secrete inflammatory markers which exhausts your system.
Sleep ZZZ
The immune system gets the lion’s share of resources when we are asleep. That’s when it does the majority of its work. It’s not competing with any other system.
It’s critical that we get restored during sleep, meaning deep stage sleep when we are releasing growth hormone, as well as other important hormones. That’s when we really clean up the injury and the debris of the day.
A really easy way to tell that you’ve gotten restorative sleep is by feeling well rested and ready for the day when you wake up.
Melatonin
As we age, we make less Melatonin. Melatonin is key for deep sleep. Children make a phenomenal amount of Melatonin. It may be one of the reasons why we don’t see Covid-19 in very young people.
Melatonin is a great antioxidant and anti-inflammatory. It reduces the exaggerated immune response seen in the setting of Covid-19 and therefore reduces the Cytokine storm.
If sleep is an issue for you, Melatonin may be a very good thing for you to try at a dose of 1-3 Mg.
Realize you can boost your own Melatonin production by getting 20 minutes of direct sunshine in the morning that will raise your Melatonin levels.
Remember that when you are watching TV at night or looking at your iPad screen or your computer screen, you are shutting down the release of Melatonin, which would normally start to take place at the time the sun sets. Try not to interfere with that. Perhaps change the screen to night time.
If you are going to watch TV, choose comedy for nighttime viewing. Don’t watch anything stimulatory because if you are watching stimulating or agitating information, it becomes too difficult to ask your body to sleep. Along with Melatonin, CBD may be an effective as a calming agent.
Exercise
You must exercise to keep your immune system strong. Consider a minimum of 30 minutes a day for immune stimulation. It can be walking at a reasonable pace, jogging, biking, doing the treadmill, elliptical or high intensity elliptical training or HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training.) You can also jump rope and do various body weight exercises.
Strength training is a crucial part. Try simple body-weight exercises at least.
Exercise enhances your response to a vaccine. So, whether it’s a flu shot or a Covid-19 shot, exercising before receiving a vaccination shot will cause better response of immune reactivity.
This creates a more sustained, stronger response should you get exposed to the infection.
Yoga and Meditation
Now is the time to meditate.
For those of you who already have a meditation practice or some practice by which you are able to withdraw from the noise of the world and go inside, congratulations! You already feel the health benefits of meditation.
If I drew and examined your blood while you are in a deep meditation, the physiology of the meditator is in absolutely healing state. Blood vessels are widely dilated, all cells and all tissues are well nourished, and carbon dioxide and waste are being carted away beautifully.
The cells all operate best in a calm state. We heal in a calm state.
The physiology of a distressed human being is not a pro-healing state by any means. It’s a state for action, it’s a state for fighting, it’s a state for fleeing, but it is not a state for healing.
You can create that yourself by developing a regular practice that allows you to find calm, and therefore find your own internal resource and find your state of gratitude and release yourself from the drama of the outside world all by developing a meditation practice.
Remember to breathe deeply to bring oxygen to all parts of your lungs.
Supplements
It’s one of the best and easiest ways to help take care of your immune system. A good multivitamin has a plethora of micronutrients.
Many people have deficiencies in the different micronutrients that are replenished by taking supplements with Vitamins A, C, D3, E, B12, B6 and minerals such as Magnesium, Zinc, Selenium, Manganese, Chromium, Molybdenum, and Potassium, to name a few.
Vitamin C is critical because it not only reduces inflammation, but has a direct antiviral effect. Elderberry inhibits direct viral replication as shared earlier. Zinc is similar to quercetin in that it also inhibits viral replication in a very remarkable way.
Staying in Touch
Mental health is critically important during the pandemic. Stay in touch with friends and family, however you can.
Mental well-being is important to take care of during this time, in addition to your physical health. Reaching out with a simple phone call can really have a positive effect on one’s loneliness and mental health.
This is the new normal. Make your physical and mental health your #1 priority.
If You Do Get Sick
Remember that not everyone who gets Covid-19 ends up in the hospital or ICU.
If you do get sick, keep in close contact with your doctor. Speaking with your physician or your healthcare provider (or somebody who has more experience than you do in this realm and knows how to interpret your symptoms) is remarkably reassuring.
Remember to hydrate. The immune system works best in a well hydrated state. You are hydrated when your urine is pale yellow or clear.
Individually, we have become more appreciative of what we do have and more appreciative of what we have had.
Don’t sit on your symptoms if you think you may have Covid-19. Call your doctor and/or go to the ER – earlier rather than later.
Try to maximize this time for personal and spiritual growth.
Dharma Singh Khalsa, M.D.
President/Medical Director
Alzheimer’s Research & Prevention Foundation
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