The Easiest Way to Weaken Your Immune System

It is so easy to weaken an immune system if you really want to. Exposing yourself to harmful chemicals like tobacco smoke, let the stress of life engulf you, or expose yourself to pollution are some of the ways to weaken your immune system. But, did you know that the easiest way to weaken your immune system is in a sweet way? Lots of people did not know that they are doing it and ask themselves why it is so easy for them to acquire an infection.

From yesterday’s post on How Your Lymphocytes Protects Your Body from Harmful Invaders, we tackled how important are the functions of the white blood cells or WBCs in our body. Neutrophils are part of the WBC team or the white blood cells team that defends our body from harmful invaders. They are responsible when there is a bacterial invasion or bacterial infection. They multiply themselves, attacks, and engulf the bacteria. Thus, if someone is suffering from bacterial infection their total white blood cells count are high compared to the normal white blood cells count or WBC count, so as the neutrophils count (from differential counting of white blood cells).

So, what is the connection between neutrophils activity and the “sweets”? Study showed that 10 teaspoons of white sugar could lessen the neutrophil activity by 50 percent for about 5 hours. And, consuming 30 teaspoons of white sugar or an equivalent sweets could completely stop and loss neutrophils’ activity to engulf bacteria. A can of soft drink is equivalent to 10 teaspoons of sugar. How many cans of soft drinks and, or other sweetened drinks you usually take everyday? How about other sweets like cake, chocolate bars, candies and other sweet desserts?

Better lessen sweet food and drinks if you really love your health not just to strengthen your immune system but  to keep yourself away from diabetes mellitus as well.

How Your Lymphocytes Protects Your Body from Harmful Invaders

Do you have any idea what lymphocytes are and its significant functions in our body? Our immune system  have highly trained personnel called the white blood cells team that is always ready to defend our body from unseen enemies. Lymphocytes are part of the white blood cells team or the WBC team , the defenders of our body.

Every country has a defense system, we have the police, air force, army and navy that protects us from harmful people. Our body has defense system too, it is called the immune system. Immune system’s white blood cells team or WBC team have lymphocytes, neutrophils, monocytes, eosinophils and basophils.

Every second in our lives viruses, bacteria, fungi and cancer cells gives their best shot to invade our body through any possible entries like the mouth, nose, eyes and skin. They could take advantage when our energy level, health or alertness are weaken. Stress, pollutants and harmful chemicals are known harmful elements that we usually interact to everyday that could weaken our health.

Today, we will be talking about the lymphocytes team and their functions. This group of white blood cells consist of T lymphocytes or T cells, killer cells, natural killer cells or NK cells and B lymphocytes or B cells. Lyymphocytes are assigned on the first line of defense, they keep an eye for the first sign of invasion and are always ready to take an action if ever they encounter an enemy.

Natural killer cells or NK cells are the watchdogs of the team. No single second of your life that there is no NK cells that guards your health from harmful invaders. They have no capacity to stop the invasion (infection) but they can attack the invaders and send message to other lymphocytes of the said invasion (infection).

T lymphocytes or T cells are responsible for identification of the invaders. They could easily identify if it is a group of viruses, bacteria, fungi or cancer cells. T cells gives specific command to Killer Cells to exterminate the invaders. If killer cells fails to do their job, B lymphocytes or B cells would be responsible for the destruction of the harmful invaders.

Lymphocytes are so tiny that could only be seen under the microscope plays a big role on your health. Now that you know how your lymphocytes protects you and your family health from harmful invaders, hope you will help them strengthen your body defense system, the immune system, by following healthy lifestyle.

What Everybody Ought to Know About Antibiotics

The first thing you should know about antibiotics is that it is  not an all cure drug for an infection. It is only effective against bacteria but ineffective against viral and fungal infections. Did you know that approximately 90 percent of infections are due to viruses? Antibiotics could not even slow down the viruses or reduce the symptoms so, it is better not to take a pill of antibiotic unless your doctor prescribed it.

Our body instantly produces antibodies that could fight against the usual cause of an infection, the viruses. So, better take home remedies  or give medicines that could relieve the symptom of illness than instantly taking a pill of antibiotic without doctors prescription to relieve the symptoms of an infection like cough, colds and diarrhea.

Antibiotics’ worst side effect is it could eliminate the protective good bacteria and replace them with bacteria resistant to antibiotics. So, better not take an antibiotic without doctor’s prescription. Home remedies and medicines to relieve symptoms is of great help (first aide) to lessen the symptoms of illness but it does not relieve the true illness. So, better consult your doctor if symptom persist.

Did you know that approximately 8 percent of adult population now are allergic to penicillin? And, what is the reason behind this? Penicillin is one of the most abused antibiotics. Repeated intake of antibiotic could cause allergic reaction.

I met lots of people who became resistant to certain antibiotics because of not following their doctor’s order to when or how often to take the prescribed antibiotics and to how many days they should take those prescribed drugs. Their samples like blood, sputum, urine and wound discharge are need to be cultured first to check the sensitivity and, or resistance of the possible antibiotics to be prescribe to them.

Why wait to experience the side effects of taking antibiotics before you will learn? Hope you share this piece of information to others if you care for their health.

Sources of Food Poisoning

Nowadays, people become more aware that food poisoning could take place in any food. Eggs, poultry, shellfish, and unpasteurized dairy products are the most common source of food poisoning. But, contamination of plant foods from food poisoning bacteria takes place when vegetables, legumes or nuts are grown closely to the ground, especially when farmers uses manure as fertilizer. Food handling is another issue. Food from farm are free from  food poisoning agent but the one that sells the unsealed food products in the market or the person that processed the product or the one that cooks your meal harbors the harmful microorganism and has poor hygiene, possibility of transmission from the food handler to the food products is possible.

If animals are ill, usually they were given  antibiotics, giving antibiotics without following the minimum number of days to  give the antibiotics to the animals may lead to resistance of bacteria to the said antibiotic. When these infected animals (with antibiotic resistant bacteria) were utilized as meat or their products such as eggs or their manure are utilized in the farm as fertilizer, infection of antibiotic resistant food poisoning bacteria to human will be a big problem. The problem of antibiotic resistance food poisoning  bacteria is not the main issue, but the difficulty in treatment of such strain may occur.

Another possible source for food poisoning are foods that has been improperly processed or stored are the ideal habitat for growth of bacteria and fungal elements (in the laboratory, it is equivalent to a culture media – it is where we let the bacteria and fungal elements multiply from thousands into hundred thousands or more). So, be careful in processing and storing your food at home. Most of the microorganisms  if it multiplies, usually causes spoilage of food, others may just give light discomfort to those have consumed the food but some of this bacteria are dangerous, especially those that contains toxins (poisons).

Contaminated water and utensils are good source of possible infection. In this case usually the food handler harbors the harmful microorganism then he practice no proper hygiene. Including the right cleaning of utensils used due to limited amount of water to use by the time he is selling his food products. Good example for this are the street foods. I am not condemning  street food vendors here. We just need to face the fact that lots of people have been hospitalized from eating contaminated street foods.

Remember this, cooking could kill viruses, bacteria and fungal elements present on the food but it is not an assurance that the toxins present are destroyed, toxins in bacteria  that could create variety of problems in the body.

The Importance of Dental Care for Your Newborn Babies

Parents, did you know that the 20 primary teeth you’ll see from your child already exist at his birth? I asked this because lots of people think that newborn baby has no teeth. Yes they have, it’s just that it is still underneath the gums. Therefore parents should not wait until these teeth emerges before they take care their baby’s oral health.

Sleeping with a bottle of milk or letting the baby fall asleep while sucking on his mother’s breast may cause the milk to be converted to acid by the normal bacteria in the mouth. The most important a parent can do for the oral health of the newborn baby is to keep his mouth clean. After every feeding, baby’s mouth should be wiped with gauze pad or a soft damp cloth to remove the possible plaque that may build up on newborn baby’s gum.

Speaking of primary teeth, they are commonly called as baby teeth, that starts to come out at the age of six months. And, by the age of two and a half months it is expected that all 20 primary teeth already emerged.

How to Reduce Dust and Other Pollutants in Your Home

Protect your family health by reducing dust and other pollutants in your home. It is true that harmful microorganisms exist everywhere and we cannot totally get rid of them but, we can limit their population by making sure our place is clean.

Parents encourage their children to stay at home as much as possible to keep them safe from accidents and diseases. But, did you know that indoor pollution is one of the top environmental health risks? Inhaling pollutant-free air is part of healthy lifestyle because clean air is necessary to achieve a healthy body. We already knew how harmful tobacco smoke is to your family health, this time we will talk about dust and common biological pollutants that could be found in our homes, their harmful effects and an effective way to get rid of them.

Biological pollutants from air and dusts such as molds, dust mites, fecal droppings from dust mites and other insects, animal dander, lint, bacteria and viruses PLUS pollen, plant and mold spores may affect your family health. They can pass through the filters of your respiratory system thus affecting it and, may lower your immune system resulting to respiratory allergies, acute and chronic infections and, or even cancer. it can also cause skin allergy, skin infections, eye irritation and a lot more.

Furnace filters is a great help in reducing this harmful elements of indoor air. As the air passes through the filter, it removes dust and other harmful particles from air. Honeywell Furnace Filters filters sixty times more dust and other air pollutants than the 1″  standard filter. High efficiency Pleated Furnace Filters with no wire mesh are a good choice too. You just need to follow the instructions of manufacturer how often it should be cleaned and replaced to maximize its performance.

Replacing the filters regularly makes sure of the protection of your family health saves your money from hospitalization and, or medications; and from the hassles of repair of your furnace. Good standing furnace filter may even help you reduce your heating bill too. Purchasing wholesale furnace filters is even better because you can save more money if you purchase in bulk. Thus, you can buy other family needs from the money you saved.

Wellness is priceless. Protect your family health at all cost because health is wealth.