… just as the pigment of the hair is destroyed by
phagocytes, so also the atrophy of other organs of the
body, in old age, is very frequently due to the action of
devouring cells which I have called macrophages.
—Elie Metchnikoff, The Prolongation of Life (1908)
Instead of preventing diseases only by protecting the individual against their agents, we must, by artificially increasing the efficiency of his adaptive functions, render each man capable of protecting himself.
—Alexis Carrel, Man the Unknown (1935)
Your immune system is what protects you from the enemies all around and within you: bacteria, viruses, and even cancer and atherosclerotic plaques. Without your immune system, you would have to live in a plastic bubble like some children do because the slightest exposure to bacteria or viruses would quickly lead to a deadly infection. As we age, our immune
system’s ability to protect us deteriorates seriously. In fact, most of us die because our immune system fails to protect us from cancer, atherosclerosis, or infectious disease. Few of us ever reach the maximum genetic potential life span of our species, 110 to 120 years. Using the right nutrients, we can
improve the performance of our immune system whatever our age.
Microbes are everywhere!
If your doctor took a scraping from the inside of your mouth or from the skin covering your body and then looked at it under a powerful microscope, he would see dangerous microorganisms lurking among harmless ones. Every normal, healthy human being has deadly bacteria and viruses both inside and outside the body. So why aren’t we all sick?
The reason you aren’t always sick is that your body has a powerful self-defense force known as the immune system. The immune system is the police force that protects you from bacteria, viruses, and even from cancer cells and atherosclerotic plaque cells. The immune system is made up of the thymus gland (located behind your breastbone), several types of white blood cells (these identify, attack, kill, and eat deadly invaders, as well as make substances like antibodies), bone marrow (which makes some of these white blood cells), the spleen, lymph nodes and ducts, and a variety of protein and polypeptide chemical weapons such as antibodies, complement, and interferon.
After puberty, the thymus gland shrivels up and ceases to function at the high level of activity that it had in the youthful years before puberty. The thymus is very important in the function of the immune system. It “instructs” certain white blood cells (called T-cells) what to attack and when. Some of the T-cells, in turn, control other white cells that make certain antibodies. Without the thymus’s instructions, the T-cells
may fail to attack enemies like bacteria, viruses, and cancer cells, or they may even mistake some of your own cells for an enemy and attack you. This vital function of the thymus gland was not recognized until within the past 35 years or so. Many doctors still do not know about this.
Scientists have discovered that it is possible to increase the size of the thymus gland and its functional capacity with several nutrients. These nutrients include vitamins A, C, E, the amino acid cysteine, and the minerals zinc and selenium.
There are others. Vitamin E in doses of 200 I.U. (International Units) to 2,000 I.U. per kilogram (2.2 lbs.) of food fed to barnyard animals (chickens, turkeys, lambs) led to a greatly increased ability of the animals to survive inoculations of bacteria, viruses, and even live cancer cells. Vitamin A alone
is able to double the size of the thymus gland. Vitamin C increases the activity of certain white blood cells, making them more vigorous in seeking out and killing undesirable invaders, and stimulates other cells to make more interferon, a powerful natural anti-viral and anti-cancer biochemical.
Arthritis is believed to be a disease stemming from an attack of our own T-cells on our joint membranes and fluids.
The T-cells make deadly free radicals to use in attacking enemies like bacteria, viruses, and cancer cells. But when the T- cells make mistakes and attack our own cells, they use the damaging free radicals on us. In arthritis, the chemically reactive free radicals damage the joint membranes and lubricants, resulting in the pain and limited mobility of arthritis.
Nutrients which improve immune system function can often provide dramatic relief of arthritis symptoms both by improving the ability of the T-cells to tell us from enemies and also by reacting with the free radicals directly to stop the chain reaction of damage (a free radical is a substance with an un-aired electron in an outer orbital; it has magnetic properties
and unusually great and promiscuous chemical reactivity).
As we grow older, we become less and less able to handle all types of diseases. The diseases of age most likely to kill or disable us, such as atherosclerosis, cancer, arthritis, etc., can all be prevented by a well-functioning immune system. Scientists have been able to take aging rats (the equivalent of 80 years old for a human) and improve their immune system functions back to a young adult level. You can rejuvenate
your own immune system to a certain extent with the proper nutritional supplements, available at any health food store and a rapidly growing number of drugstores.
If you were to maintain the physiological condition you have in very early adulthood, you might reach a life span of over 800 years. The immune system is very important in determining your physiological condition. Together, the components of your immune system patrol your body to watch for undesired invaders like bacteria and viruses or defective cells
of your own body, such as cancer cells. These dangerous entities are detected, located, and killed by a competent immune system. It is because of immune system errors and failures that we get the flu or cancer or even atherosclerotic plaques (a type of tumor in which fats like cholesterol can
penetrate and further damage artery walls). But if the immune system makes a mistake by identifying some of your own cells (which are not defective) as an enemy and attacking them, this error can be extremely serious, even fatal, and causes what is known as an autoimmune disease (your own immune system attacks you). Examples are multiple sclerosis, rheumatic diseases such as arthritis, and, possibly, adult-onset diabetes.
One of the earliest pioneers of aging research, Elie Metchnikoff, wrote in his book The Prolongation of Life (1908):
“… the atrophy of … organs of the body, in old age,
is very frequently due to the action of devouring cells which
I have called macrophages.”
He also noticed that some of these macrophages attacked nerve cells in old age. Curiously, women are far more likely to contract autoimmune diseases
than men are. This may be because the two X chromosomes that women have give them a more active immune system than men, who have only one X chromosome along with the Y chromosome that makes them male. The X chromosome carries plans for part of the immune system, but the much
smaller Y chromosome does not.
Are you interested in life extension products?
mod4all ships all major brands of Modafinil from the UK
All products shipped from the UK by tracked post. We guarantee delivery.
We guarantee delivery, free reshipping.
Any questions at all about payments, shipping, etc. Anything at all, just email us.
Comments (0)