Immune balance happenings: A tale of two Californias
Posted May 31 2011 5:43pm
Two recent items coming out of California…one of innovation, one of struggle…involve immune health and could not be more diametrically opposed. I’m not sure if California itself is any reason at all for these developments, but it’s a bit interesting they both take place there.
“To a teen living in the rough areas of East Oakland, sorrow is no stranger. Random violence, worry about the future and a constant battle for basics such as healthy food, good schools and physical exercise, add up to a kind of life that can make an East Oakland teen far older than his or her chronological age.Research shows that like adults, teens exposed to chronic stress can suffer from anxiety, insomnia, depression and eating disorders; they experience short-term memory loss and inability to focus or to manage time. As teens age, there is an even bigger physical toll: Adolescents exposed to chronic stress have higher adult rates of asthma, obesity and Type 2 diabetes, and are at higher risk for some cancers and stroke.Chronic stress will upset a teens’ neurobiology, reducing their ability to regulate key hormones that restore equilibrium after stress, whether it’s a bad grade on a science quiz or a friend’s slaying.It can also raise the level of inflammatory proteins in teens’ body, putting their immune system on permanent alert, and worsening both the risk and the symptoms of illnesses that include inflammation, from asthma and eczema to diabetes and heart disease.
Wow. Sounds like the classic stress/immune conflict so frequently written about here. It is sad that such a health scenario is amplified many times in the lives of young people who are brought into a violent world through no fault of there own.
“In addition to providing essential calcium and vitamin D, Dairy Balance can help support digestive and immune health with the addition of GanedenBC30 Probiotics. Plus, there is no change in taste or texture to the new milk when GanedenBC30 is added.”
The company says that this particular probiotic ingredient can endure the stress of the manufacturing process to deliver enough viable, live bacteria to the gut to make the product effective. It’s another example of the growing importance of enhanced immune health benefits that consumer products are focusing on.
All in all, California, for good or bad, is at the heart of the immune health world this week.
Two recent items coming out of California…one of innovation, one of struggle…involve immune health and could not
be more diametrically opposed. I’m not sure if California itself is any reason at all for these developments, but it’s a bit interesting they both take place there.
One is a recent story in the Oakland Tribune/San Jose Mercury News. The piece takes a look at the general health of kids who grow up in violent urban neighborhoods.
“To a teen living in the rough areas of East Oakland, sorrow is no stranger. Random violence, worry about the future and a constant battle for basics such as healthy food, good schools and physical exercise, add up to a kind of life that can make an East Oakland teen far older than his or her chronological age. Research shows that like adults, teens exposed to chronic stress can suffer from anxiety, insomnia, depression and eating disorders; they experience short-term memory loss and inability to focus or to manage time. As teens age, there is an even bigger physical toll: Adolescents exposed to chronic stress have higher adult rates of asthma, obesity and Type 2 diabetes, and are at higher risk for some cancers and stroke. Chronic stress will upset a teens’ neurobiology, reducing their ability to regulate key hormones that restore equilibrium after stress, whether it’s a bad grade on a science quiz or a friend’s slaying. It can also raise the level of inflammatory proteins in teens’ body, putting their immune system on permanent alert, and worsening both the risk and the symptoms of illnesses that include inflammation, from asthma and eczema to diabetes and heart disease.Wow. Sounds like the classic stress/immune conflict so frequently written about here. It is sad that such a health scenario is amplified many times in the lives of young people who are brought into a violent world through no fault of there own.
The other California connection is news of a new milk beverage with added probiotic bacteria , produced by what the story describes as the largest privately owned dairy in California.
“In addition to providing essential calcium and vitamin D, Dairy Balance can help support digestive and immune health with the addition of GanedenBC30 Probiotics. Plus, there is no change in taste or texture to the new milk when GanedenBC30 is added.”The company says that this particular probiotic ingredient can endure the stress of the manufacturing process to deliver enough viable, live bacteria to the gut to make the product effective. It’s another example of the growing importance of enhanced immune health benefits that consumer products are focusing on.
All in all, California, for good or bad, is at the heart of the immune health world this week.