Protein in the Raw

Selenium is an essential trace element that is naturally occurring in certain foods and is a component of more than two dozen Selenium-dependent enzymes that play critical roles in reproduction, thyroid metabolism, DNA synthesis, protection from oxidative damage and infection.

According to the journal Advances in Nutrition, Selenium is crucial for the health and proper function of your immune system. Higher levels of Selenium may help boost the immune system of people with HIV, influenza, tuberculosis, and hepatitis C.

Viral and bacterial infections are often associated with deficiencies in micronutrients including the essential trace element Selenium. In Selenium deficiency, benign strains of Coxsackie and influenza virus can mutate to highly pathogenic strains. Nutritional supplementation to achieve optimum Selenium levels has been shown to benefit patients suffering from certain viral diseases including HIV and influenza.

Vitamin C is an essential nutrient that must be obtained from the diet or nutritional supplements and is known to significantly boost immunity. According to Immune Network (April 2013), Vitamin C Is an Essential Factor on the Anti-viral Immune Responses through the Production of Interferon-α/β at the Initial Stage of Influenza A Virus (H3N2) Infection.

Vitamin C helps encourage the production of white blood cells known as lymphocytes and phagocytes, which help protect the body against infection. Vitamin C also helps these white blood cells function more effectively while protecting them from damage by harmful molecules called free radicals. Studies have also shown that taking vitamin C shortens wound healing time.

People who have pneumonia tend to have lower vitamin C levels, and vitamin C supplements have been shown to shorten the recovery time. Low levels of vitamin C can result in impaired immunity and an increased risk of infection. Worse yet, infections further lower vitamin C levels as immune cells increase their use of vitamin C during the inflammatory process. This can become a vicious cycle of sickness and nutrient deficiency.

Vitamin C is also required for the maturation of T lymphocytes, blood cells that help protect the body from infection. Vitamin C accumulates in neutrophils, or white blood cells, and facilitates their movement as they kill pathogens.

Vitamin C is not just vital for cellular immunity; it enhances another aspect of the immune system by strengthening the protective barrier of Lung tissue and stimulates repair of the alveolar epithelial lining surface, damaged in acute lung injury caused by sepsis in mice. This protective mechanism in the lung alveolar epithelial surface was shown to be related to Vitamin C’s ability to stimulate the rebuilding of cellular tight-junctions.

A sufficient amount of vitamin D is critical for normal growth and development of bones and teeth as well as resistance against certain diseases. Vitamin D regulates the absorption of calcium and phosphorus and promotes normal immune  function.

Research suggests that vitamin D may also play a role in:
reducing your risk of multiple sclerosis (Journal of the American Medical Association 2006),
decreasing your chance of developing heart disease (Circulation 2008) and helping to reduce your likelihood of developing the flu according to (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2010)

Vitamin D is a potent immune system modulator and its receptors are expressed by most cells of the immune system including regulatory T cells and antigen-presenting cells including macrophages.

There is considerable scientific evidence that Vitamin D has a variety of effects on immune function which may enhance innate immunity and inhibit the development of autoimmunity. Vitamin D deficiency compromises the integrity of the immune system and leads to chronic disease.

Zinc is an essential trace element for all forms of life and is critical for all protein synthesis in the human body. Clinical Zinc deficiency in humans was first described in 1961 when the consumption of diets with low Zinc bioavailability was associated with “adolescent nutritional dwarfism” in the Middle East. Since then, Zinc insufficiency has been recognized by a number of experts as an important public health issue, especially in low-resource countries.

Numerous aspects of cellular metabolism are Zinc-dependent. Zinc plays important roles in growth and development, immune function, neurotransmission, vision, reproduction, and intestinal ion transport. Using data mining approaches, it has been estimated that over 3,000 proteins in humans have functional Zinc-binding sites.

Zinc supplementation was found to have a positive impact on certain aspects of immune function that are affected by Zinc deficiency, such as the decline in T-cell (a type of lymphocyte) function. A randomized, placebo-controlled study in adults over 65 years of age found that Zinc supplementation (25 mg/day) for three months increased blood concentrations of helper T-cells and cytotoxic T-cells. Additionally, a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in 101 older adults (aged 50-70 years) with normal blood Zinc concentrations showed that Zinc supplementation at 15 mg/day for six months improved the helper T-cells/cytotoxic T-cells ratio, which tends to decline with age and is a predictor of survival.

Coriolus versicolor is a mushroom that’s also known as Yun zhi in China and Kawaratake in Japan and Turkey Tail in North America belongs to a group of compounds called immunomodulatory agents. 

However, throughout ancient history, the main use of garlic was for its health and medicinal properties.

Its use was well documented by many major civilizations, including the Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks, Romans and Chinese.

Scientists now know that most of its health benefits are caused by sulfur compounds and perhaps the most famous of those is known as Allicin. Other compounds that may play a role in garlic’s health benefits include diallyl disulfide and s-allyl cysteine.

The sulfur compounds from garlic enter the body from the digestive tract and travel all over the body, where it exerts its potent biological effects.

One large, 12-week study found that a daily garlic supplement reduced the number of colds by 63% compared to a placebo.

The average length of cold symptoms was also reduced by 70%, from 5 days in the placebo group to just 1.5 days in the garlic group.

Another study found that a high dose of aged Garlic Extract (2.56 grams per day) reduced the number of days sick with cold or flu by 61%.

Colostrum has only received widespread attention as a nutritional supplement since the 1990s, but it has a long history of medicinal use. In India, Ayurvedic Physicians have used Colostrum as a treatment for various diseases for thousands of years and in the USA it was used as an antibacterial agent until the discovery of antibiotics. 

Olive Leaf Extract is a nutritional supplement derived from the leaves of the olive tree–the source of both olives and olive oil–and contains several key Polyphenols such as Oleuropein, Oleacein, Olenolic acid and Tyrosol. These Polyphenols occur naturally in plants, and research suggests that they may help protect against a range of conditions such as heart disease and cancer.

Olive Leaf Extract has anti-viral properties and is used in Nutritional Medicine to treat a variety of viral infections. In laboratory testing, Olive Leaf Extract was shown to be effective against Influenza, Herpes, Mononucleosis, Rotavirus and HIV. Olive Leaf Extract also has both blood sugar and blood pressure lowering properties.