Vaccine Support - Stephen Duncan Nutrition

If talking about the dangers of mask wearing and their potential to be just yet another source of environmental toxins is a political hot potato, then vaccines is hotter than a hot volcano. I understand personal choice and informed consent and ultimately the concept of bodily autonomy. Your health is in part the sum of your genetic weaknesses to coping with life and what’s called epigenetic, what you do and how you live your, or nature versus nurture. So if you have some genes for detoxification that indicate you are likely to breakdown some chemicals more slowly than others or require more nutrients to support detoxification than others then the less you overload that capacity the better would make sense. Masks worn for prolonged periods increase your exposure to toxins and some of these toxins may already be in your environment. So I feel it’s of value to know this as some of us will be in situations that masks may be used regularly and for prolonged periods. That is no comment on exemptions or the rights or wrongs of their effectiveness in public, non-clinical settings, to limit the spread of viral infections or protection from viruses.

In a similar vein are vaccines. I am going to go through the toxicity challenges and how you can prepare your body to cope better and maximise the effect and then support your immune system to be as robust as possible going forward. The issues with medicine is always that we are all different, cope differently, need different medicines at different times at different dosages for different reasons. It’s always the differences within us unique humans that matter in life and health. One person copes and benefits from a medicine in this case a vaccine and in the next they don’t, coping impacts the benefits. We all know drugs can have side effects. Some people decide that they can live with the side effects because the benefits out way the challenges. I would argue a supplement, food, drug or toxin has an effect, they interact with our bodies biochemical machinery in each of our cells and more of one thing and less of another is the result or effect. If that effect is an increase in antibodies in an immune system ready to do it’s job but a liver that is suppressed and less able to do its job, maybe the effects/side effects are that you do not become infected by a certain pathogen or bug.

However, you have more headaches and neurological issues as part of the effect of the supplement or drug’s challenge on the liver to have sufficient nutrient storage to be able to breakdown the chemical and send it packing off out the body, or was deficient in the necessary nutrients to do that, so for safety packed it off in fat storage. Nerves are enveloped by fat, hence the headaches and neurological issues.

Now these vaccines to protect us against the coronavirus are experimental and in whats called Phase 3 of a clinical trial, and are now being administered out with the experimental group and within the general population. They have been authorised for emergency use due to the current status of COVID-19 as being a pandemic and so do not yet have full authorisation or license and therefore have further more thorough scrutiny to go through. We are still waiting for studies to compare the effects in terms of immunity, reduced infection and transmission as well as reducing severity of symptoms until we are in to 2023 and beyond. Therefore at the moment some of the positives are hoped for and speculative and the negatives equally so, the body of evidence is only being learned week to week at present and being reported in places such as Yellow Card. As always with science it changes and relies on new information and new thinking. In time, some of what I am going to discuss may change in light of new evidence.

Vaccines obviously impact the immune system. However, depending upon how well your immune system copes can increase the likelihood of what’s known as adverse events. The risk of adverse events and benefit of enhanced immunity is where the rubber hits the road with the debate on vaccines. For some there are concerns over not just the short term risks of adverse events, the first 12-48 hrs but also the following 4-16 months and in the years to come. Initially there are fears over anaphylaxis and allergic responses, in the medium its a concept known as Antibody Dependent Enhancement (ADE) and long term its autoimmune conditions.

For those that want the vaccine the trade off is the potential risk of adverse events set against the risk of infection and potential for death. It is difficult to be neutral on the subject as you could argue the stakes could be much higher and are heavily underpinned by emotion and belief, alongside emerging science.

Those that believe the risks out weigh the benefits are refereed to in mainstream media as “anti-vax”. On the other side those that believe in the reduction of historical incidence of communicable or infectious diseases is due to vaccines focus on the benefit of immunity and are known as “pro-vaccine”. With these Covid vaccines being experimental there are people that are identifying as “vaccine hesitant or refusers”.

There are also people that prefer to learn the pros and cons and then decide what is best for them, and that is all about informed consent, if you know what a medicine does and you know your own health you are better placed to decide on your personal need for the medicine and what to do to maximise benefits and minimise risk. There are people that want to take the vaccine to enable the pandemic restrictions to be lifted and thats a political debate.

Those that want to take the vaccine to prevent them infecting others, to reduce viral spread and therefore for public health or social responsibility need to know that they will cope with the vaccine and their immune systems will cope as intended and therefore achieve the desired level of immunity to reduce transmission. If your immune system doesn’t play ball you will not benefit from a vaccine. So we will look at the ways you improve your chances of successful vaccination leading to immunisation and the ultimate goal of reduced levels of virus within the community. It is worthwhile saying that the evidence, as is normal with viruses, is that they become endemic, they are always present at low levels in the community. Therefore the immediate fear is the need to vaccinate to end the coronavirus pandemic but the long term issue is healthy immune systems and long term immunity.

One of the issues with long term success of vaccination is the decrease in complications or incidence of a disease can be offset by the creation of chronic immunological diseases they have been implicated in causing; diabetes, asthma, allergies, and immune mediated cancers. This brings in the issue of efficacy and effectiveness. At this point in time we have moved from investigating the efficacy which needs to be at a level of 50% or above to be approved for use with the public and is identified during clinical trials. Whereas effectiveness is what we see once the vaccine is administered in real world conditions within the general public.

There are around 250 coronavirus vaccines at various stages of development worldwide and within the U.K. The two main vaccines available at present are the Pfizer-BioNTech and the Oxford AstraZeneca. They work very differently and are also made of different stuff or properly referred to as adjuvants and excipients. The Pfizer is one of the mRNA vaccines more accurately referred to as biologics or gene therapy and uses new technology. The AstraZeneca is more conventional as far as vaccines go and is based on what’s called an adenovirus vector.

The adjuvants are used to make the immune response more effective so they stimulate the immune system.

The excipients are the ingredients or vehicle the drug is delivered in.

Pfizer adjuvants and excipients

nucleoside-modified messenger RNA (modRNA) encoding the viral spike glycoprotein (S) of SARS-CoV-2 (active ingredient)
ALC-0315 = (4-hydroxybutyl) azanediyl)bis (hexane-6,1-diyl)bis(2-hexyldecanoate) (lipids)
ALC-0159 = 2-[(polyethylene glycol)-2000]-N,N-ditetradecylacetamide
1,2-Distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine
cholesterol
potassium chloride (salts)
potassium dihydrogen phosphate
sodium chloride
disodium hydrogen phosphate dihydrate
sucrose
water for injections

AstraZeneca adjuvants and excipients

COVID 19 Vaccine (ChAdOx1-S* recombinant) 5 × 10^10 viral particles

Recombinant, replication-deficient chimpanzee adenovirus vector encoding the SARS CoV 2 Spike glycoprotein. Produced in genetically modified human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293 cells.

(This product contains genetically modified organisms (GMOs))

L-Histidine
L-Histidine hydrochloride monohydrate
Magnesium chloride hexahydrate
Polysorbate 80
Ethanol
Sucrose
Sodium chloride
Disodium edetate dihydrate
Water for injections

I don’t want this article to be about the pros and cons of vaccination, or whether to choose to get the COVID-19 vaccines or even which one, so I want to minimise the focus on side effects or adverse events to instead highlight how your immune system works and how best to benefit if you go down that route. Some people will get vaccinated out of choice and others through actual or implied coercion and in either case information on how the body copes and how you can help I feel is of more benefit. There are many many articles discussing this subject from the perspective of the need for the vaccine and in opposition the adverse events. However I don’t want to shy away from giving my opinion in the most contested and important health decision in my opinion, that we as humans have ever had to make one way or the other, I am a healthy guy and my life is all about learning about how to build health and how the body works, my personal life is living and breathing health and my business and service to clients is centred on how they can overcome their health challenges and optimise their health.

My focus is always first and foremost the human body can heal itself if given the right tools. We are all unique, as unique as finger prints and some of us do need medication, it’s never a drugs are unconditionally bad in absolute terms, as that is a unscientific view, neglects my 26 years of client experience and never ending study on the human body. Building health once you know your own weaknesses, imbalances and loss of function and supported based on need, through medication, is what I typically advocate. I am an unlicensed health practitioner and have no intention of practising medicine without a license so always discuss medicines and your medical health with your doctor. It is unfortunate that at this point in time informed consent is not readily available and there are significant issues with coercion for many.

If you decide to get vaccinated for coronavirus then learning how to maximise your immune system’s response has never been more essential. However, for those that haven’t already been vaccinated, before they do, hopefully through personal choice, I would strongly advise listening to this video.

It is not pro or anti vaccine per se, the person speaking is one of the worlds foremost experts in virology and works within the vaccine industry, but discusses the issues for the coming months now the vaccine has been rolled out to the mass population, and also reading this supporting document.

This very well respected scientist discusses specifically the challenges with the nature of the vaccine roll out and the lack of understanding and focus on the potential for something called “viral immune escape”. The virus creates variants in order to survive, and the specificity of the vaccines leads to variants being created that are more virulent, more infectious. All those people that have been vaccinated can become asymptomatic carriers! The vaccinated can increase the spread of the virus and we will see more “cases”. The most vulnerable are still the elderly but also the young that due to lockdown will have lowered natural immunity, they will have lower levels of antibodies than they previously had to further increase the potential for those that could become ill.

Immune system and pathogens

There’s always confusion in matters of health; what to eat, how to exercise, whether to take this supplement or that one. However, in Covid times that confusion has taken on a whole new level, misinformation and the unknown in scientific terms has gone in to overdrive.

So I think it’s always a good idea to learn some of the basics, so its less likely you will have the wool pulled over your eyes. The immune system is a complicated system, well its a system obviously for starters, but it has different aspects to how it functions and with it’s huge role in survival it has many cells geared towards managing this important roll.

Types of immunity

The immune system operates by using different types of Innate Immunity or whats also called Naturally Acquired Immunity and there is also Adaptive Immunity or Artificially Acquired Immunity.

Antibody – immune system chemicals properly immunoglobulins, there are 5 types each with different jobs, some like IgE or IgG in connection with food allergies, immediate or delayed respectively, you may have heard of. There are also IgA, IgM and IgD.

The antibodies job is not to kill the foreign particle but to tag it and let the immune system knows its there and needs dealt with.

Once an antibody has been created a copy is kept on file by the body for future reference should you encounter the same challenge (antigen) again the body can then go from a slow to a fast response in dealing with the threat if it ever comes along again.

Innate immunity

Develops passively when antibodies are transferred from the mother to the foetus across the placenta. There are no memory cells involved so it’s a short term solution, its a non-specific response. It can also develop actively when the body is exposed to an infection it will manufacture its own antibodies to combat the infection, along with memory cells. Due to the presence of memory cells the response time when exposed to the same infection again decreases.

Adaptive immunity

If the Innate Immune System cant deal with the problem then the Adaptive or Acquired Immune System kicks in. Develops passively and actively. Passively comes from antibodies that are developed as we age from childhood to adulthood. Actively is achieved by a vaccine being given to a healthy human, the body is stimulated into producing antibodies and memory cells against this vaccine and thus it is hoped building an immunity to the disease. Vaccination is the action of giving the medicine, immunisation is the intended effect of the medicine.

The Adaptive branch of the immune system has two branches;

First Line Defence – Humoral
Back up Defence – Cell-mediated

Both of these branches use immune cells known as lymphocytes (type of white blood cell) which are produced from stem cells in the bone marrow.

There are two types of white blood cells;

Phagocytes

Neutrophils
Monocytes
Macrophages
Mast cells

Leukocytes

B lymphocytes (B cells) – they produce antibodies and help alert the T lymphocytes.
T lymphocytes (T cells) – they destroy compromised cells in the body and help alert other leukocytes.

Scanning electron micrograph of a human T-Cell

The plan of attack for an invading pathogen that enters the body is for the antibodies to call on the white blood cells, lymphocytes to come and destroy it. If that wave of cells doesn’t do the job and the bacteria or viruses enters the cells then the cell-mediated response kicks into action and identifies the infected cell and then goes to work.

Humoral immune response

Uses B cells (B-lymphocytes) produced in the bone marrow, where they also mature. There are many different types of B cells. When a foreign antigen (a molecule present on the outside of a pathogen) enters the blood it combines with a few B cells which then divide rapidly. These cells then produce mainly antibodies but also memory cells. The memory cells can live for large periods of time, sometimes even for life.

Antigen – a substance that can create an immune response, typically bacteria, fungus, virus, toxin, or foreign bodies.

Cell-mediated immune response

Uses T cells (T-lymphocytes) which are produced in the bone marrow and mature in the thymus gland before they circulate the body in the blood until it meets an antigen it has the receptor site for. It is then stimulated to divide many times to form clones.

This process leads to the formation of three types of T cells:

Killer cells – causes breakdown of target cells, will destroy virus infected or cancer cells.
Helper cells – activate B-lymphocytes to produce antibodies.
Suppressor cells – turn off immune response, e.g. turning off antibody production

Vaccines

Vaccines work by injecting small amounts of antigens from a disease into the body. This triggers an immune response and antibodies are produced. Then when the the body identifies the presence of these antigens for a second time (comes into contact with the wild type virus – what you would find in the real world) the response is far quicker due to the memory cells, the response may be so effective there are no symptoms.

Herd immunity

Studies have shown that natural immunity involves multiple components of the fight against viruses whereas vaccines used to establish immunity to spike proteins can be too specific and narrow. Natural infection can provide 94% protection for at least 5 months.

If a large proportion of a population is immune to the virus that reduces the likelihood of infection for those with a weaker immune system and lack immunity.

Typically if you become ill naturally the period of inflammation or illness will last several days where its more likely 12-48 hrs if vaccinated for that illness.

The antibody response to coronavirus is comparable naturally versus vaccine in terms of the immune cells created but the size of the antibody response when naturally infected tends to be larger than when vaccinated.

The virus tends to stimulate and be dealt with by the Th1 helper cells when naturally infected but Th1 or Th2 if vaccinated.

It is expected that natural immunity can be life long whereas it can 1-10 years for vaccination derived immunity. This is part of ongoing research.

The part of the immune system response that destroys virus infected cells, CD8 T cells seems to be also higher in natural infection versus vaccinated. The T cell response is key, and are more resistant than antibodies to virus variants. Different forms of the virus have higher infectiousness and is a growing concern so knowing the body has a system to help specifically is comforting and can be directly supported. T cells target multiple sites of the virus proteins and not just the spike protein we have heard so much about in the media. These T cells make it harder for the virus to mutate and evade detection.

Immune system balance

The nature of the adverse events that people may experience is based on a specific aspect of your bodies immune system known as Th1:Th2 Imbalance and generated by T Helper cells that result in activation or suppression of the immune system.

If you have a high Th1 response (cell-mediated immunity) and is pro-inflammatory in nature, then you produce cells that attack the virus but it may be short lived. This can lead to autoimmune disease.

If you have a more Th2 response (humoral immunity), and is an anti-inflammatory response, then you will more likely increase food sensitivities, inflammatory responses and lung problems. The Th1 or Th2 immune response involves the release of different chemicals known as cytokines. Some people may have heard the term “cytokine storm” used a lot in past year with respect to the severity of a COVID-19 infection.

These cytokines are a hormonal messenger responsible for most of the effects of the immune system, such as cell mediated immunity and allergic type responses. Cytokines can be functionally divided into two groups: those that are pro-inflammatory and those that are essentially anti-inflammatory but that promote allergic responses.

T cells (or T lymphocytes, type of white blood cell) are a major source of cytokines. These cells bear antigen specific receptors on their cell surface to allow recognition of foreign pathogens. They can also recognise normal tissue during episodes of autoimmune diseases.

Th1 versus Th2 balance

There is plenty of research in supporting the balance of the Th1:Th2 immune system for allergies, in pregnancy to reduce childhood allergies with the normal strength of the Th2 system but when its too dominant support is required for the Th1 response. As always life is about balance.

There is some research in the area of vaccination and the reduced exposure to different microbes or bugs and an increase the incidence of exaggerated immune responses such as elevated levels of IgE and issues such as the severity of nut allergies is an example that is brought into question. This may also be in part due to the increased vaccination schedules and the need to research how vaccines can better mimic the positive effects of infection.

The imbalance in Th1:Th2 is what has been discussed in cases of adverse reactions to vaccines and therefore Covid vaccines.

Adverse events specific risks

As always with health there is so much you can do to become the best version of yourself and cope with the challenges, internally or externally, your life places upon it.

The more stress you place your body under the more likely you are not to cope with a toxin or foreign body entering your body. In the case of vaccines the adjuvants and excipients could be responsible for over loading the detoxification systems of your body to remove these chemicals and also the stimulation of the immune system.

Vaccine Toxicity

Polyethylene Glycol

With the Pfizer/Biontech mRNA vaccine the most discussed chemical to cause short term adverse reactions is Poly Ethylene Glycol (PEG). In a 2016 study it was shown that up to 72% of the population might have antibodies to PEG and 7% have high enough levels to increase the chances of anaphylactic reactions.

It seems that PEG, the coating to protect the mRNA not get broken down in the body before it reaches the cells and what is meant if you hear about lipid nano particles, may overload the innate immune system. The immune system mistakenly recognises PEG as a virus and attacks it.

The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines seem to develop short term adverse events from a chemical related to PEG known as Polysorbate 80. It has to be said some of these short term adverse events include death so are extremely significant and relevant to a discussion on the effects and benefits of vaccines.

Polysorbate 80

Polysorbate 80 seems to increase what’s called Oxidative Stress, the creation of free radicals that causes tissue damage and requires antioxidants to repair and detoxify the chemical.

Genetic risk or weakness

There are other factors involved in the responses to vaccination and the fight against coronavirus. Different variants or variations of genes you have can increase the likelihood of adverse events. This is an expanding field.

Genetic risk of COVID-19 infection and risk of severe disease

I regularly use genetic assessments as a deeper level of health investigation with more chronic health challenges to look at pre-dispositions to the body not working at optimal. Some genes lead to enzymes that drive how your body creates or breaks down food for energy or makes chemicals such as hormones, breaks down toxins and how efficient it is at making the cells of your nervous system or immune system. Knowing these genetic weaknesses helps when looking at functional lab tests and matching to symptoms. We can then see a really complete picture of the vitamins, minerals, proteins, fats and carbohydrates you need to work at your best. It’s said genetics loads the gun and environment or epigenetics pulls the trigger.

In the case of COVID-19 it’s still early days but looking at other viruses we know about and how the copes and mounts a response we can look at genes that could be strongly linked to your risk of infection from COVID-19 and whether your genetics indicate the likelihood if you are infected will it be severe and are you one of those people we have heard about that produce too strong a response, a cytokine storm. This is still part of scientific debate.

These two images show variants of genes I have that might be involved in my risks regards COVID-19. There are one or two companies now looking at these genes and providing reports. Many of these genes will be identified in the genetic testing I use as part of the immune health analysis. We all have these genes but we dont all have the variants that lead to loss of function or less efficient function. Less efficiency sounds bad but more B vitamins and minerals like zinc and magnesium are commonly recommend once we know this. Its difficult when talking about genetics and our health to keep it in perspective, genetics is not our destiny.

Gut health and prior antibiotic use

Previous use of antibiotics that alters the probiotic balance in the gut, increases inflammation and weakens the immune response.

Gut health and drugs

The vaccines since they are still in the experimental stage of development haven’t been studied as yet for their effects alongside multiple medications and in themselves multiple medications known as poly pharmacy are a known reason to lower gut function and therefore immunity.

Drugs known to challenge the levels of good bacteria include;

Proton-pump inhibitors (PPIs; Omeprazole, Lansoprazole)
Metformin
Laxatives
SSRIs (antidepressants; citalopram, fluoxetine, sertraline)

Environmental toxins

In a previous article I wrote about the toxins that are prevalent in masks and also used in the government led fight against coronavirus infection, these “forever chemicals” such as Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroaklyl substances are known as potent immuno-toxicants. They are also widespread in foods, fast food containers, nonstick cookware, personal care products, stain resistant carpets etc.

Studies have shown higher blood levels of these chemicals are associated with increased severity of COVID-19 infections and reduced vaccine efficacy and subsequent antibody response. A growing concern and raised in the video from above, exaggerated as variants increase, is vaccine resistance. These toxins suppress the antibody response increasing the likelihood much like we have seen with antibiotic resistance the bugs get more killer at evading our tricks to catch them and our tricks become weaker at the same time allowing more infectious strains of the virus to develop and infect more people.

Obesity

It has long been known that vaccines work less well in those that are overweight and obese. There has been press on the strong correlation between coronavirus infection and levels of obesity. Obesity has linked to a weakened immune response and this may exaggerated in the case of COVID-19 from the fact the ACE2 receptor that the SARS-Cov 2 virus uses to enter ourselves is expressed at high levels in fat cells.

In people that are obese there can be more likelihood of low grade inflammation which leads to constant release of the immune regulation proteins, cytokines. This results in weakened immunity that can also involve the all important T cells being produced at lower amounts. This is what the media are talking about when you hear the term “immuno-compromised”.

Lifestyle factors

Switch off the TV

Its long been known that following the media whether TV, online or printed press leads to higher levels of fear and that fear suppresses the immune system. It has been all consuming this COVID-19 pandemic and for many spending what became months at home watching the TV almost an addiction tuning in to daily government press briefings. The subject of these briefings was fear, stress and anxiety.

Sleep

In turn this anxiety tends to lead to poor sleep. Poor sleep predicts how you cope with day to day challenges.

Poor sleep has been shown to cause the production of fewer antibodies and in one study showed a 11.5 times lower antibody response to vaccination. So not getting enough sleep and quality sleep impacts your immune system health and in turn if you choose to be vaccinated lowers the benefit.

The stress of worrying constantly about all things coronavirus also suppresses the liver that we need strong to detox all of our environmental toxins including drug metabolism and support immune function. The stress also directly impacts the levels of those good bacteria, probiotics,

Lowered immune system function also slows recovery as well as increased risk of infection and higher risk of developing an autoimmune condition.

Diet

The older we are the higher our susceptibility to illness and viral infection. One of the aspects to maintaining health as we age is appetite to eat enough to bring in the necessary nutrients and especially if living alone the motivation to eat good quality food to ensue the food you do eat consumes enough nutrients. The sum of this aging effect of diet is malnutrition. This doesn’t have to be at levels to causes but lower levels of nutrients slows detoxification as its nutrient driven and weakness the immune system as dietary nutrients are the building blocks of our immune cells. You make less immune cells, they don’t live as long and the chemicals used to kills the invaders are at lower numbers. Studies over the last 10 years have shown a link between the elderly, malnourishment and an increased risk of infection.

The key nutrients for immune system protection, reduce infection risk and enhance benefits and coping with vaccination;

Zinc
Calcium
Magnesium
Vitamin B9 (folate)
Vitamin D
Vitamin A
Low calorie diets
Protein
Fibre

Strategies to minimise vaccine adverse events and maximise benefits of vaccination

Most research, and any media that choose to talk about positives over fear focusing on what we can actually do to help our health, talk about the more obvious supplements; vitamins A, C and D as well as zinc.

In addition in terms of supplements B vitamins and the minerals magnesium and selenium can help regulate and support the immune system. Those that are most beneficial are the ones we are most commonly deficient, with the vitamin D being the most obvious and most heavily researched in relation to immune function and specifically coronavirus infection risk and recovery.

Running a stool test to identify levels of bad bugs that challenge your immune system, how balanced and strong your probiotic levels are and whether aspects of your immune system such as your Immunoglobulin A (known as sIgA) which is the primary immunoglobulin in the lining of your digestive system. SIgA represents a “first line of defense” in response to antigens and pathogens in the digestive and respiratory tracts. In addition to protecting against pathogens, SIgA plays a major role in helping to maintain balance in the microbiome.

SIgA levels that are low are more common when you are “immuno-compromised”. You are more susceptible to infection from bad bugs in the environment that are not just viruses. There are always reasons for learning the function of your digestive and immune system to identify ways to boost your health that go beyond the current purported threat of COVID-19.

Prebiotic and Probiotics

They have been shown to support a balanced and functional microbiome. Health of the microbiome is critical to gut health and if 80% of the bodies immune cells are created from within the gut then prebiotics and probiotics definitely have their place in a robust healthy person with an immune system capable of doing its job to minimise risks of infection, minimise symptoms and lower the probability of vaccine induced adverse events.

Vitamin D

Vitamin D levels have been shown to be lower in those infected with COVID-19 and inflammatory response is higher. When you know your current vitamin D levels from a blood test, your current intake (probably not from sun exposure in the U.K. or for that matter diet but supplementation) as well as body weight we can work out a dosing strategy based on a loading and maintenance phase that more quickly helps achieve an optimal more healthy range. I hear plenty about taking supplements to reverse deficiency but commonly the levels are too low and not applied in the context of the health of the individual so no wonder these approaches dont work and that its hard to build faith in the public that supplements can work.

Curcumin

Its an antioxidant, antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory and protects the liver. That’s a lot. Its a very popular supplement, not always the best for detoxification, but much more helpful for the immune system. It has also been shown to modulate or manage an appropriate responsiveness of the immune system, that is key in coping with coronavirus infection or in terms of the immune systems response to vaccination. It also seems to be helpful in specifically supporting our innate immunity with the bodies production of T cells.

Other supplements with a lot science to support their use in balanced the response of the immune system are Beta Glucan and a supplement growing in popularity in this area, Rice Bran Arabinoxylan Compound (RBAC).

Silica (orthosilic acid)

This essential mineral, the second most abundant element on earth behind oxygen, as it’s part of the Earth’s crust, as well as rocks, clays and sands and can be found in connective tissue, arteries, tendons, skin and the cornea of the eye. It can be taken as a supplement but can also be found at higher levels in a diet more balanced towards plants. My preference is to consume it alongside a gut healthy product, bone broth to add to the healing support.

Foods high in silica;

Green beans
Spinach
Bananas
Brown rice
Lentils
Oats

Silica can help activate more B cells and antibodies. It is more commonly deficient in the elderly.

Be healthy

All the obvious things you can do to get and stay healthy are the same factors we should focus if avoiding infections and if we choose to be vaccinated cope and benefit from. If I had my way this next list would be discussed every day on the evening news, we can but dream!

Don’t smoke
Healthy diet – avoid processed and fast foods
Exercise regularly
Maintain a healthy weight
Don’t go crazy on alcohol (even if you are stuck at home bored)
Get adequate sleep (typically 6-8hrs)
Minimise stress (always easy to say harder to do, but so so important in Covid times)
Spend time in nature

I am obviously like a lot of us that work in the U.K. currently spending my life on Zoom. However I have found a key almost mandatory de-stressor for me is getting outside if not everyday absolutely maximise opportunities to be outside and in nature at the weekend. Never been so grateful for having a dog and living right next to woods to help that become a much easier task as well as a much loved and appreciated one. In light of situations I am aware for others I am very lucky to be able to do this so readily.

Limitations to health

My advice would be to not get vaccinated if you have had a stressful week, not sleeping properly for you or feeling unwell and not hydrated. I appreciate due to media and government pressure some of us are very keen to be vaccinated so do not want to miss or delay the opportunity. However you only have one health and cant help but think following some health building principles could minimise the risks and maximise the benefits. If you are not in line to be vaccinated soon or prefer not to be vaccinated then an ongoing focus on healthy can only help minimise risk of infection whilst you wait and avoid it in entirety.

I have found many people during this period have used it to focus on their health issues and want to know what their individual challenges are so have been testing the function of their hormones, digestion, detoxification and immune systems.

There are some key areas that testing can help in respect of tolerance to vaccines.

Use of antibiotics and drugs
Digestion function in particular Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO),
Presence of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD)
Family history of autoimmunity
Chronic inflammatory conditions
Body weight
Sleep quantity
Stress levels
Hypertension
Blood tests – inflammatory markers, autoimmune markers, white blood cell counts, vitamin D

With a subject this emotive and divisive I thought I would list a series of references for those that want to see supporting evidence for any contentious points or to read further and learn more about immunity and vaccination. A belief in informed consent, personal choice in health as well as medicine and above al bodily autonomy are principles behind my motivation to write this article.

Bibliography

Further Research: Covid-19 Vaccine Safety Research

Image: Sara Bahkshi