According to a recent report presented to the U.S. Senate, infectious diseases are the leading cause of death worldwide and the third largest cause of death among Americans.  Each year, more than 13 million people die from infectious disease.  In addition, during just the next hour, infectious disease will end another 1,500 lives!¹

 

Our immune system is constantly being bombarded by infectious diseases every day.  Usually we can withstand these bombardments, but when we are overly stressed, are not consuming the proper foods, or are frequently exposed to disease, our immune system is weakened.  This allows colds, flu's, and other highly contagious disorders to invade our bodies.  In order to prevent these diseases from infecting us, it is necessary to give our immune system a boost.

 

As sickness and disease continue to spread throughout the world, health companies have desperately tried to come up with a solution by creating a whole new wave of immune products.  The Greatest Vitamin in the World incorporated the most powerful and effective of these immune-supporting ingredients in our formula, along with a patented delivery system to ensure that these nutrients are delivered to the body better than they ever have been before.

 

Probiotics are the body’s best defense against sickness, which are good bacteria (see Probiotics).  These bacteria strains function as our body’s second immune system. They promote health by secreting tiny amounts of antibiotic-like substances; lactic acid, acetic acid, hydrogen peroxide, and others. These substances have a wide-range of activity against ‘bad’ bacterial strains of salmonella, pseudomonas, E. coli and other harmful food-borne bacteria.²

 

When the intestine is flourishing with these ‘friendly bacteria’ there is no room for the harmful, disease-causing strains to implant and grow. This is called competitive inhibition.

 

Studies show that most North Americans have less than half the amount of flora needed for optimal health.³ As bowel flora is depleted, the body becomes vulnerable to numerous diseases including colitis, diabetes, meningitis, rheumatoid arthritis, thyroid disease, even bowel cancer, and a host of additional symptoms associated with bowel toxicity. As stated previously, the healthy intestine requires the presence of friendly bacteria. However, common dietary and lifestyle factors destroy these bacteria.

 

Stress is to blame for much of our probiotic depletion. Probiotics are also diminished by strong antibacterial herbs, cortisone, carbonated drinks, laxatives, birth control pills, and lack of sleep.⁴ Poor diet, toxins in the blood stream, and the natural course of aging further rob the body of the flora it needs.

 

Signs show that probiotic depletion is becoming widespread, and as a result, infectious diseases, which were once considered to be under control have re-emerged with more ferocity than ever.  Flues and colds are more frequent and more debilitating than ever before.⁵ Ironically, the strategy used to protect us from disease further complicates the situation and puts us at greater risk.

When an individual has an infection or cold as a result of a depleted probiotic supply, a doctor’s first inclination is often to treat it with an antibiotic. Antibiotics not only kill the bad bacteria, they kill the good strains of beneficial bacterial strains. Those very same strains have already been depleted by the lifestyle and environmental factors noted above. This practice of prescribing an antibiotic for every sniffle is slowing down within the medical community as new evidence comes to light about the disastrous affects of wrongfully prescribing antibiotics for bacterial illnesses.

 

Women may be all too familiar with the antibiotic vicious cycle. Many women have gone to the doctor because they had a throat or an ear infection, were given an antibiotic and within a few weeks have had to go back to the doctor this time with a yeast infection. The antibiotic may have done its job of killing the virus which caused the flu or infection, but at the same time, it depleted the stores of friendly flora that kept yeast overgrowth in check.

 

There is a solution to get micro flora depletion other than leaving yourself open for bacterial invasion every time you eat, drink or breathe. Improving and protecting your immune system from the effects of stress and lifestyle is a matter of making proper nutritional choices.
 

 

1. Global Health Act of 2000 (Intr to House). HR 3826 IH, 106th Congress, 2d Session, H.R. 3826.
2. Fernandes CF, Shahani, KM, Amer MA. Therapeutic role of dietary lactobacilli and lactobacillic fermented dairy foods. FEMS Microbiol Rev 1987; 46:343-356.
3. Shahani, Hem M., Ph.D. and Nagendra Rangavajhyala, Ph.D. "Role of Probiotics in Clinical Nutrition and Immunity" Paper presented at the Ann. Conf. of the International American Assns of Clinical Nutritionists, Orlando, FL,  Aug. 28-31, 1997.
4. Garrett, Laurie. The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World out of Balance.  New York: Penguin Books, 1994.
5. Ibid.