LifeCare Chiropractic

The Best Chiropractic Care in Mesa, Arizona

flu

FLU SEASON–JUST HOW EFFECTIVE IS THAT DARN SHOT?

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This is certainly not the first time I’ve addressed the flu vaccine in the Rantings.  But despite my widespread influence, word just doesn’t seem to be getting out.  Given the massive hype that accompanies “flu season” every year and the urging that everyone who can breathe get vaccinated (the lack of recommendations for vaccinating dead people is merely because insurance does not reimburse for treatment of dead people….), one would think that the effectiveness is as clear cut as it gets, right?  Not even close..

Consider this particular study.  First, the authors looked at clinical trials of the flu vaccination that met specific criteria.  One of the more powerful things they did was looked at lab confirmed influenza.  Many studies refer to “influenza-like illness,” which leaves much room for error.  So, authors looked at 5,707 trials over 34 years (1967-2011).  Wow–that is a LOT of trials on the flu vaccine.  Think of the money spent on this number of trials alone.  How many met the criteria for this review?  Take a guess…

31.  Yes, 31.  A smidgen over 0.5% of the studies met this criteria.  This does not mean almost every study was junk science, however, but the use of true lab confirmed influenza is a big differentiating factor for me.

Researchers looked at the trivalent inactivated vaccine (TIV) and the live attenuated influenza vaccine (LIAV).  The virus is still alive in the later, making it a riskier vaccination for those who may have weakened immune systems, which, ironically, are people who are more strongly pushed towards getting vaccinated…

 Here are the results for whether or not the vaccine was even effective against the year’s dominant strain…

  • TIV, in adults (18-65) was effective in 2/3 of the seasons
  • LIAV, in children (6 mos – 7) was effective in 3/4 of the seasons
  • For TIV, no trials in children or seniors met the criteria
  • For LIAV, no trials in children 8-17 met the criteria

So, once we can determine if vaccination is effective, THEN we can look at good it is at preventing the flu…

  • Only 35% of the studies showed vaccine effectiveness against the flu

So what were the authors’ conclusions from all this data?  “Influenza vaccines can provide moderate protection against virologically confirmed influenza, but such protection is greatly reduced or absent in some seasons. Evidence for protection in adults aged 65 years or older is lacking”

So, overall, the flu vaccine, despite being a major, massive, hyped up campaign, and, despite 100 years of it’s use still is questionable as far as how well it works.  These results are not spectacular, and yet we line up in droves to get the flu shot now even at Wal-Mart and Walgreens.  The “public health” campaign to promote this vaccine is nothing if not an incredible study of marketing.  And yet, ironically, few know what a refined carbs truly is or that you can prevent cancer.  Go figure…

So, instead of your annual jab, try things like probiotics, drinking green tea and vitamin D and a healthier lifestyle, all of which can lower your risk of getting the flu and, if you do still catch the flu, will likely lower the severity of the illness.

TRY THIS INSTEAD OF A FLU SHOT FOR YOUR CHILD

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It’s getting to be that time of year again. Flu shots are now available at your doctor’s office, the pharmacy and the car wash (seriously–just ask the windshield chip repair guy if he can give you a flu shot). You would be crazy not to give the child you love and care deeply about a flu shot. But what else can we do instead of the flu shot for your child?

This particular article gives us yet another powerful tool to help support our child’s immune system and keep them healthy during “flu” season. The added bonus is that, if your child does get the flu (which, of course, the flu shot has questionable efficacy and many still get sick), it is likely that the severity of the infection will be lessened.

Researchers found that in elementary schoolchildren who drank about at least one glass of green tea per day had 40% less chance of getting lab confirmed influenza (this is a much higher standard vs “influenza-like illness”). Not too shabby, especially considering that drinking green tea will likely provide a wide range of other benefits like lower risk of obesity and lowered rates of cancer. These are clearly NOT seen with the flu shot (quite the opposite with the concerns of mercury in the thimerosal).

I’m sure there are many of you who are thinking that there is no way that your child would drink green tea. I’m sure this is because you have not tried any of the very exciting flavors available through Republic of Tea, Teavana or China Mist.  Unsweetened, of course.

TAKE THIS FOR COLD AND FLU SEASON

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If you pay attention to the ads on TV, the second you get a sniffle you should run to Walgreens and down half a bottom of nightime-this or daytime-that. Symptom suppression is the name of the game. If that fails, resort to antibiotics.  But what if the answer is exactly the opposite?

By now almost everyone has heard about probiotics. Many times it may only be a rudimentary understanding that yogurt contains some type of bacteria in it that is good for you. 

The reality is that, over the course of hundreds of thousands of years, our bodies have developed a mutually beneficial relationship (called commensal) with the bacteria in our gut. The benefits to us are immense. Protection from nasty beings trying to infect us, detoxification of toxins from the environment, balancing of our immune system, production of certain vitamins like B12…the list is longer, but you get the idea.

The balancing of the immune system as well as the guarding of our gut and pharynx from competing viruses, bacteria and yeast clearly has the potential to lower our risk of infection. And sure enough, multiple studies have found this to be the case.

This particular review, done by the Cochrane Collaboration, which is a mutlinational think tank that evaluates medical research, continues to support the use of probiotics to lower the risk of an upper respiratory tract infection. In general, taking probiotics lowered the risk of getting an infection by 42% and, in conjunction, lowered the use of antibiotics in the studies. Not too shabby, especially considering that there is nothing, nada, zip, zilch in the armamentarium of mainstream medicine to support immune function and lower our risk of getting sick.

Now for my two cents…

If you are going to take probiotics, make sure that the levels are high enough. These are usually measured in colony forming units (CFU). Yogurt is not going to get you there.  The brand we recommend for routine use has 20 billion CFU / capsule. Make sure you read the label as many brands have much lower levels.

The jury on exactly what strains to take for what condition is still out (and probably will never reconvene, so don’t wait for it…), so a broad spectrum probiotic is best.