The professor dispelled old myths: garlic, ginger and lemon do not increase resistance to diseases, their actual effect is different.

We spoke with Vita Pašukoniene, Professor, Head of the Immunology Laboratory of the National Cancer Institute (IMI), Doctor in Biomedical Sciences, about the activity of the immune system, its functions, the real effects of these products on our body and the benefits of being outdoor.

Garlic and ginger do not increase resistance to disease, but they have good properties.

According to the Doctor of Biomedical Sciences, the very word “immunity” is understood by the general public as resistance to disease and is used in a different sense from that of doctors. The interlocutor emphasizes that only the general condition of the body can be strengthened, not the immune system itself.

“The resistance of the body depends on the general condition of the body: how physically strong it is, how hardened it is, if it is rested and tired from prolonged stress and if it does not suffer from diseases that unbalance the immune system in one way or another. It is required hardening, and it is certainly possible to do it in winter. You need to move as much as possible, whether winter or summer, normal year or quarantine. And stress hormones and serotonin-melatonin metabolism disorders, which now, when you are sitting at home, they are often confused day and night, not only lead to depression, but also directly suppress the reactions of the immune system. So there are definitely tools to strengthen the body.

However, people in the medical world generally understand immunity as a condition of the immune system, a key component of our resistance to disease. And already here the conversation about strengthening the immune system is really a science-based speculation, ”says V. Pašukonienė.

And how are garlic, ginger, honey, lemon and other products that are believed to strengthen immunity? The interlocutor states that we need to obtain enough necessary substances from food for each organ or cell, but there is no scientific evidence that some products can increase resistance to infections. However, she says, you shouldn’t remove these items from the shelves in your home because they really have useful properties.

“We must not forget that on the surface of the mucous membranes of our mouth, throat and nose there are always hostile microorganisms for us. Only a statistically small percentage of them bother us. And food or air that contains various bactericides helps reduce the number of dangerous pathogens.

Therefore, garlic, honey, ginger, flaky berries, citrus fruits, pine needle extracts, and other natural bactericidal compounds can actually help the body stay sick by reducing the number of invading enemy swarms. This is how we can help our immune system, ”says V. Pašukonienė.

Three tools to help your body

As the interlocutor explains, the same is true of being outdoors: it does not in itself increase resistance to disease, but it can help improve health.

“Oxygen, sunlight, phytoncides in the forest air: all this is useful for any organism to regain what we lose for a long time after being trapped in the bubbles of our facilities”, says V. Pašukonienė.

It highlights three tools that can help the body get stronger. The first is frost resistance: “The hardening of the body is related to the ability of body systems, such as the skin, blood capillaries and mucosal epithelium, to respond as quickly as possible to changing environmental conditions, shrink rapidly while retaining heat and expand again by rapidly supplying blood-protected surfaces. positions for front-line pathogens.

If we are unable to harden the whole body, being outdoors in winter is a way to train and harden the mucous membranes of the respiratory tract. However, as everywhere, it is necessary to do it prudently, gradually, without causing a shock to the body and without breaking records of being outside ”.

As another measure, the professor highlights the movement, which helps activate blood circulation and total metabolism, maintain muscle tone and active joints. There are more advantages: it is a way to cleanse your immune system.

“Research has already shown that active muscle movement from the blood to the tissues attracts and then destroys a large proportion of inactive and obsolete lymphocytes, the so-called age-related immune drag.

One of the signs of an aging immune system is the appearance of this immune burden and the lack of young lymphocytes that can protect us from new infections not yet seen. When the number of unnecessary lymphocytes in the blood decreases, the production of young lymphocytes is activated, that is, the conditions and forces are created for the necessary contacts with new pathogens not yet seen ”, explains the professor.

As a third measure, it identifies stress reduction, which being outdoors also contributes to. This, V. Pašukonienė emphasizes, helps the nervous system to generate more hormones of happiness: “And this is an undeniable positive stimulus for the resistance of the whole organism: the ability not to get sick and to recover faster when sick.”

Is it possible to measure the strength of immunity?

When asked if the strength of immunity can be measured by how often a person is sick, the professor says that the functions of the immune system are much broader than fighting viruses or bacteria.

“Most people probably imagine that the duty of immunity is to fight infection. If you are not sick or recover quickly, your immunity is strong. If I get sick often, well, I am weak. This is true, but the immune system is not limited to contracting viruses or bacteria. “Immune mechanisms control and cleanse the body of obsolete and malignant cells, prevent the formation of lymphocytes that attack their own cells, and suppress activists who have become agitated after fighting the infection, “he explains.

V. Pašukonienė says that there are no generally accepted criteria for determining the strength of immunity; In certain situations, she either copes or does not function effectively enough. Also, the response rate of the immune system decreases with age.

“Both activation and inhibition reactions occur in the immune system. In autoimmune diseases, a weakness in the immune system should be defined as a situation in which immunosuppression is impaired. In the case of infectious cancer diseases, meanwhile, weakened immunity should be defined as a state in which immunosuppression is intensified.

The ability of the immune system to respond quickly and prevent disease is also related to age: signs of aging of the immune system are identified when the system can no longer identify and respond to new pathogens that have not yet been seen. Then we would call its weakness its inertia ”, says the interlocutor.

There is only one real way to strengthen the immune system.

The Doctor of Biomedical Sciences recalls that immunity is of two types: innate and acquired. The first is formed before birth and in the first months after it.

“The microbiota, the good intestinal bacteria that are obtained from the mother during childbirth and the antibodies obtained from breast milk are especially important for their formation. The purpose of this immunity is to respond to dangerous pathogens as quickly as possible.

It is not so important to him: one or another virus, a bacterium, it is more important to be able to distinguish that it is not his and to take measures to destroy it as soon as possible or at least stop it until the acquired specific immunity prepares for its attack. Innate immunity does not shape memory. And we don’t have the opportunity to change it ”, explains the specialist.

Meanwhile, acquired immunity is formed through experience, in other words, the more sources of infection we face, the more prepared your immune system is to fight. According to the teacher, this is the easiest way for children under the age of three to gain that experience.

“Each disease-causing microorganism is different. The immune system’s T and B lymphocytes must be able to find specific weapons against each enemy and destroy it to remember it next time. Immune memory cells must store information about the enemy and bind to the enemy. first battle during the same procedure, along with innate immunity The forces of acquired immunity are composed of B lymphocytes, which produce well-known antibodies that kill “invaders” that are still freely migrating, and T lymphocytes, which are ready to separate and destroy cells into which the enemy, like a virus, has already fused in. Professor.

“So the only real way to strengthen the immune system is to make as many memorable contacts as possible. It is not that important to the immune system how the virus will be delivered to it, either naturally or in the form of a vaccine. Most importantly is that you need to understand that this is a dangerous enemy. Naturally, in the first three years, children’s immunity is the most receptive to new experiences. The more information it receives about the pathogens that surround it in a non-dangerous way, the more it will strengthen the memory of his acquired immunity ”, he adds.