Weight and the Hidden Virus

Even gaining weight may be related to an immune system that’s out of balance. Researchers at the Department of Nutrition and Food science at Wayne State University in Detroit reported in August of this year that increased fat stores have been linked to the presence of a virus. If a viral infection contributes to obesity, the first line of attack in any weight loss program should be to bring the immune system up to optimal levels of operation. All the diets and exercise in the world will ultimately fail if your weight gain is linked to the presence of viruses that promote the storage of fat, regardless of what you eat or how much you move.

Viruses and bacteria Masquerade as Heart and Kidney Disease

In the August 2000 issue of the American Journal of Medicine, scientists reported that the hepatitis C virus can show up as a kidney infection or as heart disease. This year, Italian researchers at the Hospital of San Camillo in Rome reported that there is growing evidence that the immune system is involved in atherosclerosis. The same bacterium linked to MS (Chlamydia pneumoniae) may also be a culprit in heart disease as well. The health implication of these studies is staggering. Once again, if persistent infection is really causing heart disease, we’ve been on the wrong treatment track for decades.

Arthritis May Be the Result of a Joint Infection

It may come as a surprise to many, but some forms of arthritis occur after bouts with intestinal infections. In addition, Dutch scientists recently reported that chronic arthritis might have a bacterial connection. In fact, if you suffer from rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disease, your disease may have been triggered by a prior infection that may have overstimulated immune responses, which in this scenario need suppressing.

Epilepsy Linked to Abnormal Immune System Cells

In 1997, a group of scientists looked at a total of 135 people with epilepsy. More than 80% of these people had one or more abnormalities in their cellular immune defenses. Some types of epilepsy may be caused by impaired immunity.

Transfer factor supplementation strengthens the cellular immune system and may be a valuable supplemental treatment to control epileptic seizures.

Alzheimer’s Disease Linked to the Immune System

An article in a 1994 issue of Progress in Drug Research reported that Alzheimer’s disease might be linked to an abnormal antibody response to a portion of nerve cells in the brain. This immune malfunction may destroy brain tissue associated with memory.