From eNewsletter 9/6/2021
DID YOU KNOW that three newly published studies laud the versatility of probiotics for mitigating myriad maladies? The British Society of Gastroenterology now recommends probiotics as a first line treatment for irritable bowel syndrome. In its updated guidelines appearing in last month's Gut, the verbiage suggests taking probiotics for up to 12 weeks and then reevaluate their effect. A study in Nutrients states that a mixed strain of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium can effectively reduce the incidence of eczema in infants under three years old. In an upcoming study from Food and Chemical Toxicology, researchers suggest that probiotics are multimodal detoxifiers. Specifically, probiotics degrade and remove food contaminants, modulate the gut microbial capability to metabolize xenobiotics, alleviate the adverse health effects induced by food contaminants, and are effective strategies for protection against xenobiotics exposure.
Announcements
Last Day of Labor Day Sale! You can still order both August and September sale items today. See what's on sale below.
Our Office Is Closed Today We hope you are enjoying a well earned self-care day. Even though we are closed, you can still place your sale orders via website, email, text, or phone.
Are You Fully Vaccinated Without the Booster? A number of clients were concerned that they will not be considered fully vaccinated if they don't get the booster. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy stated that people who received two Moderna or Pfizer shots are considered fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, even though federal officials will encourage third shots to bolster immunity to the disease.
Product Updates Pure Encapsulations now offers Zinc 30 in 180 capsules.
Food Intolerance Blood Draw Update Our next available Saturday blood draw date for the Biotrition food intolerance test is October 23rd.
Text Us If It Is Convenient We now accept text messages at (847) 498-3422.
MAJOR UPDATE! Our COVID-19 Vaccine Opinion The document at this link was updated September 6th.
Virus Prevention And Treatment Vaccines will minimize COVID-19 related mortality and hospitalizations, but SARS-CoV-2 is not going away. Moreover, SARS-CoV-2 is not the only virus we fight. There are influenza (flu), norovirus (stomach flu), adenovirus (common cold), and four other coronaviruses (common cold), among others. We highly recommend continuing your immune support. See our Prevent and Fight Viruses 2.0 Protocol.
COVID-19 Condition Monograph For those interested in conventional and integrative treatments for COVID-19 with over 250 references, this is our COVID-19 Condition Monograph.
Post-COVID Syndrome (PCS) If you, or someone you know, has PCS, we provide individualized consultation or our Post-COVID Syndrome Action Plan. Paid yearly NCI Well Connect members can access it for free here.
Warning: Counterfeit Products Online On the internet, especially at Amazon, there is an epidemic of counterfeit products, especially dietary supplements. Here is our reporting on the issue.
Have a happy, healthy day! Steve and Bonnie Minsky
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COVID-19 Update
Steve and Bonnie: It seems that public health officials keep wanting to move the goal posts with COVID-19 boosters shots. While nothing has been confirmed, initial reports were booster recommendations eight months after the second dose. Now it could be six or even five months? There are a slew of other experts that are questioning boosters. We'll see how it all shakes out, but at this time we are vehemently against boosters, unless for severely immunocompromised individuals. Even in these persons, there is no guarantee of a booster's effectiveness. COVID-19 Vaccines for Pregnant and Nursing Women This is a very difficult, personal choice. We have been following the research and side effects and can present to you with the following.
Immune information is successfully transferred from a vaccinated mother to her infant via breastmilk.
While one study states mothers who contract COVID-19 during pregnancy tend to have their babies early and thus have slightly higher morbidity, but otherwise does not affect the fetus adversely, another study says COVID-19 in pregnancy was associated with consistent and substantial increases in severe maternal morbidity and mortality and neonatal complications.
The only real safety study, published by New England Journal of Medicine, suggests Moderna and Pfizer vaccines seem safe for pregnant women. However, the sample size was small and taken only from December 2020 to February 2021.
Data last week showed that contracting COVID-19 during pregnancy could make a woman’s unborn child more prone to diseases and health issues later on by permanently damaging the immune system.
A sweeping review of existing data that appeared last week in Medrxiv suggest that pregnant women with autoimmune disorders and asthma were at much higher risk for pregnancy complications after contracting COVID-19 infection.
In totality, it seems that the vaccine makes sense when weighing the pros and cons, especially for high risk pregnancies. But again, there is so little vaccine safety information in this subgroup that we cannot endorse it fully. Plastic Barriers May Be a Waste Plastic barriers that separate people in stores, restaurants, and classrooms may not be as effective at stopping the spread of COVID-19 as originally thought, according to air flow engineers. Scientists who study air flow, ventilation and aerosol droplets say the barriers may not help, and in fact, could make the situation worse by blocking normal air flow. Typically, as people interact and breathe in a room, currents and ventilation systems recirculate the air and disperse the exhaled particles. With plastic barriers, however, particles could get trapped in "dead zones" and build up. What Vaccine Immunity Brings A new study may help explain why mRNA vaccines by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna are more effective than reported, including lowering the risk of severe infections that require hospitalization or death. Vaccine-induced antibodies that can immediately neutralize the virus may decline in fully vaccinated adults at six months, but memory B cells, which produce new antibodies if they encounter the virus later on, increase and become better at recognizing the virus, according to new research in Biorxiv. Simply, your immune system has a backup. B-cell production of antibodies might take a few days to get underway, but then these memory B cells kick into action and prevent severe disease. And this study does not even consider T-cells, which also recognize and send in reinforcements to fight infection. Comparing Natural Versus Vaccine Immunity People who recovered from COVID-19 infection appear to have a lower risk of contracting the delta variant than those who got two doses of the mRNA vaccine, according to a study in Medrxiv. People given both doses of the mRNA vaccine were almost six-fold more likely to contract a delta infection and seven-fold more likely to have symptomatic disease than those who recovered, but still the risk of hospitalization or death was very low in those who received the vaccine. Moreover, they found that giving a single shot of the vaccine to those who had been previously infected also appeared to boost their protection. The largest real-world analysis to date is good news for patients who already successfully battled COVID-19, but if you have not had COVID-19 yet, you probably don't want to contract it over getting the available vaccine. Heart Inflammation Risk From SARS-CoV-2 While it has been elucidated that there is a 1 to 5 cases per 100,000 risk of myocarditis (heart inflammation) in young men especially who get the mRNA vaccines, there is a 11 cases per 100,000 risk in those who contract COVID-19 infection, according to new research from New England Journal of Medicine. Pandemic Weight Gain A new study from JAMA confirmed what we suspected: significant weight gain occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic among youths in the United States, especially among the youngest children.
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