Sixty five years ago medical scientists promised us that infections caused by bacteria and others would be a thing of the past due to the new discovery of patented pharmaceutical drugs. This very brave statement was made and almost automatically more than half of the herbs recommended in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia were taken off to be replaced with these chemical drugs. I wish I could tell you that the promised was kept and that now we live in an infection free world, but this is not so. We are all familiar with the enormous amounts and resistance of bacteria. Antibiotics have not live up to their promised; to the contrary they have become a problem in itself, by over use and side effects that cause liver, kidney, nervous and immune system damage.

It is the immune system that fights off disease-causing microorganisms and it engineers the healing process. The immune system is the key to fighting every kind of insult to the body, from that little shaving scratch to the gigantic amount of viruses the constantly try to invade our bodies. Even the aging process may be related to a deteriorated immune system.

Weakening of the immune system makes us vulnerable to every type of illness that affects humans. Some common signs of impaired immune functions include fatigue, lassitude, repeated infections, inflammation, allergic reactions, slow wound healing, chronic diarrhea and infections related to overgrowth of benign organisms already present in the body, such as oral thrush, vaginal yeast infections and other fungal infections. It is calculated that a normal adult gets an average of two colds per year. People suffering from colds more than the average are likely to have some sort of immune deficiency. Dark circles could be directly related to an immune system malfunction.

Explaining what the immune system is the hard part. The immune system it is not an organ but an interaction between many organs, structures and substances with the task of recognizing or differencing from things that belong and those that don’t belong to the body, and then neutralizing or destroying the ones that are foreign.

The immune system is like no other bodily system, the patrolling and protecting tasks of the immune system are share by white cells, bone marrow, the lymphatic vessels and organs, specialized cells found and various body tissues, and specialized substances, called serum factors, that are present in the blood. Ideally, all of these components work together to protects the body against diseases.

Vitamin C may be the single most important nutrient for the immune system. It is essential for the formation of adrenal hormones and the production of lymphocytes. It also has direct effect on bacteria and viruses. Vitamin C should be taken with bioflavonoids, natural plant substances that enhance absorption and reinforce the action of this vitamin.