When Your Immune Function Falls Off the Cliff
Immune senescence is a leading cause of disability and infectious death in aging humans
Immune senescence is a leading cause of disability and infectious death in aging humans. By way of example, deaths from pneumonia are rare in youth but spiral upward as humans mature.
If you read obituaries (as I do), the number of once-vigorous individuals who perish from opportunistic illnesses caused by immune senescence is startling.
What you need to know
Around age 60, physiological changes decimate our ability to combat infections and malignancies.
Immune senescence is a leading cause of disability and death in aging humans.
Nutrients that boost immune activity include zinc, DHEA, and fish oil.
Immune imbalance occurs when our immune system fails to protect against new infections and instead generates inflammatory reactions (including increased IL-6) that attack every cell in our body.
The herb Cistanche helps combat immune senescence, which appears to have rejuvenating effects on bone marrow.
Supplementation with Cistanche has been shown to increase naïve T cells and natural killer (NK) cells while decreasing memory T cells and pro-inflammatory IL-6.
