Polysaccharides as Immunomodulators

Plant Sugars that can help boost your immune system.

The terms immunostimulation and immunomodulation
are relatively new. They were not used in traditional herbal medicine. Some plants are described in ancient pharmacology as
increasing resistance to infections, or to outside influences.

The studies that were done in recent years on the cells and ingredients involved in the immune system, and the understanding of the mechanism of their activities. This enabled the
discovery of compounds that stimulate the activity of the immune system, and can therefore be used to help restore an impaired defence activity.

Polysaccharide Immunomodulators as Therapeutic Agents: Structural Aspects and Biologic Function

Polysaccharides are also found in Astragalus membranaceus. This plant was also used in Chinese Supplements since ancient times. The root is used as one of the most important tonics.

It stimulates the immune system and strengthens the non-specific and specific immunity. It stimulates the production of interferone, and it’s the polysaccharides that are responsible for the immunomodulating activity. The main polysaccharides are astragalan and astragalucan.

Reference:

Medicinal Herbalism, The Science and Practice of
Herbal Medicine by Hoffmann D. 2003 Astragalus
membranaceus, pp. 532, Healing Arts Press,
Rochester, Vermont.

Eczema and Lifestyles - Day 8

I volunteered in a Track and Field for children with Multiple Exceptionalities. It was a hot day and 27 degrees Celsius. It was great and the students enjoyed the outdoors.

I am new at blogging so I still need to play around with the options. As you can see on the menu, we are setting up our children for failure in food choices. The "berries" you see on the menu are candy "Swedish Berries".

The line up was long and most of the customers had something in common. They were either obese or malnourished.

Downsview Flea Market

I am pretty much at the Downsview Flea Market on a weekly basis. They have lots of cool things and the produce they have is overwhelming. The market has many DVD places but you can see that not just Asian places have copied DVDs. This Flea Market is pretty popular and I think the largest in Toronto. Also there are a few computer technicians there and as long as you bargain you can get your computer fixed from $20-$50 depending on the problem. There are a lot of friendly people there and the food court has a good variety. Overall the place is nice and sorta clean but you can find a good bargain here.

Location: 40 Carl Hall Road