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Autumn Illnesses and Immune System Support
As autumn progresses, many people find themselves caught in a carousel of colds and other illnesses. “Often, parents, upon noticing the first symptoms or hearing their child sniffle, start to blame themselves: maybe they didn’t strengthen the child’s immune system enough, maybe the child ate too few vegetables, or maybe the vitamins they took weren’t effective,” shares pediatrician Dr. Indrė Plėštytė. She adds that strengthening the immune system isn’t always the right approach.
The Galaxy of the Immune System
“The immune system is a vast and complex galaxy where different worlds must cooperate and function harmoniously together,” explains Dr. Plėštytė. This includes the organs of the immune system, a vast number of immune cells, chemical compounds, and beneficial bacteria, viruses, fungi, and other microorganisms that live within us. To protect us from harmful microorganisms entering our bodies and from our own mistakes, the immune system needs to coordinate these different worlds and make them work together,” she explains. The immune system matures with the child, so if they don’t get sick, they won’t learn to recover. Only during illness does the immune system learn to create inflammation and regulate all immune components smoothly.
(Not) Strengthening the Immune System
Dr. Plėštytė often encounters the question: “Is boosting the immune system truly beneficial?” She responds by asking, “Which part of the immune system do you want to strengthen? And why do you think it needs strengthening?”
Recently, Dr. Plėštytė has noticed that many children don’t need immune system strengthening at all. “It’s already too strong and overly sensitive,” she says. “Take, for example, an allergic child. The very definition of allergy explains it well—it’s an exaggerated and distorted immune response to an allergen.” She notes that the number of children with allergies is growing, and warns that if allergy symptoms are not managed, their immune systems may also react too strongly to environmental irritants or microbes.
“Or if a child has enlarged adenoids, tonsils, or neck lymph nodes, this overgrowth of lymphatic tissue shows that the immune system is highly active, and immune cells are being produced intensely in the lymph nodes. If it’s so intense, the child is always looking for a way to use that activity. Unfortunately, the ‘culprits’ are usually harmless viruses or bacteria in the environment. Rather than handling a new illness calmly, the immune system begins attacking the microbe chaotically and excessively,” she explains.
The Role of the Microbiota
To help balance the immune system, we can turn to the microbiota, whose importance for immune system development has long been established by scientists. According to Dr. Plėštytė, bacteria living in the body, especially in the gut, not only help regulate digestion but also train the immune system to distinguish friendly microbes from harmful ones. A balanced and diverse microbiota leaves no space for disease-causing microbes, removing them through competition. It also covers the lining of the gut and respiratory tract, protecting it from damage.
Immune System Modulators
“Because bacteria are living organisms, they produce a variety of chemical compounds called postbiotics, which regulate immune processes when they enter the body,” explains Dr. Plėštytė. Recently, a lot of attention has been given to prebiotics.
Previously, prebiotics were thought to be just indigestible fibers that serve as food for bacteria and help regulate bowel movements. And that’s true—fiber-rich foods (i.e., prebiotics) activate the gut and protect against constipation and chronic inflammatory bowel diseases. But prebiotics are also discussed as immune system modulators. Prebiotics can directly influence the amount and composition of gut microbiota, and when dysbiosis (microbiota imbalance) symptoms such as bloating, pain, fullness, or irregular bowel movements occur, the risk of frequent respiratory infections increases.
Symbiosis Between the Gut and Respiratory System
According to Dr. Plėštytė, the gut and respiratory system are closely connected. When the gut microbiota is imbalanced, protective functions of the respiratory tract microbiota are also disrupted. Prebiotics directly affect the entire immune system, even independently of the microbiota. “Different types of prebiotic fibers regulate immune responses throughout the body via intestinal epithelial and immune cells: they dampen overly intense inflammation when needed, or activate and adjust immune cell function when required,” she explains, recommending pre-, pro-, and postbiotics if a child’s immune system seems overly sensitive and out of balance.
She suggests Dr.OHHIRA® fermented plant extract, which contains a high amount of fiber from 15 different plants (vegetables, berries, fruits, mushrooms, and seaweed), fermented with probiotic cultures, as well as the same brand’s probiotics with 12 types of beneficial active bacteria. “Since these probiotics are active, the postbiotics in the capsules start working immediately to modulate the immune system,” she says. According to her, the immune system learns throughout life—from infancy to old age—so it’s crucial to help children’s immune systems respond calmly and steadily to disease-causing microbes and to say a firm “no” to them.
