Speaker 1: It's August and we're finally getting some relief from the
Speaker 1: summer heat.
Speaker 2: Right, but we're also seeing the fall woes creeping in.
Speaker 2: COVID numbers are spiking again across the country, and a
Speaker 2: lot of people we know keep talking about this like
Speaker 2: mysterious one day cold. They're like, oh, you know, my
Speaker 2: nose is running, I'm sneezing, I'm coughing, and it doesn't
Speaker 2: last very long.
Speaker 1: But also, I mean it kind of tracks. We're at
Speaker 1: the very beginning cusp of flu season, you know, And
Speaker 1: I feel like every time this happens, summer ends, it
Speaker 1: cools off people going back to school, so stuff is
Speaker 1: spreading around the same conversation pops up. People are asking
Speaker 1: how do you actually strengthen your immune system?
Speaker 2: And that's why this week we're bringing back one of
Speaker 2: our favorite labs. It's Lab forty seven. All Immune Systems Go.
Speaker 2: And if you've heard it before, just let this be
Speaker 2: your refresher. And if you haven't, listen, close because there
Speaker 2: will be a pop quiz. And I'm Zachiah and this
Speaker 2: is Dope Labs. Welcome to Dope Labs, a weekly podcast
Speaker 2: that mixes hardcore science with pop culture and a healthy
Speaker 2: dose of friendship. This week, we're talking all about the
Speaker 2: immune system. Specifically, we really wanted to know more about
Speaker 2: how it works and what we can do to make
Speaker 2: it stronger.
Speaker 1: Yes, it's peak cold and flu season, and I've seen
Speaker 1: a lot of you sharing elderberry syrup, ginger lemon emergency,
Speaker 1: all of that on your IG stories. You're telling us
Speaker 1: all about your immune system hacks and boosters. So this
Speaker 1: lab is really for you. We're going to get into
Speaker 1: what the immune system is and how it works. So
Speaker 1: let's get into the recipation.
Speaker 2: So before we say what do we know? What I
Speaker 2: know and what Tekia knows, It's two very different things.
Speaker 2: To be clear, I feel like I know next to
Speaker 2: nothing about the immune system and how it works. I
Speaker 2: feel like I know very very basic things that I
Speaker 2: think most people know, like your immune system is important
Speaker 2: and having a good immune system will help you. But
Speaker 2: that's kind of where it stops for me.
Speaker 1: Well, that's okay, because I'm going to help you ask
Speaker 1: some other questions like where exactly is immune system in
Speaker 1: the body, how does it work, what happens if it's
Speaker 1: not working or if it's overworking, what's going on there?
Speaker 1: And then I think the question we both have TT
Speaker 1: is about all the hacks we see about strengthening and
Speaker 1: boosting and enhancing the immune system.
Speaker 2: Yes, some of it just seems like made up stuff,
Speaker 2: Like I'm just like, who told you that? Who told
Speaker 2: you that? Like, oh, chew on your big toenail for
Speaker 2: three minutes and then spit it out and spin round
Speaker 2: like I don't.
Speaker 1: Know, Oh yeah, I would chew on it, but if
Speaker 1: you do have to get you on it, definitely spit it.
Speaker 2: Out all right.
Speaker 1: That makes me feel like we are ready for the dissection.
Speaker 1: You're ready, CC, I'm ready.
Speaker 2: Hold my hand. Friend.
Speaker 1: Our guest for today's lab is doctor Piel Gupta.
Speaker 3: My name is doctor Pyle Gupha. I am an adult
Speaker 3: and pediatric allergy and asthma specialist and also a nominologist,
Speaker 3: and I live and work in New York City.
Speaker 2: Okay, for me, let's start with the basics. What is
Speaker 2: the immune system?
Speaker 3: Our immune system is our body's way of protecting us
Speaker 3: from foreign invaders. And what I mean by foreign invaders
Speaker 3: are things like viruses, like bacteria, like fungi and even cancers.
Speaker 2: Okay, so these are all the things we definitely don't
Speaker 2: want in our bodies.
Speaker 1: So if we zoom out, we can think about the
Speaker 1: body as this single tube from the mouth to the
Speaker 1: booty basically, and your skin is wrapping all of that
Speaker 1: and keeping everything in a closed system. So your skin
Speaker 1: is like your protective barrier. Right, Our skin is a
Speaker 1: physical barrier to those foreign invaders and particles.
Speaker 2: You know, you gotta stay moisturized. You gotta put lotion
Speaker 2: on those elbows. Yes, moisturized skin is soft and supple
Speaker 2: and plump, but not moisturized skin or dry skin cracks
Speaker 2: and bleeds and things like that.
Speaker 1: All right, we have our protective barrier of skin protecting
Speaker 1: everything inside. If anything penetrates that barrier, it's then facing
Speaker 1: our immune system. And the immune system can be split
Speaker 1: into two parts, the innate immune system and the adaptive
Speaker 1: or acquired immune system. So innate being the immune system
Speaker 1: that you are born with. Yes, and that's not unique
Speaker 1: to us. So if we look at it, all animals
Speaker 1: have an innate immune system, and so do plants.
Speaker 2: Oh I didn't know that. Yeah, I need to treat
Speaker 2: my snake plant better. There it's currently three leaves sitting
Speaker 2: on the floor. Okay, So there's our skin, which provides
Speaker 2: a physical barrier. Then there's the innate and acquired immune systems.
Speaker 2: So let's talk about the innate immune system first.
Speaker 3: And so then innate immune systems are first line of deference,
Speaker 3: and this line of defense or this army reacts to
Speaker 3: fight infection quickly.
Speaker 1: The innate immune system is non specific, so it just says, invader,
Speaker 1: respond right. It doesn't know who you are. It just
Speaker 1: knows that it is not right.
Speaker 2: That's like your house security system when you come in
Speaker 2: the door. It's like, hey, I don't know who you are.
Speaker 2: You may be the owner, you might not be. Yes,
Speaker 2: but you better put it in a security code or
Speaker 2: there's gonna be some problems.
Speaker 1: Yes, you know. So let's say that system is not
Speaker 1: very specific. It's just a strong first response. Our second
Speaker 1: line of defense is the acquired immune system. So if
Speaker 1: we were to compare these things, the innate immune system
Speaker 1: is not specific, acquired is specific. The innate immune system
Speaker 1: is permanent and the response is immediate. For the acquired
Speaker 1: immune system is transient. It's not always permanent, and the
Speaker 1: response is not immediate, but it is specific and is
Speaker 1: coming right for you, is right on time. So the
Speaker 1: acquired immune system is something that your body builds over time,
Speaker 1: and that's based off of socio physical factors. That's a
Speaker 1: really good question. You begin building your acquired immune system
Speaker 1: from being a fetus right across the placenta. The mom
Speaker 1: is giving you some immunity right there, thanks mommy.
Speaker 3: When a baby is first born, they're not ready to
Speaker 3: fight every infection. They are fragile, and our immune systems
Speaker 3: when we're born aren't where we want them to be.
Speaker 1: Then, even thinking about what happens as soon as you're born,
Speaker 1: you have been inside this other closed system, so you
Speaker 1: don't have any bacteria. You know, how we talk about
Speaker 1: the microbiome on the skin and how we talk about
Speaker 1: the bacteria that's part of our personal environment. You acquire
Speaker 1: that as you pass through the birth and canal, or
Speaker 1: if you are delivered by c section, you acquire that
Speaker 1: from that delivery process, and then you know that skin
Speaker 1: to skin contact with mom. At that point, you are
Speaker 1: being colonized with bacteria and other microorganisms right then, and
Speaker 1: those things are all over your skin, colonizing the body.
Speaker 1: So that's what's helping you specifically t T when you're
Speaker 1: eating all that crazy food and helping you not get sick.
Speaker 1: Those bacteria in your gut. You acquire that stuff from birth.
Speaker 2: So your adaptive immune system starts developing from the jump
Speaker 2: through the birth canal, skin to skin. All those germs
Speaker 2: getting into your tiny baby body are what your body
Speaker 2: needs to adapt to the outside world.
Speaker 1: And so when you think about when a baby t
Speaker 1: t is always sick, you know, like you've seen your
Speaker 1: nieces and nephew with those running noses, Yes, that is
Speaker 1: them being exposed to these foreign particles and pathogens, and
Speaker 1: their immune systems are beginning to recognize these things and
Speaker 1: getting smarter. So that's why kids get so sick when
Speaker 1: they first go to like preschool or todaycare.
Speaker 2: Because their bodies are being introduced to new bacteria that
Speaker 2: they've never seen before, bacteria, viruses, all of that, and
Speaker 2: that is how you develop that learned or acquired immunity.
Speaker 2: So then when you get to a big age like
Speaker 2: our age, we've seen a lot of the things that
Speaker 2: were in the nursery already, so our bodies are better
Speaker 2: equipped to fight it.
Speaker 1: Yes, and you may be able to clear those things
Speaker 1: really quickly. So a cold that may have your little
Speaker 1: toddler cousin with a running nose for a week, you
Speaker 1: may have the sniffles for like one day, and you're good.
Speaker 1: You're ready to bounce back and keep it moving.
Speaker 3: And then as we get older, we get exposed to
Speaker 3: the environment, which also exposes our body to foreign particles,
Speaker 3: foreign substances, and our body starts to recognize what is
Speaker 3: normal what is abnormal, and then the immune system slowly
Speaker 3: starts to grow.
Speaker 2: So our immune system generally peaks between puberty and young
Speaker 2: adulthood and starts to decline around the age of sixty.
Speaker 3: That's why older individuals we have to be extra careful,
Speaker 3: just like we are with babies, because they are more
Speaker 3: susceptible to infection.
Speaker 1: Really young babies in infants, so under six or seven months,
Speaker 1: can't get a flu shot, so everybody around them gets
Speaker 1: a flu shot to kind of cocoon them and to
Speaker 1: keep themselves from passing something on to the baby. Similarly,
Speaker 1: older adults, so over sixty five, they also have a
Speaker 1: week immune system, but their immune system can handle a
Speaker 1: little bit more than an infant can. So what we
Speaker 1: find is that if you think about a flu shot,
Speaker 1: if you were under five years old, we can say
Speaker 1: just have like one dose compared to if you're an
Speaker 1: adult of great health, and you're not compromised in any way.
Speaker 1: You would have what we considered maybe two times the dose.
Speaker 1: But for people who are over sixty five, the amount
Speaker 1: of flu vaccine they're receiving is considered three times the
Speaker 1: dose of what a kid would get because a kid
Speaker 1: needs much less prompting. Their immune systems are so robust.
Speaker 1: It's like, got it, Like if you were trying to
Speaker 1: do a TikTok, I'm going to need a little bit
Speaker 1: more time to get my TikTok together than somebody who's twelve. Right,
Speaker 1: They're a native to that system. They know what to do.
Speaker 1: It's just like a learning curve for your immune system
Speaker 1: as you get older.
Speaker 2: So now we know what the immune system is. We
Speaker 2: know that there's some that is innate, so that stuff
Speaker 2: that you're born with, and then we know that there's
Speaker 2: some aspects of our immune system that we acquire over
Speaker 2: time based on exposure. But where is all of this happening?
Speaker 2: Is there like an immune system orgon? Is it near?
Speaker 2: My pancreas was just one of the one of the
Speaker 2: only organs I remember from biology.
Speaker 1: Like kid, me, you're doing good, You're doing good. Stomac well,
Speaker 1: basically it's all over. It's not in any one place.
Speaker 1: So in your bones, and I'm not just talking about
Speaker 1: one bone, all your bones. Inside there's bone marrow, which
Speaker 1: is this like spongy kind of stuff. That is the
Speaker 1: place where lymphocytes are made. Lymphocytes are also maturing in
Speaker 1: the thymus, which is if you think about like where
Speaker 1: your neck is that butterfly organ over your neck, that's
Speaker 1: your thyroid. Comes straight down between your lungs and your chest,
Speaker 1: that's the thymus, and cells that are part of the
Speaker 1: immune system are maturing right in there. You also have
Speaker 1: like your lymph nodes, which are kind of like under
Speaker 1: your arms if you've ever gotten sick and felt like
Speaker 1: sore under your arms or right there under your jawline
Speaker 1: a little bit. Yeah, there's even lymphnos right in the
Speaker 1: groin area too. Other areas are like the spleen and
Speaker 1: even your tonsils. I just think of that as like
Speaker 1: the battleground for our immune system.
Speaker 2: Really, our tonsils are spleen.
Speaker 1: What was the other one? The lymph nodes.
Speaker 2: Lymph nodes spleen.
Speaker 1: Okay, you're getting it.
Speaker 2: I'm following. I'm following some.
Speaker 3: Of the fighters in this army are things like macrifages, bhasa, fylls,
Speaker 3: dendritic cells, or neutrophils. So these are all fancy names
Speaker 3: for cells in our body that do different things to
Speaker 3: get rid of the bacteria or viruses or other foreign invaders.
Speaker 3: Macrifages are kind of like these big cells that kind
Speaker 3: of engulf whatever foreign particle they see. The chemicals inside
Speaker 3: of the macrophage just eat up whatever they see, and
Speaker 3: so that's kind of what a macropage does. Neutrophills are
Speaker 3: kind of in a similar way doing that same thing.
Speaker 1: Those cell types and neutrophills, basophylls, mass cells, dendritic cells,
Speaker 1: those are all part of our innate immune system and
Speaker 1: so tt like you mentioned, if things slip past our
Speaker 1: innate immune system, they move on to our second line
Speaker 1: of defense, which is our acquired immune system.
Speaker 2: The acquired immune system uses lymphocytes, so those are cells
Speaker 2: that circulate in the blood and are made up of
Speaker 2: T cells and B cells to target specific pathogens.
Speaker 3: These cells take longer to develop because their behaviors evolve
Speaker 3: from learned experiences, but they tend to live longer than
Speaker 3: innate cells and the adaptive immune cells remember foreign invaders
Speaker 3: after their first encounter and then fight them off the
Speaker 3: next time more easily. So this is really the fundamental
Speaker 3: concept and promise for how vaccines work.
Speaker 1: For example, yes, remember in the HIV episodes with doctor
Speaker 1: Christine Daniels, we talked about creating that mugshot, and so
Speaker 1: your immune system is like I already know who you
Speaker 1: are and I know what to do. Uh huh. That's
Speaker 1: basically what we're doing when we expose our bodies to vaccines,
Speaker 1: speeding up that learning process.
Speaker 2: So, now that we understand how the immune system works,
Speaker 2: what are some signs we can look for to know
Speaker 2: that it's working.
Speaker 1: One of the most common misconceptions is that if you
Speaker 1: get quote unquote sick, so like if your nose is running,
Speaker 1: or if you are achy, or if you have a fever,
Speaker 1: that your immune system isn't working. But that's actually a
Speaker 1: sign that it is. Let's take lymph nodes for example.
Speaker 3: Lymph Nodes are tissues that are found all over our bodies,
Speaker 3: and lymph nodes produce white blood cells and white blood
Speaker 3: cells help fight off infection.
Speaker 2: Lymph Nodes can be found underneath our neck, under our arms,
Speaker 2: near our gurn and literally all over.
Speaker 3: When we actually get sick, then our lynth nodes go
Speaker 3: into action, and that's when they get inflamed, and that's
Speaker 3: when they get bigger. That's evidence that your body is
Speaker 3: doing something to fight off infection.
Speaker 1: And so when we think about people's response to the
Speaker 1: COVID vaccine and boosters or even the flu shot, sore arms, fatigue,
Speaker 1: all of that is just a sign that your immune
Speaker 1: system is working.
Speaker 2: You know that the flu shot makes me hurl every
Speaker 2: time I get it.
Speaker 1: I didn't know that, girl.
Speaker 2: It happened at your house in North Carolina.
Speaker 1: Oh the flu shot did that to you, haven't. You
Speaker 1: just had a different kind of responding.
Speaker 2: Paint the picture for you, okay, o was as a
Speaker 2: kid's parents' house.
Speaker 1: Oh, at my parents' house.
Speaker 2: Yes. We were hitting golf balls with her dad, and
Speaker 2: I had just gotten a flu shot like two days before.
Speaker 2: It was my very first flu shot, so I didn't
Speaker 2: know nothing was going to happen to me. He put
Speaker 2: lamb on the grill. We was eating good, okay, hitting
Speaker 2: golf balls. Her dad is launching those golf balls into
Speaker 2: the stratosphere. And then all of a sudden and I'm like,
Speaker 2: something is not right. I start to feel lightheaded. And
Speaker 2: then I say I'm about to throw up. I run
Speaker 2: to the bathroom. I felt awful because we had so
Speaker 2: much good food that I was like, I really hope
Speaker 2: he doesn't think it was his food, because I know
Speaker 2: it's not his food. I don't know what's wrong with me.
Speaker 2: But then I was like, I have to go home,
Speaker 2: and so I drove back to Dorn and then proceeded
Speaker 2: to vomit my life away for the next two days.
Speaker 1: And does this happen every time you get a flu shot?
Speaker 1: Not that extreme?
Speaker 2: So that was my very first flu shot. So it
Speaker 2: makes sense based on what you and doctor Gupta have
Speaker 2: been saying about the immune system. My first experience with
Speaker 2: the flu shot, I had a really strong reaction because
Speaker 2: my body's like, okay, is how do we get rid
Speaker 2: of this? What is this? This is something new that
Speaker 2: we've never seen before. But now every time I get
Speaker 2: the flu shot since then, I'll get supernauxous. Sometimes I'll
Speaker 2: throw up. But the last time I got it, I
Speaker 2: just felt a little queasy, and so, m M, I'm
Speaker 2: guessing this immune system is doing what it's supposed to do.
Speaker 2: It's given what it's supposed to give.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and if you don't have those symptoms. If you
Speaker 3: don't have that akiness or you didn't really get sick,
Speaker 3: it doesn't mean the immune system wasn't working. It just
Speaker 3: means that you can feel your immune system working more
Speaker 3: than maybe somebody else.
Speaker 1: Another example of the immune system working. Baby, you've seen
Speaker 1: me suffer from this is allergies. That's our immune system overreacting.
Speaker 2: Listen, I have allergies, but I have never seen someone
Speaker 2: suffer like my friend.
Speaker 1: Okay, you don't want to be outside with me without
Speaker 1: a Xytec and a flow naz spray nostril.
Speaker 2: I've got to get my friend inside. She is perishing.
Speaker 2: Every time our.
Speaker 3: Immune system all of a sudden looks at a dog
Speaker 3: protein or a cat protein or you know, dust mighte
Speaker 3: and all of a sudden thinks that this is something
Speaker 3: that I need to react against, when in fact, it's
Speaker 3: not something that you need to react against. So it
Speaker 3: isn't like the tree because tree protein is actually good.
Speaker 3: It's good for environment, we need more of it. But
Speaker 3: it's that when our body sees it, it's reacting in
Speaker 3: an abnormal way and ripple effect of all these chemicals
Speaker 3: being released, and those chemicals are what caused the damage
Speaker 3: and the inflammation and all the symptoms that we experience.
Speaker 1: So when we think about how people are treating their allergies,
Speaker 1: a lot of people are taking antihistamines and things like this,
Speaker 1: and what they're doing is actually dampening their immune system.
Speaker 1: They're turning that reaction down so that they're not getting
Speaker 1: so much of the running nose and the inflammation. Histamines
Speaker 1: are chemicals involved in our immune system, and if you
Speaker 1: take benadrill or something like that for allergies, you'll see
Speaker 1: the term antihistamine. And what that's doing is you can
Speaker 1: think of it as kind of sequestering those histamines away
Speaker 1: so you don't get those responses like the running nose
Speaker 1: and the itchy eyes and the inflammation that's associated with
Speaker 1: our immune systems overreacting to these allergens. Right, So you're
Speaker 1: basically saying, hey, take it easy, all right.
Speaker 2: It's holding your immus as Tom back home back.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yes, that's exactly what it's like. And the nice thing
Speaker 1: is that it's specific to the allergens, so it doesn't
Speaker 1: mean that your immune system is impaired from protecting you
Speaker 1: against other things. So that's really nice to have that
Speaker 1: kind of specific targeting for allergies.
Speaker 2: Okay, so let's take a break and when we come back,
Speaker 2: we'll talk all about what happens when the immune system
Speaker 2: doesn't work and what we can do to strengthen our
Speaker 2: immune system.
Speaker 1: We're back and we're talking about the immune system with
Speaker 1: doctor Piel Gupta. Now that we have a better understanding
Speaker 1: of what the immune system does and how it works,
Speaker 1: what happens if it's not working. So what we've learned
Speaker 1: is that there are some immune system disorders and they
Speaker 1: mostly have to do with the immune system operating out
Speaker 1: of balance, either underreacting or overreacting to a foreign invader.
Speaker 1: When the immune sys is underreacting, it's called an immune deficiency.
Speaker 3: So an immune deficiency is when our body isn't reacting
Speaker 3: to viruses, bacteria, fungi. And it can be from the cells,
Speaker 3: you know, all of these different cells, from a part
Speaker 3: of those cells not working properly, or that there aren't
Speaker 3: enough of those cells to help fight infection. So it
Speaker 3: can be either the function or it.
Speaker 1: Can be the amount. And immune deficiency can be primary
Speaker 1: which means it was inherited at birth, or secondary which
Speaker 1: means it's not an innate disorder. But something that is
Speaker 1: secondary to another condition such as cancer or AIDS, which
Speaker 1: stands for acquired immune deficiency syndrome, and those immune deficiencies
Speaker 1: can range in severity and treatment.
Speaker 3: So in those situations, you know, those patients need extra boosters,
Speaker 3: they need more antibiotics, they need stronger antibiotics than other people.
Speaker 3: If it's a severe immune deficiency, we sometimes have to
Speaker 3: actually replace the bone marrow, and that the more severe
Speaker 3: ones will show up at birth, and so we actually
Speaker 3: have a screening system to kind of find those immune
Speaker 3: deficiencies very quickly when a baby is born so that
Speaker 3: we can help protect them and take care of them
Speaker 3: and make sure that they don't get that first infection
Speaker 3: that could lead to unfortunate circumstances.
Speaker 2: So then what about the other side of the coin
Speaker 2: when our immune system is overreactive.
Speaker 3: And then the overactive immune system is you know, things
Speaker 3: like autoimmune diseases, so you know where like thyroid dysfunction, lupus, rheumatrate, arthritis,
Speaker 3: things like that where our immune system might be acting
Speaker 3: against us. Then we get other issues where a lot
Speaker 3: of inflammation, a lot of the things that we use
Speaker 3: to fight infection and turn then causes problems in our body.
Speaker 2: So some parts of our immune system we cannot change
Speaker 2: because it's just what we're born with and so there's
Speaker 2: not much we can do to fix it. But there
Speaker 2: are aspects of our lives that do affect our immune
Speaker 2: system that we have some control over, like sleep. And
Speaker 2: we just finished talking about sleep in the last two labs,
Speaker 2: and what we know about sleep is that it is
Speaker 2: not created equal. There are some of us who have
Speaker 2: the privilege of being able to get eight hours of
Speaker 2: deep sleep, but there are other people who don't because
Speaker 2: of where they live, their job schedules, or anything in between.
Speaker 3: But definitely for the immune system, we know that during
Speaker 3: sleep we're actually producing certain side of kinds that we
Speaker 3: need in order to fight infection. So cyto kinds are
Speaker 3: essentially just chemicals that then call other players into action.
Speaker 1: If we don't produce those side of kinds, we're susceptible
Speaker 1: to all types of attacks on our immune system. So,
Speaker 1: like you said, TT, yes, sleep is key for a
Speaker 1: healthy immune system. But what are some of the other
Speaker 1: things you've seen people doing to increase their immune health.
Speaker 2: Oh, my goodness, so many things. I think you mentioned
Speaker 2: that elderberry, which yes, I had never heard of, but
Speaker 2: not everybody is, you know, injecting into their veins.
Speaker 1: The other thing that I remember being big was celery juice.
Speaker 1: When everybody was drinking all that celery.
Speaker 2: Juice, Yes, and everybody is me. I was drinking celery
Speaker 2: juice for a little bit. I didn't know then it's disgusting.
Speaker 2: That's why I was adding it into my juices that
Speaker 2: I was making at the time that had apple, cucumber,
Speaker 2: gender and things like that. And I was like, oh, celery,
Speaker 2: and I put the celery in the thing. Celery. Let
Speaker 2: me tell you, you'll know if they're celery in that juice
Speaker 2: that you're drinking, because it turns it to something pungent.
Speaker 2: You'll know if it's gross. Look at the ingredients, they're
Speaker 2: celery in it.
Speaker 1: When you think about those things, celery feels like the tuba,
Speaker 1: like you're praying a beautiful siphony with your juices, and
Speaker 1: if you put celery in there, it's like coming like, yes,
Speaker 1: it's not right. But I wonder, like when I think
Speaker 1: about immune health and all of these things the stomach
Speaker 1: and the acids in our stomach, they're destroying things that
Speaker 1: we put in there, So oh, is that really working,
Speaker 1: can we eat our way to better immune hill As far.
Speaker 3: As nutrition goes and diet and the immune system in general,
Speaker 3: having a healthy diet is going to allow you to
Speaker 3: have a healthy immune system and a healthy body. So
Speaker 3: I'll take, like, for example, vitamin C. Our bodies don't
Speaker 3: make vitamin seed, right, but we need it for our
Speaker 3: immune system. And we get vitamin C from our diet,
Speaker 3: and usually it's from citrus, fruits, strawberries, green vegetables, tomatoes,
Speaker 3: And the recommended dietary allowance for men is ninety milligrams
Speaker 3: per day and for women at seventy five milligrams per day.
Speaker 3: That's pretty easy to get if you have a pretty
Speaker 3: well balanced diet. You don't have to work very hard
Speaker 3: to get it.
Speaker 1: But if you're eating any of those things, then I'm
Speaker 1: not saying anybody on this line is not eating those things,
Speaker 1: but some people might not be.
Speaker 2: I do take a vitamin seafood.
Speaker 1: Well, that's a good pay you are taking a supplement.
Speaker 1: So does that make a difference?
Speaker 4: You know?
Speaker 3: According to Harvard Health, the data on vitamin C is
Speaker 3: that it's only marginally beneficial when it comes to things
Speaker 3: like the common cult and when you see something like
Speaker 3: that where it says it's only marginally beneficial. That means
Speaker 3: that more than likely taking large amounts of vitamin C
Speaker 3: is maybe going to help you a little bit, but
Speaker 3: maybe not so.
Speaker 2: Doctor Gupta is saying that at least for something like
Speaker 2: vitamin C, focusing on a healthy, balanced lifestyle is the
Speaker 2: most important thing and getting plenty of exercise and sleep
Speaker 2: as well. Those are the best things you can do
Speaker 2: to keep up a healthy immune system and best to
Speaker 2: focus on before you start adding supplements.
Speaker 3: And then the other big, big, big factor for all
Speaker 3: of these supplements and things like that is the cost
Speaker 3: and the safety. So you know, even though it says
Speaker 3: quote unquote natural on something, if you're taking an enlarger
Speaker 3: doses because they're saying that these higher doses might be beneficial,
Speaker 3: well it could also be the opposite. It could also
Speaker 3: yield a side effect because anything in a higher concentration
Speaker 3: can also cause problems.
Speaker 1: Well, just know, our bodies can't absorb all those vitamins
Speaker 1: and they really can end up as waste.
Speaker 3: Something that my girlfriend just said the other day, which
Speaker 3: is super important and she's a physician, also is that
Speaker 3: Americans have the most expensive p in all of the world.
Speaker 1: Ah literally liquid gold.
Speaker 2: This is perfect because in next week's lab we are
Speaker 2: talking to doctor Alice Lichtenstein about vitamins and why our
Speaker 2: p is so expensive in the United States. We're going
Speaker 2: to talk about the vitamin industry, and we're going to
Speaker 2: be talking about what we need to be considering if
Speaker 2: or when we decide we want to take vitamins. I
Speaker 2: think one of the things that I feel like is
Speaker 2: really important with what doctor Gupto was saying, is that
Speaker 2: our immune system, our innate immune system or the immune
Speaker 2: system that we develop over time. It's not something that
Speaker 2: you know some people can help. The stuff that we
Speaker 2: are born with or the conditions that someone might have
Speaker 2: that can dictate a lot of different things. So when
Speaker 2: she talked about the thyroid, there's thyroid deficiencies where you
Speaker 2: can have an overactive thyroid and then that leads to
Speaker 2: other health issues like weight gain or fatigue or depression,
Speaker 2: and those are all linked to your thyroid. So I
Speaker 2: think these types of distinctions are important to realize. One
Speaker 2: mind your business and most of all, mind your own
Speaker 2: immune system and keep those things in mind when people
Speaker 2: are struggling with different ailments like diabetes, like lupus like
Speaker 2: thyroid disease. I think, first of all, you have no
Speaker 2: clue what's going on in your immune system until something
Speaker 2: goes wrong. I mean, it is magical how all these
Speaker 2: different systems are operating and interconnecting and with so many
Speaker 2: different inputs.
Speaker 1: If we think back to the things we've talked about
Speaker 1: psychologically socially, those things have biological implications. The health you
Speaker 1: had at fifteen is not the health you're going to
Speaker 1: have at thirty, and it's not the health you're gonna
Speaker 1: have at sixty. And it's designed that way. So when
Speaker 1: people say I'm at the best health of my life,
Speaker 1: that may be different than somebody else's health. You know,
Speaker 1: as much as we feel in control, we're not really
Speaker 1: in control of, you know, what's happening in our bodies.
Speaker 1: You're born with a certain set of components and you
Speaker 1: do what you can with that. And I think there's
Speaker 1: been a lot of conversation when we think about wellness
Speaker 1: that sometimes I feel like it goes off the rails
Speaker 1: about like, oh, you got to do this stuff to
Speaker 1: be healthy. There are genetic differences, there are all these
Speaker 1: other things that kind of happen along the way, and
Speaker 1: I think we just need to be aware of that
Speaker 1: and that your immune system is designed to peak, you know,
Speaker 1: at a certain age and then start dropping off. And
Speaker 1: what those peaks and valleys look like and how often
Speaker 1: they happen could be tied to so many other factors.
Speaker 1: There's just no way to know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's a great point. So it also
Speaker 2: makes you think, like, check in with yourself. Are you
Speaker 2: noticing anything abnormal or something that you feel like it
Speaker 2: happens to you more often? You are getting sick more
Speaker 2: often than other people. Maybe that's the perfect time talk
Speaker 2: to your doctor about it. Yes, like we said in
Speaker 2: our early episode, protect your neck. Did you see how
Speaker 2: people were making fun of Kevin Durant because his leg
Speaker 2: was ashym.
Speaker 1: Yes, so you know that's social commentary, but that's also
Speaker 1: health advice. Kevin Durant, please moisturize your first line of defense.
Speaker 2: But one of the symptoms for hashimotives disease is dry skin.
Speaker 2: Is dry skin? Yes, so now I feel bad. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean I didn't comment on the internet.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but we don't never comment on the internet like that.
Speaker 1: You were yourself under your.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but that doesn't mean go out and start diagnosing
Speaker 2: people with stuff, No mind your business, they will go
Speaker 2: to their doctor.
Speaker 1: That's the main diagnosis. That's what I'm doing in my business.
Speaker 2: It's none of my business. It's none of my business.
Speaker 4: Yes, Special thanks to today's guest expert, Doctor Payel Gupta.
Speaker 1: Find her on Instagram at NYC doctor and on Twitter
Speaker 1: at NYC Doctor Gupta. Dope Labs is an original production
Speaker 1: from Mega Oh Media Group. Producers are Jenny Rattlett Mast
Speaker 1: and Lydia Smith of Way Runner Studios. Editing and sound
Speaker 1: designed by Rob Smerciak, Mixing by Hannis Brown. Original music
Speaker 1: composed and produced by Taka Yasuzawa and Alex Segira from Spotify,
Speaker 1: Executive producer Gina Delback and creative producer Candice Manriquez. Rin
Speaker 1: Special thanks to Shirley Ramos, Yasmini, Fifi Kamulolia, Zil Krack
Speaker 1: and Brian Marquis. Executive producers from Mega Oh Media Group
Speaker 1: are My Internet Vesties, TC Shodia and Zakiyah Wattley