ME and immunity
My 29-year-old daughter is now in her fourth year of ME. She looks wonderfully healthy but picks up every bug and cold going. She has improved her diet to eat more fresh foods but she has a demanding job and little free time. What do you suggest for her?
The reason your daughter catches so many infections is that her immune system is weakened. This not only exacerbates her illness but, according to some researchers, is the reason she has become ill in the first place. An immune-boosting diet should include lots of fresh fruit (at least four pieces a day) and vegetables, as well as oily fish, nuts, seeds, and tofu. Your daughter should avoid sugars and refined carbohydrates, such as white bread and white rice, which can overburden a weakened system and instead, eat oats, quinoa and brown Basmati rice. She also needs to drink two litres of fluid a day, preferably as water and herbal teas and not as tea or coffee.
This is the advice of Ian Marber, a clinical nutritionist practising at The Nutrition Clinic in London and the author of a new book called The Food Doctor which is published by Collins & Brown. Marber recommends anyone with ME supplement their diet with vitamins A, C, E, mixed carotenoids, zinc, selenium and magnesium. He also suggests a potent immune-boosting mushroom extract supplement called Mycelium 3, which contains both Reishi and Shiitake mushrooms, plus Cordy Ceps.
In Japan, Reishi (pronounced ray-she) has long been used to treat people suffering from debilitating muscle disease. Shiitake contains an antiviral substance called lentinan, which stimulates the immune system to produce more interferon; a chemical that bolsters the body’s natural defences.
*Mycelium 3 costs £13.93 for 100 capsules and is available from The Nutrition Clinic. Call 0171-935 5700 for details. Ian Marber charges £70 for a 90-minute consultation.