Saturday, March 14, 2009
REPRINT FROM TOTALHEALTH MAGAZINE
Lyle Hurd,
editor - TOTAL HEALTH Volume 27, No. 6, Page 42
Transfer
Factor Immunological Health
Pestilence –
Disease – Infirmity - Death
These are just a few of
the terms specialists from around the world are using to describe the potential
for apandemic, a worldwide outbreak of H5Ni, the Avian Flu. If not
this strain, some other, they say. It's not a matter of if—but when. Although
speculation varies, there's one thing everyone agrees with: The indispensable
importance of an optimally functioning immune
system.
Immunity,
Health, Longevity, and Life.
These are
the things we all value, and they are just a few of the terms
we associate with an immune system that works, an immune response that's never
late and doesn't misfire, a state of immune-readiness constantly prepared to
wage a balanced and accurate defense against bodily intruders like germs that
make us sick, bacteria that give us infection, and viruses that
kill.
It's a
hostile world. No matter who we are, where we live, or what we do, the immune
system is our first and last line of defense. No matter the money governments
around the world spend on pandemic response strategies. No matter the alleged
availability or potency of antibiotics. No matter the research dollars pouring
into vaccine development. At the end of the day, one question rises above the
rest: How strong is your immune
system?
Immune System
Basics
Your
immune system has three primary functions: first to recognize bodily intruders,
second to wage an effective attack, and third to remember invaders when they
return.
Although this may not be "news," what hasn't been widely
reported is that a molecule called transfer factor (TF) is responsible
for storing the information our immune system
uses to perform these functions.
Transfer Factor
= Immune System
"Intelligence"
Transfer factor isn't a vitamin, mineral, or herb, but a molecule that
forms the core of your immune system's intelligence network by storing
information about previous immune system encounters with bacteria, viruses and
the like.
However,
studies indicate that transfer factor does much more than simply "remember" our
immune system experiences. It also provides strategic information about how to
best handle the pathogens we encounter by stimulating NK (natural killer) cell
activity.
Similar to the genetic code stored in the DNA molecule, the transfer
factor molecule provides your immune system with the information it needs
to:
1.
Identify a problem,
2.
Balance your body's response, and
3.
Accelerate positive immune functioning.
Transfer Factor Its History, and Why
You Haven't Heard About It
While
studying Tuberculosis in 1949, Dr. H. Sherwood Lawrence (prior Head of
Infectious Diseases and Immunology of New York University, 1959—2000) discovered
that he could "transfer" a positive immune response from a recovered donor to a
naive recipient, someone who had never encountered
tuberculosis.
At the
time, Lawrence used white blood cells as the source of transfer factor from
human donors to lucky patients via intravenous administration. Although transfer
factor was hailed as a major discovery by researchers and scientists around the
world, penicillin took center stage as Western medicine's panacea, a "cure-all"
to sickness and infection.
No one
can argue the role antibiotics have played in battling disease. At the same
time, more professionals than ever are concerned about their effectivenes as
germs get smarter. Antibiotics replace the immune system, rather than strengthen
it. For this reason, people are looking for alternative ways to
support and promote their immune response.
Since
Lawrence's ground-breaking life work, thousands of scientific studies have
explored the effectiveness of the immune system molecule, transfer factor. And
over the last twenty years, three major immunological discoveries have
revolutionized transfer factor science:
•
Sources
In the
early days of transfer factor therapy, donors were human, and transfer factor
was received via injection. It wasn't until the 1980s that medical science
discovered the efficacy and compatibility ofanimal-sourced transfer factor.
Today, we know that unlike antibodies, transfer factor is cross-species
compatible. This means that its benefit is universal. As a result, we can
profit from the transfer factor of animals with heroic (resilient) immune
systems.
•
Oral Consumption: Delivery
Transfer
factor science has come a long way since its intravenous beginning. In the
1980s, it was discovered that transfer factor is orally transmissible, which
makes sense because it's passed from mother to child through colostrum, a
mother's first milk. A wide range of studies conducted over the past two decades
now underscore the efficacy of orally consumed transfer
factor.
• Technology
Scientists have only recently developed
the techniques needed to extract and concentrate transfer factor molecules for
optimal potency. For example, although traces of transfer factor exist in
colostrum, they must be isolated and purified for ideal results.
Heroic Immune
Systems = Potent Transfer Factor
The most potent transfer factor
molecules come from "heroic" immune systems that have had previous encounters
with a wide range of viral and bacterial strains. Today's scientific community
is particularly interested in two sources of transfer factor: one derived from
cows, the other from chickens. Cow colostrum contains potent transfer factor
designed to prepare the newborn calf for the barnyard's toxic
environment.
Similarly, eggs offer another source
for harvesting potent transfer factor strains.
Our Daily Need for
Transfer factor
Hundreds of thousands of people around
the world take transfer factor on a daily basis for increased immune system
support. In fact, one report indicates that in China, "more than six million
people have used transfer factor as a prophylaxis for hepatitis."
Throughout the world, people are
discovering that transfer factor offers general immune maintenance for our
on-the-go lifestyles. This may be why the popular book, The Cerm Survival
Guide, by Dr. Kenneth A. Bock, M.D., et al., lists six Transfer Factor
capsules per day as "essential" when traveling.
Reported Benefits of
Transfer Factor
Transfer factor is referred to as an
"immunocorrector" and reportedly supports immune function in different ways,
including the suppression of an over-active immune system for autoimmune
disorders as well as the stimulation of normal immune functioning.
In May of 2000, Alternative
Medicine magazine published an article titled "Educating the Immune" in
which DJ. Fletcher writes that "the immune system is one of the miracles of
nature, and Transfer Factor (TF), a type of immune therapy, is part of that
miracle." Transfer factor, Fletcher states, may contribute to positive immune
function for people with "Candida albicans, Epstein-Barr, HIV, and other health
conditions, including Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, and
Hepatitis."
As a "smart molecule" and immune system
balancer, transfer factor has proven valuable in helping the immune system
suppress unhealthy and potentially destructive levels of inflammation. In fact,
transfer factor actually educates your immune
system to what it must know for
optimal performance when ever inflammation occurs.
Transfer Factor Science: Breakthrough and Discovery
Countless research articles explore the
role transfer factor molecules play in proper immune system functioning, and
there have been (and continue to be) substantial efforts to capitalize on this
research by securing intellectual rights for transfer factor processes. For
example, 4Life Research, LLC, of Sandy, Utah, has conducted numerous scientific
studies and has multiple patents.
• In one independent NK Cell Study,
4Life's combination of bovine and avian sourced transfer factor dramatically
increased natural killer cell activity four hundred thirty-seven percent above
baseline.
• In October of 2002, 4Life patented
methods for "obtaining transfer factor from avian sources" as well as new ways
of generating and preparing the non-mammalian transfer factor."
• In March of 2005, 4Life patented a
process of combining transfer factor "from at least two different types of
source animals."
4Life Research's CEO, David Lisonbee,
has been at the forefront of immune research for more than 12 years. For his
contribution to the search for "new natural immunocorrectors, new sources of
extraction, and progressive developmental technologies," Lisonbee will be
inducted into the Russian Academy of Medical & Technical
Sciences and receive the 2006 I.N. Blokhina Award for Bio-Technological
Advancement during the last week of February.
As noted above, transfer factor is the
subject of many publications. In addition to the ones cited earlier, a book,
Transfer Factors: Maximize Your Immune IQ, authored by David Lisonbee and
Dr. William Hennen, is scheduled for release this March.
The book will
address the importance of transfer factor and proper immune system functioning
in today's world.
Transfer Factor
Today
In 2005, the Bush Administration
dedicated 7.1 billion dollars to the development of an emergency pandemic
response strategy.
No matter how much money is invested in
protecting us from an outbreak of avian flu or some other epidemic, the immune
system is our first and last line of defense.
Its worth is invaluable, because
without an immune system, we face pestilence, disease, infirmity and
death.
Fortunately, scientific research
continues to reveal a very promising link between the transfer factor molecule
and
optimal immune response.
•For references: Send a SASE to totalhealth
magazine.