Health Q&A: Health - 1st Pine Pollen series

1. Are people without diseases considered healthy people?

The notion that people without diseases are considered healthy people is undiscriminating, partial and incorrect. Healthy people are those who pay attention to their own health and diet in daily life, who will make appropriate arrangements of their work, learning, rest, entertainment and physical exercise as well as social contacts. They are energetic, vigorous, having ease of mind and have a strong resistance to diseases, keeping a close eye on their own mental and physical state. There is another group of people, called sub-healthy people by some scholars, who always feel weary, nervous, sleepless and palpitated. Although these symptoms disappear sometimes without medication but they can not be eliminated thoroughly. They are not considered diseased in the hospital. The state of these people' bodies is called sub-healthy state, or gray state by some scholars. It lies between illness and health: little harm seems to have been done to the body with only a decrease in physical functions; in fact, its potential threat can not be neglected, for it is often the prelude of some chronic diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and cancer.One main cause of this phenomenon is the lack of correct understanding of health and the lack of awareness to the factors threatening their own health, including the mental stress and working pressure caused by the complexity of different relationships in modern society, unreasonable diet and environmental pollution brought about by modern industrialization, etc. Therefore it is necessary to provide people with a good understanding of health and means of acquiring it through the promotion of health knowledge. Those who hold the notion that "out of illness means health" should change it so as to obtain a really healthy life, for "out of illness is not equal to health” and "no sense of being sick is not equal to out of illness".

2. What factors affect health?

According to a report of WHO, health and longevity depend on the following factors: self-healthcare accounting for 60%, genetic factors 15%, social factors 10%, medical conditions 8% and climatic factors 7%. In this report, great importance is attached to the enforcement of health education, health protection and health promotion with a recommendation on self-healthcare. This new notion brings up a shift of attention from treatment to active prevention and healthcare, from the dependence on doctors to the self-control of health.

3. Why is "prevention better than cure"?

"Prevention is better than cure" means that diseases should be prevented before they occur. It fully illustrates the two important aspects of medicine: treatment of disease and prevention of disease, with an emphasis on the latter. In the past decades, with the increase of the chronic non-infectious diseases, (such as malignant tumors, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and diabetes), the death rate is increasing dramatically, which has become a great threat to health. The medical studies on chronic diseases show that dangerous factors have existed from adolescence although the diseases mentioned above mostly occur among the elderly in clinical practice. Although these diseases are associated with high rates of death and deformity, there is a limit for the treatment of these diseases and the expenses can be extremely high. Hence, preventive measures should be taken from adolescence.

4. What is drug-induced disease?

The effect of any medicine has two sides. Nowadays a lot of chemically synthesized medicine has therapeutic effects to the diseases as well as side-effects to the body. Therefore, when the medicine is not properly used, side effects would occur and consequently lead to new diseases--the so-called drug-induced disease. For example, when some antibiotics are not properly used, they will do harm to the kidney, liver and visual and acoustical nerves; the use of some diuretics may lead to hypokalemia; and some pills for sleep lead to dependence on them. From the above examples a conclusion can be drawn that it is necessary for people to follow doctors' instructions on dose and intervals on medication instead of making self assertion to avoid serious consequences.

5. What is the best approach to taking trace element?

Trace element is classified by nutritionist as the nutrients whose amount is less than 10 milligram, among all the nutrients absorbed daily by the body. It accounts for a small percentage in the body but is indispensable. Either over or under taken, it could cause physiological abnormality or diseases.Taking trace element from food is encouraged by experts. Although, in the short term, it can be effective to take trace element preparation (or medicine) at trace element deficiency, trace element can only be digested and absorbed in the body through chelation reaction, which joins the inorganic mineral elements and the amino acid in the body into chelating compounds. Besides, there is some constrains on taking trace element preparations such as zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate, sodium sulfate, sodium sulfite because these chemical preparations possess stimulant properties and low absorption rate. However the organic mineral trace element compounds (such as ferrous gluconate, zinc glutamate, cupric citrate) and trace element bioforms (such as zinc yeast, selenium yeast, zinc mushroom powder and pollen) are much easier to be absorbed and work more effectively with a low side effect.The trace elements in pine pollen, existing in plant cells, are regarded best for their bioactivity, poisonless, long term edibility without side effect, which confirms the saying that it is better to take trace element through food than through medicine.

6. What are health foods?

Health foods are those that have a specific healthcare function, that is to say, suitable for certain group of people with a body-regulating function rather than a therapeutic purpose.

7. What is immunity? What role dose it play? What diseases may abnormal immunologic function cause?

Immunity is the body's capacity preventing diseases and one of the body's physiological functions of eliminating foreign bodies, maintaining the balance and stability of its internal environment.

The body's immune system is a complex and precise system composed of immune organs, immune cells and immune molecules. It consists of:

(1) Immune organs
central immune organs:
thymus
marrow
peripheral immune organs:
spleen
lymph node
other lymphatic organs, tonsil, appendix, patch lymph node

(2) Immune cells
lymphatic cells:
B cell, T cell, K cell, NK cell, etc.
monocyte
granulocytes: neutrophilic granulocyte, eosinophilic granulocyte, basophilic granulocyte
mastocyte
platelet

(3) Immune molecules:
immunoglobulin
complement molecules
cellular factors: interferon, interleukin, tumor necrosis factors

Immune functions are mainly categorized as:

(1) Immune prevention: to protect the body by preventing the invasion of pathological micromolecule and its toxin.

(2) Self-stabilization: to maintain the stability of the body's internal environment by eliminating the damaged, aged and denaturalized cells.

(3) Immune surveillance: to prevent canceration by distinguishing, killing and eliminating mutant cells.

Abnormity of immune prevention: showed by allergy when it is over-reacted and immunodeficiency when under-reacted (poor protective capacity against diseases).

Abnormity of self-stabilization: Immune diseases, such as rheumatism, rheumatoid and erythematous lupus, are brought out by the damage of organs when normal cells are eliminated due to overreaction.

Abnormity of self-stability: mostly showed by reduced immune functions and increased incidence of cancer.

8. What can flavonoid do to health?

Flavonoid is a natural organic compound existing in many plants, and an effective component for a lot of Chinese herbal medicine, such as haw, mulberry leaves, gingko leaves, bamboo leaves, cocoa, and the root of kudzu vine. As a parmacodynamic component, flavonoid has a lot of functions such as lowering blood pressure, reducing lipidemia, preventing thrombosis, strengthening immunity, improving cardiovascular and cerebrovascular blood circulation, etc. Flavonoid, similar to vitamin C, is metabolized quickly, and evacuated by urine when it is in surplus.

As far as scientists are concerned, flavonoid is a newly discovered natural nutrient necessary for the body. The lack of flavonoid in the body will lead to cerebral dysfunction, inadequate cardiac function, blood vessel cirrhosis and brittleness. With small molecules it is easily absorbed by the body and is able to enter fat tissues through blood barriers; hence, it has a general effect for health, such as anti-inflammation, anti-allergy and anti-tumor, restraining bacteria and virus, and preventing liver diseases and thrombosis.
Flavonoid should be taken consistently. With a fast metabolism it dose not accumulate in the body. Meanwhile, It has to be obtained from food, such as cereal, vegetable，fruit juice, and tea for it can not be synthesized in the body.


(Post date: 2007/03/20)