Matzinger and  Fuchs delineate a more inclusive function of the immune system:  its purpose is to protect the individual from harm or danger.  Their definition of danger is "anything that causes cell stress or necrotic cell death," as opposed to normal, programmed cell death.  The danger is sensed by the tissues themselves and communicated to the immune system cells, which become activated as necessary ^[ii].

Human beings are born with a digestive system, respiratory system, excretory system, and sensory apparatus that are already working from birth on.  These systems cannot be forced to work;  they either do or they don't.   They can be helped along with drugs, herbs, exercise, glasses, hearing aids, and the like;  but essentially the function of each organ systems is inborn.   It is the same with the immune system: 

• It is there from birth. 

• It cannot be forced to exist where it doesn't. 

• It can be helped along and allowed to flourish. 

• It can be disturbed, confused, inappropriately challenged, or not given what it needs to develop.

A number of factors influence the immune system both before and after birth.  These factors are:  the parent's health;  the mother's nutrition and lifestyle during pregnancy (including the use of alcohol and pharmacological or recreational drugs);  breast-feeding or the lack of it;  the child's diet;  and the use of antibiotics and vaccines.

3. DISCUSSION

Healthy parents provide the genetic material to make a healthy child.  During pregnancy, the developing fetus can be affected by the pregnant woman's dietary and other health habits.  Alcohol use during pregnancy, which is usually associated with poor nutritional status, may lead to the condition known as fetal alcohol syndrome.  This condition is characterized by growth deficiencies, central nervous system disfunction, poor coordination, hyperactivity, learning difficulties, and developmental delays^[iii]. 

Both medical and recreational drugs can affect the developing child's health. The most dramatic example was Thalidomide, an anti-nausea drug given to pregnant women in the Sixties;  babies born to these women had deformed, undeveloped, flipper-like arms.  During the 40's and 50's, women who appeared at risk for miscarriage were given DES (Diethylstilbestrol), now no longer prescribed.  The children of those women, known as DES babies, developed cancer and other illnesses of their reproductive organs in their adolescence and young adulthood; others had a higher prevalence of autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and pernicious anemia^[iv];  there were higher rates of unfavorable pregnancy outcomes and psychiatric illnesses in DES daughters, and more testicular cancer, infertility, and less heterosexual experiences in sons^{[v] [vi]}. 

The use of prescription drugs during pregnancy has been studied extensively.  As drugs invariably cross the placenta^[vii], they will affect the baby one way or another;  however, there is little general agreement about the seriousness or extent of the damage, or even if any occurs.  Some studies have found an association between prescription and other drug use by pregnant women and certain problems in their babies, such as birth defects and musculoskeletal changes^[viii], toxic effects on the heart^[ix], and adverse effects on the brain and central nervous system^[x].  Approximately 10% of birth defects are associated with exposure to environmental substances including drugs.^[xi]  See chart 1 for a list of medications that could cause birth defects.

3.1.  Breast Feeding

The most important of all perinatal variables for a healthy immune system is breast feeding.  In the first few days, "before the milk comes in," the breasts secrete the highly nutritious liquid known as colostrum.  This substance clears the mucus and meconium out of the baby's digestive system and sets up the appropriate intestinal flora which protects the child against digestive disorders.  Colostrum contains the mother's immunity factors, including immunoglobulins IgA and IgM^[xii], which will protect the child against many varieties of infections. 

As the milk comes in, it brings immunity factors that are specifically formulated for this mother's infant.  As she is exposed to the various toxins and pathogens around her infant, as she holds, kisses, and nuzzles him, she breathes in the air and particles around him;  both her milk-producing glands and her immune system then create the specific antibodies needed by the baby, and these go through the milk into the child^[xiii].  Stored breast milk, however, is not as effective, as studies have shown that its cellular components destabilize after heating, and cannot tolerate either boiling or freezing^[xiv]. 

Lawrence found that breast milk is protective against the following virus and bacteria:  poliovirus, E. coli, staphylococci, Enterobacteriaceae, Candida albicans, Salmonella, herpes virus, leukemia virus, influenza, and many others.  In addition, the breastfed infant's intestinal flora is composed almost entirely of Lactobacillus bifidus, which inhibits the growth of pathogenic bacteria.  The bottle-fed infant's colon one tenth of the bifido-bacteria, and more enterobacteria which is associated with more illness^[xv].

Human milk has never been shown to cause allergy, whereas cow's milk allergy is common.  Among the symptoms associated with these allergies we can count digestive distress (colic, diarrhea, spitting up and vomiting, colitis), skin rashes, runny noses,  chronic cough and mucus, slow growth, and sudden infant death.  Sudden infant death is extremely rare among breastfed infants^[xvi].  Margaret K. Davis at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD, found that infants bottle-fed or breast-fed for less than six months had an increased risk for lymphoma and other cancers.  Her evidence suggested that breast fed infants are "less severely affected by infections in infancy than are artificially-fed infants.  The type of infant feeding may affect later obesity, cancer, and diabetes mellitus."  The study established that "human milk has substantial antimicrobial effects;"  therefore, "if human milk increases resistance to infections in infancy, artificial feeding, which provides no immunological benefits, may alter the child's responses to early infection."^[xvii]

Essentially, mother's milk does two things besides providing perfect nourishment:  it provides immune factors, and it doesn't make the child sick.  Formula allows for sickness also through two aspects:  it provides no immunities and it has the potential for actually causing illness and allergies. 

Breast feeding is best instituted immediately after delivery.  In order to maintain an abundance of milk, no supplementary bottles or solids should be given to the baby for 6 months.  Once solid foods are introduced, breast feeding can continue for as long as mother and child want, in a gradually decreasing manner.

3.2.  Diet

Diet is an important variables for children's health.   Giving them natural, unprocessed foods is an essential element for strengthening their immune system.  Natural food always has nutrients not yet discovered.  In factory-processed foods, the law allows a certain amount of rodent hairs, insect fragments, and assorted other impurities considered harmless in most canned or frozen foods^[xviii].

For good nutrition and a strong immune system, children need:

• Fresh, natural foods

• Vegetables (cooked and raw)

• Whole grains and breads

• Protein foods: beans, fresh fish, naturally raised fowl or meats

• Fruits, nuts and seeds

• No milk products if the child is prone to infections^[xix]

3.3.  Chemicals in the food

Chemicals in the food include pesticides, herbicides, colorings, preservatives, and other additives.  Practically all the man-made pesticides used on our food supply are known toxins, and have been associated with cancers^[xx], birth defects, liver toxicity, peripheral and central neurological problems,  and reproductive problems in both animals and humans.regulations ^[xxi].    Because they eat more food relative to their body size, children are in greater danger from pesticides;  the 1993 report of the National Academy of Sciences, Pesticides in the Diets of Infants and Children, states that low but steady exposure to pesticides early in life can lead to a greater risk of cancer, neurological impairment, and immune dysfunction.

Fruits and vegetables are most commonly contaminated, but so are grains and meats, fish that have been caught in polluted areas, as well as imported unregulated produce.  The NAS further states that exposure to common levels of pesticides in available foods might be high enough for some children to cause symptoms of acute pesticide poisoning^[xxii].  The best way to  avoid chemicals in the children's food is to purchase only organic produce, grains, beans, nuts, and to buy products from animals allowed to graze or run, fed natural chemical-free food, and not given any antibiotics.

3.4.  Antibiotics

Antibiotics, discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1928, have been in widespread use since the mid-1940's.  In 1957, Leo Schindel, MD, published a review of the medical literature on the effects of thirteen different categories of antibiotics, including penicillin, streptomycin, tetracyclines, erythromycin, bacitracin, and polymyxin.  He found a large number of "unexpected reactions" duly described in the journals (see chart 2).Schindel also points out that "most of the resistant strains of staphylococci are to be found in hospitals, especially in surgical and pediatric wards"^[xxiii].

This review study is credible because it dealt with studies made in the early days of antibiotic use, shortly after World War II, and the adverse events could be clearly noted in populations exposed to the drugs as compared to those not exposed.  Current studies would be more difficult to evaluate, as antibiotic use is widespread throughout the world and it is nearly impossible to find non-exposed individuals as controls.

Antibiotics eradicate beneficial bacteria in the intestines, including the bacteria that help synthesize nutrients such as vitamin K, biotin, riboflavin, pyridoxine, and folic acid.  For that reason, frequent antibiotic use results in vitamin deficiencies because of the inability of the intestines to synthesize or absorb these nutrients.  Amoxicyllin in particular reduces drastically the numbers of the helpful bacteria, such as the important lactobacillus types^[xxiv].

In chronic infections where they have been used repeatedly with minimal success, the use of antibiotics is questionable, if not damaging^[xxv]. 

3.5.  Vaccines

The immune system can also be damaged by vaccinations, especially live and attenuated viral vaccines.

The Institute of Medicine in a 1994 publication, recognized 20 different possible adverse effects of commonly administered vaccines;  11 of these are neurological damage.  Also recognized was the fact that there are not enough studies in many cases to either establish or dismiss the vaccines as being the cause of these common adverse effects ^[xxvi] (See chart 3)

Live or attenuated viral vaccines can be particularly dangerous, according to Professor Richard DeLong, a retired microbiologist formerly of the University of Toledo and Del Mar College, and author of Live Viral Vaccines:  Biological Pollution.  (Live or attenuated viral vaccines include the oral [Sabin] polio, measles, mumps, rubella, varicella [chicken pox], influenza, and hepatitis A.)   These vaccines can

Professor DeLong theorizes that live viral vaccines  originate new diseases in four different ways (see chart #4)

Other recognized adverse effects of vaccines that relate to the immune system include swelling, redness, induration, high fevers, inflammation, and immediate and delayed-type hypersensitivities.^[xxviii],^[xxix]  

Clearly, we need much more information on the real effect of vaccines and antibiotics on the immune system of children..

3.6.  Natural remedies

The childrens immune system should be allowed to do exercise by recuperating from minor illnesses on its own, with the help of soups, herbs, and natural remedies, instead of being pushed and pulled by pharmaceutical drugs, all of which have adverse effects.  These drugs are best left for serious illness and life or death matters where the benefits outweigh the risks.

The following are essential to avoid the occurrence of  infections:

• Good nutrition

• Enough rest

• Fresh air and exercise

• No milk products

To manage minor illnesses, the following can be used:^[xxx]

• Natural home remedies (garlic, soups, teas, lemon, fasting)

• Herbs

• Homeopathy, naturopathy

• Massage, chiropractic