Health Products article on immune system

HEALTH PRODUCTS ARTICLE

I Like to Get My Hands Dirty

By Dr. Al Sears

Last month I was in Africa, and I ate every fresh, native fruit straight from the vendors in the market.

My buddies were very selective about what they would eat. They washed everything. They used hand sanitizers and begged me to use them, too. And they wouldn’t touch the street-side food.

I ate everything I could find. And I’m the only one who didn’t get sick.

That’s because I travel a lot. I challenge myself, and my immune system is used to it.

But here’s the real point:

When you constantly use hand sanitizers, you never challenge your immune system. It doesn’t have the chance to develop fully.

Unless you’re a surgeon, believing you have to sterilize yourself is a mistake. You’re isolating yourself from the natural world we were born to thrive in. Our natural world is not sterile. We are meant to be exposed to bacteria.

Not all bacteria are bad. In fact, small bacteria help to keep resistant bacteria under control. Hand sanitizers kill off all the small bacteria. They allow resistant bacteria to grow unchecked.

Bacteria grow so strong they become resistant to antibiotic medications.¹ It means the next time you have a serious infection that requires an antibiotic, it may not have an effect.

But it’s not just bacteria you have to worry about. The antibacterial ingredient in the hand sanitizer can be dangerous.

For example, most of those hand sanitizers that have become so popular have something in them called triclosan.

Every time you use a hand sanitizer that contains triclosan, some of it is absorbed into your skin and interferes with your hormones.

Triclosan has been shown to lower your production of thyroid hormone. Low thyroid can give you such symptoms as fatigue, muscle aches, and weight gain.²

And, when triclosan was tested on animals, it decreased their testosterone by one third.³ When it was tested on pregnant animals, it prevented the mothers’ estrogen from reaching their unborn babies.⁴ It also caused changes in breast tissue and increased cancer cells, even when tested for less than a month.⁵

So, what do you do? In this case, the advice is easy.

1. Don’t ever use any hand sanitizers, because you don’t need them.

2. To keep clean and prevent infections or viruses, use “good, old-fashioned soap” and warm water instead. The kind of soap we used for 100 years before all this hysteria started over bacteria. Ivory and Lava soap have been around since the 1800s. These are just two examples of good soaps to use.

3. Always check the label before you buy. If your soap, cream, or any other solution says “antibacterial” on it, don’t buy it.

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Dr. Al Sears owns and operates an integrative medicine and anti-aging clinic in Wellington, Fla., with more than 20,000 patients. His therapies and reputation for solving some of the most difficult-to-diagnose cases attract patients from around the world. You will find his website here.

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Sources

1 Levy, Stuart B. “Antibiotic and Antiseptic Resistance: Impact on Public Health.” Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal. 2000 Oct;19(10):S121.
2 Calafat, AM. et al. “Urinary Concentrations of Triclosan in the U.S. Population: 2003–2004.” Environ Health Perspect. 2008 March; 116(3): 303–307.
3 Kumar V, Chakraborty A, Kural MJ, Roya P. “Alteration of testicular steroidogenesis and histopathology of reproductive system in male rats treated with triclosan.” Reproductive Toxicology. 2009. 27:177–185.
4 James MO., et al. “Triclosan is a potent inhibitor of estradiol and estrone sulfonation in sheep placenta.” Environ Int. 2009, Mar. doi:10.1016/j.envint.2009.02.004
5 Gee RH, Charles A, Taylor N, Darbre PD. “Oestrogenic and androgenic activity of triclosan in breast cancer cells.” J Appl Toxicol 2008; 28:78–91.
6 Whitehouse MW, Macrides TA, Kalafatis N. “Anti-inflammatory activity of a lipid fraction (Lyprinol®) from the N. Z. green-lipped mussel.” Inflammopharmacology. 1997;5:237-46.