Cow urine or Clorox?
Various fraudsters have been trying to take advantage of people during the pandemic
One side-effect of COVID-19 is that the word “immunity” now rolls off the tongue of everyone from news anchors to the average citizen. That’s a good thing because the immune system is our body’s first line of defence against all kinds of bad things.
With a possible resurgence of COVID-19, the regular seasonal flu and a threatening new swine flu called G4, it would be great to somehow make our immune system stronger. The internet will sell us thousands of products that claim to do this, but are any of them the answer?
“There are no simple ways to boost immunity, no single nutrient or single eating pattern that achieves superior immunity,” says Tanis Fenton, who is both a dietitian and an adjunct professor in the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary.
She gives what she calls “the boring advice — eat a variety of foods, avoid smoking, get sufficient exercise and sleep, limit alcohol intake, avoid stress and poverty.”
Fenton pointed me to some recent comments by the always-quotable professor Timothy Caulfield, Canada research chair in health law and policy at the University of Alberta. He recently received a $380,000 grant to study COVID-19 misinformation.
Caulfield calls the tirade of pandemic-related health news an “infodemic” and recently wrote that “You can’t, despite marketing to the contrary, ‘boost your immune system’ with a colonic, an IV vitamin infusion or a chiropractic adjustment.”
He advocates regulatory action by entities like Health Canada to shut down fraudsters pushing unproven treatment and prevention products. Indeed, that agency confirmed in a news release that it is monitoring websites that make Covid-related claims. Health Canada officials say they have “issued letters to multiple companies directing them to immediately remove these claims from their websites and advertising materials.”
What explains the attraction of quick, miracle cures? People, especially men, want to feel they have some control over situations, even ones as extreme as a pandemic.
In his classic 1992 book, Men are From Mars, Women are from Venus, John Gray expressed the male/female difference concisely with “a man’s sense of self is defined through his ability to achieve results.”
Almost three decades of brain scans and other research has just confirmed that our male identity often involves trying to solve problems rather than talking about them. Which makes the pandemic so pernicious for guys. We want to grab it by the horns, but it’s hard to know how to do that. Here’s a start.
As I watched footage of people crowding together on U.S. beaches that reopened, perhaps too quickly, I was struck by the panorama of obesity on display. Being cooped up at home, where’s there’s continuous access to food, with the gyms closed, makes the quarantine 15 a real possibility. Of course, they’re talking about gaining 15 pounds. Perhaps we should try for the quarantine minus-5 — losing some excess weight, if that’s appropriate. The internet is full of at-home workouts and some of them are pretty good.
But let’s face it, most guys will still be looking for some magic bullet, even if there is none. Our brains are wired to think that way, for valid survival and evolutionary reasons.
Just before the pandemic shut down live events, I joined the folks at the Biohackyyc meetup group on an educational field trip to the Light Cellar. It’s a “super food shop” started a decade ago by Malcolm Saunders, a self-described “hippie CEO.”
He drew the letters A, V and F on a whiteboard. The first two are the familiar animal and vegetable food kingdoms, and his mission was to tell us about the third kingdom — fungi. Saunders is extremely knowledgeable and persuasive about the benefits of various kinds of mushrooms. Yes, I bought a bottle of Chaga & Reishi Mushroom Extract which I now toss into my morning coffee.
Calgary-based Advanced Orthomolecular Research makes a multi-mushroom product called Mushroom Synergy. CEO Traj Nibber says “the ingredients we use have a standardized content of polysaccharides which is known for its immune and anti-inflammatory properties.”
Fenton is quick to remind me that “mushrooms are not uniquely healthy, and over the years have become considered to be extremely healthy, so that they now have developed a ‘health halo,’ that is, that people believe they are healthier than evidence supports.”
Point taken. Still, I enjoy the morning ritual of adding 1/8 of a teaspoon of mushroom extract to my coffee. It makes me feel a sense of control, even if it’s not scientifically proven.
Perhaps more importantly, it cues me to think about other healthy ways to spend the day, like getting more exercise, consuming healthier food and reading less online pandemic information.
As aspects of this unique global experience affect our psyches in so many ways, taking a small leap of faith may actually be an excellent idea.
Tom Keenan is an award-winning tech writer, public speaker, professor in the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape at the University of Calgary, and author of Technocreep: The Surrender of Privacy and the Capitalization of Intimacy.
There are no simple ways to boost immunity, no single nutrient or single eating pattern that achieves superior immunity.