Immunity boosting oral liquid

All compliant immunity-boosting oral liquids currently on the market in China are essentially dietary supplements or medicinal and food-based drinks with the function of enhancing immunity. They can only be used as an auxiliary supplement for a healthy lifestyle. They can neither replace drugs to treat immune diseases, nor have the magical effect of "effective for everyone" - their actual effects are at least three times more relevant to the individual's basic health status and living habits than the product itself.

I spent more than half a year in the nutrition department of a tertiary hospital in the past two years. The question most people asked was "Doctor, can I avoid catching a cold if I drink this oral liquid?" ”, especially when the season changes, during the period of high influenza incidence, or before the high school entrance examination and college entrance examination, seven out of ten people who come to open a nutrition consultation number come with this question in mind. Some time ago, I went back to my old employer to get information, and I met a young man from an Internet company who brought half a box of oral liquid of a certain brand. He said that half of the people in their office had fevers and coughs recently. He was afraid that he would be infected and affect the project's launch, so he specially stocked up two boxes, drank it himself, and distributed it to his colleagues in the team.

The oral liquids currently on the market are actually divided into two categories. One type is the health food with the blue hat label. The ingredients are mostly lactoferrin, β-glucan, vitamin C, zinc and other nutrients that have been clinically proven to be related to immune function. The other type is drinks with ordinary food brands. Most of them are added with herbal ingredients of the same origin as astragalus, Codonopsis root, Poria cocos and jujube. Some also add a small amount of propolis and ginseng extract.

What’s interesting is that practitioners with different backgrounds have quite different attitudes towards this type of product. Most of my colleagues who study clinical nutrition are cautious about this type of product. After all, according to the "Reference Dietary Nutrient Intakes for Chinese Residents", as long as you eat a balanced daily diet, eat enough meat, eggs, milk, vegetables and fruits, make time to exercise more than three times a week, and do not stay up late for a long time, the immunoglobulins and lymphocyte subgroups in the serum are basically within the normal range. It is difficult to perceive any "improvement" by drinking additional oral liquids. There are even some products that add whey protein and lactose, and people with lactose intolerance may easily get upset after drinking them. But several doctors in traditional Chinese medicine clinics I know have different opinions. They say that if you have a constitution with qi deficiency, you often break out in sweats, get a headache or catch a cold when you blow a little wind, or feel tired after just two steps. Oral liquids with astragalus and Codonopsis pilosula added to the symptoms can be taken for half a month to a month, and most of them can be cured. I feel that my energy and energy are much better, and the frequency of colds during the change of seasons can also be reduced. However, if you have a body with high internal heat, you often suffer from oral ulcers, constipation, and bad breath. If you drink oral liquid with ginseng and propolis, it will easily make up for the internal heat and even aggravate the body's inflammatory response.

I met an aunt in her 40s before. She heard from her neighbor that a certain oral liquid can improve immunity and prevent nodules. She had breast nodules and thyroid nodules, so she quickly bought three boxes to drink. However, within 20 days of drinking, her breasts were so swollen that she couldn't even wear underwear. When she went for a reexamination, the nodules had grown by 2mm. She brought it over to show us the ingredients. It contains high levels of royal jelly and ginseng extract. It is completely complementary to her body type. There is also a junior girl who went to the library every day to take the postgraduate entrance examination. She didn’t go to bed until two o’clock every day after studying. She relied on rice balls from the convenience store downstairs for her meals. She caught four colds in half a year. Later, she adjusted her schedule based on our suggestions. She took 10 minutes a day to walk around the playground twice and drank it with her. After taking the oral solution containing zinc and β-glucan for a month, I didn’t get sick much during the entire exam preparation season. She later came over to thank us and said the oral solution was so useful. Several of our doctors talked privately and we all felt that her adjustment of work schedule and diet accounted for at least 70% of the credit.

Nowadays, the propaganda of many businesses is indeed outrageous. Don’t believe it, such as “it takes three days to take effect” and “it can prevent COVID-19, influenza and hand, foot and mouth”. According to the regulations of the State Administration for Market Regulation, the immunity-related claims of Blue Hat health food can only be labeled as "enhancing immunity." Any claim that it can prevent or treat diseases is exaggerated propaganda, and you should report it directly if you encounter it. Moreover, I have seen many Sanwu oral liquids produced by small workshops, which do not even have blue caps. They are added with a bunch of white sugar, sweeteners, and preservatives, and are said to be "only for children." If they are given to children to drink, their immunity is not improved, and tooth decay occurs first. Some even add illegal hormone ingredients, which actually affect the development of children.

I actually also prepare one or two boxes of this kind of oral liquid, which is the herbal version with astragalus and poria added. Whenever I have to go on business for several days in a row, or when I have to stay up late to catch up on projects, drinking one bottle every day can really reduce the feeling of fatigue and make me less likely to catch colds from people around me. But if I had a regular schedule during that period, could swim three times a week, and cooked my own meals at home, I would not feel anything at all after drinking it. To put it bluntly, it was just an emergency supplement.

In fact, it is quite appropriate to compare immunity to a mobile phone battery. If your battery is usually in good health and you charge it on time every day (eat, sleep and exercise well), it is completely sufficient. If you have to plug in an extra power bank (drink oral liquid), it will have no other use except to drop it.； If you are running out every day recently and don’t have time to charge properly, temporarily using a power bank to replenish power can indeed be an emergency, but you can’t use the power bank as your main power source, right? If there is really something wrong with the battery itself, such as a congenital immune deficiency or impaired immune function due to other diseases, then you have to go to the hospital to find a doctor to "repair the battery". Relying on a power bank is definitely useless.