(NaturalNews) The human immune system is a remarkable network of biological structures and processes. When functioning properly, it has the ability to remember diseases that it has previously encountered for more efficient removal, trigger immediate responses to emergencies through its advanced communication systems and much more.

Despite its sophistication, however, the immune system is notoriously fragile, and even the healthiest of us can suffer from compromised immunity from time to time. During these difficult periods, when we're at a far greater risk of infection than usual, it is a good idea to supplement our diets with herbs that are well-known for their immune-boosting properties. Three of the best of these herbs are listed below.

Astragalus
Astragalus is a perennial plant native to the northern and eastern regions of China, as well as Korea and Mongolia. Its antioxidant-rich root, which resembles a garlic bulb, has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for centuries to strengthen the body against disease. Moreover, Astragalus's adaptogenic qualities make it effective at fighting disease as well.

Astragalus has been well-studied in the West, and numerous studies confirm its alleged immunity-boosting properties. A study published in Cellular Immunology in 2011, for instance, found that Astragalus polysaccharides could stimulate the body's production of macrophages (white blood cells that tackle foreign invaders and cancer cells).(1) A later study, published in Microbial Pathogenesis in January 2014, also discovered that Astragalus polysaccharides could regulate the production of T cells (white blood cells that defend the body from pathogens) in infected mice.(2)

Echinacea
Echinacea is a flowering plant that grows throughout North America and Europe. It was immensely popular in its native lands as an immunity booster and general "cure-all" during the 18th and 19th centuries, but its use began to decline after the advent of antibiotics. Fortunately, the West -- prompted by growing research into its health benefits -- seems to have rediscovered Echinacea in recent decades.

Studies into Echinacea's immunity-boosting properties are considerable, and new research is being published every month. For example, a study featured in International Immunopharmacology in March 2014 found that Echinacea polysaccharides could regulate T cell cytokine response, thus enhancing the body's defenses against infection.(3) These results were reinforced by another study published one month later in Natural Product Communications, which concluded that Echinacea preparations can bolster immunity by decreasing the "number and function" of regulatory T cells.(4)

Cat's claw
Cat's claw is a woody vine native to the Amazon Rainforest of South America. While the indigenous people of Central and South America have used cat's claw -- which is named after its hook-like thorns -- to treat a wide variety of medical conditions, it is especially revered for its ability to strengthen immune function.

Few studies have been conducted on cat's claw compared to Astragalus and Echinacea, but the limited amount of research we currently possess is promising. A study published in Phytotherapy Research in August 2011, for example, discovered that cat's claw extracts could boost immunity by modulating "distinct patterns of the immune system in a dose-dependent manner." (5) A study published in the Journal of Medicinal Food in March 2007 also listed cat's claw as one of three herbs (the others being saw palmetto and Echinacea) that could regulate immune function by activating disease-fighting macrophages.

 Eleven years of groundbreaking research and data analysis on hospitalized Medicare patients is to be presented at the 35th annual meeting of the Society for Medical Decision Making in Baltimore, Maryland. The analysis has found positive evidence showing how nutritional supplements effectively lower hospital readmission rates. This is big news for the American medical industry, primarily because Medicare patients are typically given prescription drugs instead of nutritional supplements.

And that prescription drug system must not be working, for in the current Medicare system, one in five patients are readmitted to a hospital in the same year, costing American taxpayers estimates exceeding $17.5 billion.

Affordable Care Act prompting something good?
One provision of the Affordable Care Act imposes fines on hospitals whose patient readmission rates exceed national averages. Fines estimated around $227 million are projected to hit over 2,000 hospitals in the next year. The fine, currently at one percent, is set to double going into 2014, punishing those hospitals that can't get their Medicare readmission rates under control.

This may pressure hospitals administrators to change their Medicare outpatient care completely, as health care professionals look for alternatives to help elderly patients recover.

Instead of welcoming readmissions and collecting Medicare insurance funds, hospitals may actually be pushed to help their patients recover! Entirely new outpatient programs and follow-ups may birth, helping seniors get the nutrition and energy they need to avoid readmission.

The most common medical readmission issues Medicare patients face are acute myocardial infarction and congestive heart failure. With the right nutritional outpatient care, these vascular problems could subside. If powerful nutritional supplements including the likes of chlorella, hawthorne, and flax seed were utilized, many patients wouldn't have to be readmitted.

For example, if follow-up doctor visits encouraged dietary advice and the provision of organic whole food supplements, then patients could heal more efficiently by getting the right enzymes, probiotics, essential fatty acids, minerals and vitamins in their body. This is the best way to cut down on hospital readmission rates - real whole food nutrition.

Nutritional supplements cutting down hospital readmission rates
The new 11-year study provides clear evidence on how nutritional supplements effectively cut hospital readmission rates.

The research, conducted from the University of Southern California and Stanford University, shows how oral nutritional supplements help hospitalized Medicare patients, reducing 30-day hospital readmission rates, lowering patients' length of stay and bringing down taxpayer medical costs.

    The study showed a 10.1 percent reduction in readmission rates for congestive heart failure patients.

    The study relayed a 12 percent reduction in readmission rates for those suffering from acute myocardial infarction.

    Overall, it showed an 8.4 readmission reduction for all patients, regardless of diagnosis!

Imagine the quality of life that elderly patients could regain well into their old age if simple nutrition was utilized in basic supplement form. On top of quality living, time and and cost savings were reported as well.

    There was an observed 16 percent reduction in patients' length of stay.

    This equated to an average savings of 1.65 days per person.

    There was a 15.8 percent cost savings, translating to $3,079 saved in health care expenses per person.

Breaking the norm
The norm has portrayed nutritional supplements as unnecessary and overpriced, but this 11-year study defies that myth. Nutritional supplements can and do save the medical industry thousands of dollars per patient, helping them recuperate faster and reduce their readmission probability. Cost savings are especially important in the Medicare system, because the whole thing is funded by the American taxpayers themselves.

Giving the right nutritional supplement instead of the right prescription drug is the future of health care in the United States. There is a mass awakening that will translate to real health care change.
The norm must be defied, and whole food nutrition must replace the current system of thought.

Peoples' lives and their quality of life hang in the balance.

 Low iron levels can raise your risk of stroke by making your blood more sticky, a new study indicates.

Investigators looked at data from nearly 500 people with a rare hereditary disease that causes them to have enlarged blood vessels in the lungs. Typically, blood vessels in the lungs don't allow clots to enter the arteries. But in these patients, clots can escape the lungs, travel to the brain and cause a stroke.

Those who had an iron deficiency had stickier platelets -- which are small blood cells that trigger clotting when they stick together -- and were more likely to suffer a stroke, according to the researchers at Imperial College London in the U.K.

Even those with moderately low iron levels were about twice as likely to suffer a stroke as those with iron levels in the middle of the normal range, according to the study published Feb. 19 in the journal PLoS One.

The researchers noted that many people have other types of conditions that let blood clots bypass the lung's filtering system, and they added that their findings could eventually help with stroke prevention.

Iron deficiency affects about 2 billion people worldwide, and recent research has shown that it may be a risk factor for stroke, but how iron deficiency could boost stroke risk was unknown.

"Since platelets in the blood stick together more if you are short of iron, we think this may explain why being short of iron can lead to strokes, though much more research will be needed to prove this link," Dr. Claire Shovlin, from the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London, said in a college news release.

"The next step is to test whether we can reduce high-risk patients' chances of having a stroke by treating their iron deficiency. We will be able to look at whether their platelets become less sticky," Shovlin said.

"There are many additional steps from a clot blocking a blood vessel to the final stroke developing, so it is still unclear just how important sticky platelets are to the overall process," she added.

 A large meta-analysis involving more than 200,000 participants has found that women with type 1 diabetes have more than twice the risk of dying from heart disease compared with men who have the condition.
older lady checking blood sugar level
Poorer glycemic control and insulin management - which the authors say are more common among women than men - could be contributing factors to women's raised risk of death.

In type 1 diabetes, the pancreas does not produce sufficient levels of insulin to convert sugars, starches and other foods into energy.

Currently, around 15,000 children and 15,000 adults are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes every year in the US, costing the health care system an annual $14.9 billion.

Type 1 diabetes is becoming more common all over the world, too. The incidence of type 1 diabetes in children aged 14 years and younger has risen globally by 3% every year since 1989.

In the new study, published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, researchers from the School of Public Health at The University of Queensland in Australia conducted a meta-analysis of all studies to examine sex-specific estimates of type 1 diabetes mortality between 1966 and 2014. In total, the team analyzed 26 studies that involved 214,114 participants with type 1 diabetes.

The study found that women with type 1 diabetes had a 37% higher excess risk of death from any cause compared with male type 1 diabetes patients. Female type 1 diabetes patients were also found to have nearly twice the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease than men, a 37% increased risk of stroke and a 44% increased risk of death from kidney disease.

However, the researchers were interested to find that type 1 diabetes does not appear to be associated with an increased risk of death from cancers in men or women.

Speculating on the reasons for the increased risks among female type 1 diabetes patients, the authors suggest that poorer glycemic control and insulin management - which the team says are more common among women than men - could be contributing factors.

study due to be presented at a conference later this year suggests that eating foods containing vitamin C, such as oranges, peppers, strawberries, papaya and broccoli, may be linked to a reduced risk for hemorrhagic stroke.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), stroke is the fourth leading cause of death in the US, where every year 795,000 Americans suffer a stroke and 130,000 die from one.

There are two main types of stroke: ischemic and hemorrhagic. Ischemic stroke, by far the most common type, is where a blockage in a blood vessel stops blood from getting to one or more parts of the brain. Hemorrhagic stroke is much rarer but more deadly and occurs when a weakened blood vessel in the brain ruptures and allows blood to leak into and around the brain.

Study author Dr. Stéphane Vannier, of Pontchaillou University Hospital in Rennes, France, says:

"Our results show that vitamin C deficiency should be considered a risk factor for this severe type of stroke, as were high blood pressure, drinking alcohol and being overweight in our study."

The study compared 65 patients who had experienced a hemorrhagic stroke with 65 healthy counterparts.

Both groups underwent blood tests that checked their vitamic C levels. The results showed that 41% of all participants had normal levels, 45% had depleted levels, and 14% had levels so low they were considered deficient in vitamin C.

Participants who experienced stroke had depleted levels of vitamin C

However, on average, the participants who had experienced a stroke had depleted levels, while the ones who had not had a stroke had normal levels of vitamin C in their blood.

The results have not been published in a peer-reviewed journal. The American Academy of Neurology released these details to the media in advance of its 66th Annual Meeting, due to take place in Philadelphia, PA, at the end of April, when fuller details of the study will be presented.

Dr. Vannier says more research is now needed to confirm the findings and find out how vitamin C works to reduce stroke risk.

He suggests one way vitamin C might reduce stroke risk could be by reducing blood pressure, and he adds that vitamin C has other benefits, like helping to make collagen, a protein that gives structure to skin, bones and tissue.

If confirmed, the findings add to a growing body of evidence linking dietary factors to risk of stroke. In a study published in 2012, researchers found that consuming chocolate may lower risk of any stroke. They found men who ate the largest amounts of chocolate had a 17% lower risk of stroke than men who never or very rarely ate it.