Swine Flu And Inositol Phosphate
Can Diet Supplements Protect You From Viral Infection?
We all like to get simple answers to life's complex questions. Dealing with threats of diseases such as swine flu is just one such "complication". We want to be safe, want to be ready, and want to be protected, want to be sure. Diseases make us vulnerable, ready to try anything that might help, and in this way make us an ideal target audience to market to.
Can Alternative Medicine Help?
No wonder that "alternative medicine" suggestions and claims remain popular, especially when conventional medicine is not ready to help. For example, Florida Detox and Wellness Institute suggested recently that one should take inositol phosphate to get protected against new viral infections. Inositol phosphate is supposed to increase the number of Natural Killer (NK) cells in circulation and in this way to increase the capacity of the body to kill invading viruses.
What are inositol and its phosphate derivatives?
This is a group of compounds that are present in practically every human cell and play vital roles in various cellular functions, such as growth, migration, differentiation, endocytosis and apoptosis. These inositol compounds are plentiful in a well-balanced diet - it is found in high-bran content cereals, nuts, legumes and fruit such as melons and oranges. It is also made by our body itself, for example in the process of fighting infections.Interestingly, some 30 years of research has now shown that inositol phosphate have also a broad-range of anti-cancer effects, at least in experimental animals. In cell cultures, they can inhibit growth of various human cancer cells, and this effect has also been shown in vivo in animal studies (Singh RP and Agarwal R., Prostate Cancer and Inositol Hexaphiosphate: Efficacy and Mechanisms. Anticancer Research 25: 2891-2904 (2005)). Another good news is that these compounds are generally non-toxic, well tolerated by most people, and inexpensive.
So, Can Inositols Protect You From Swine Flu?
But don't get two excited as yet, and do not start running into your local nutritional-supplement shop to buy a generous supply of inositol phosphate. Shelves of health shops and supermarkets are loaded with many similar compounds that have been linked to similar promises. In fact, I would venture to say that if we are to believe all the "claims" (at least implied if not explicit) made by "alternative-medicine" product peddlers, we would all be very healthy.As it is, there is currently no clinical evidence that taking extra doses of inositol phosphate will protect you from influenza. And given the plethora of various biological effects that this and related compounds are known to exert, you don't know what it actually can do to you, so be cautious. Let us not underestimate nature and overestimate our knowledge. While on one hand inositol phosphates play important roles in helping cells to deal with “insults” such as bacterial and viral infections, in other situations faults in inositol phosphate processes may have undesirable consequences. An understanding of the precise molecular mechanisms that are involved is indeed needed before responsible suggestions should be made about the use of such compounds in untested circumstances.
What do you think about this article?
More in Health & Wellness
Latest Articles