text: Summer cold is stubborn and can cause respiratory disorders like prolonged cough, pneumonia. Summer cold is often accompanied with diarrhea and vomit, and we also sweat a lot in summer, so it can cause dehydration.
  The temperature difference between the indoor and outdoor is extreme so that the immune is weakened.
  Which is better to prevent summer cold, coffee or green tea?
  Green tea is better to prevent summer cold.
  Catechin contained in green tea attaches to viruses and prevents them from attaching to the mucus membrane.
  To make tasty green tea, the temperature of water should be 70-80 degrees C (158-176 degrees F), but to activate immune cells, the water to make green tea should be cold because more catechin can be extracted.
  To prevent summer cold, about 500 cc (16.9 FL OZ) of green tea a day is recommended.
  How about coffee?
  Caffeine contained in coffee has the effect to widen the bronchial tube, so when you have cough, it is good to drink coffee.
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  The Best Method to Prevent Flu by Eating Food
  12/15/2018
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  ​To prevent flu, it is important to heighten the strength of the immune system. The substance that heightens the immune strength is lipopolysaccharide (LPS).
  Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) can be taken from food so that it is called “Immune vitamin”.
  There is a type of immune cell called macrophage in the body, which eats virus and bacteria invading the body. macrophages are activated by taking lipopolysaccharide, leading to stronger immune system and healthier body.
  Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is effective for seasonal allergies, dementia and cancer in addition to infectious diseases like a flu.
  The best method to prevent flu by eating food is…
  Eating brown rice once a day.
  Why eating brown rice is good?
  Brown rice has rice bran which is rich in lipopolysaccharide (LPS).
  A cup of brown rice a day gives you sufficient lipopolysaccharide (LPS).
  ​
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  Spices to prevent and improve diseases (Quick note)
  12/9/2018
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  ​High Blood Sugar: Yamaimo (Japanese yam) (Fig. 1) >> slow down absorption of sugar by wrapping it around
  High Blood Pressure: Lemon >> antioxidant effect of polyphenol
  Dementia: Seaweed laver (Fig. 2) >> rich in folic acid >> toast with seaweed laver and cheese containing short-chain fatty acid which is also good for dementia, Seaweed baked with butter
  Smoothening blood: Bonito flakes (Fig. 3) >> EPA and DHA prevent blood clots>> be careful in winter because don’t drink water very much >> more effective if eat with soy products like miso, tofu
  Immune system: Scallion (Fig. 4) >> Null which strengthen immune cells which are macrophages, IgA and natural killer cells >> green part of scallion, more in thick scallion >> prevent a cold and flu
  Aging of blood vessels (Hardening of the artery): Sesame >> vitamin E prevents oxidization of blood vessel and Sesamin lowers LDL cholesterol >> any kinds, 1 tablespoon per day is effective >> grated is better to absorb
  Cold intolerance: Japanese pepper (Sansho) (Fig. 5) >> sprinkle on fried food or miso soup, mixed with mayonnaise as a dip
  Osteoporosis: Yuzu (a citrus fruit) (Fig. 6) >> citric acid increases the absorption of calcium by 20 % >> use instead of vinegar >> taking the skin containing Beta-cryptoxanthin helping form bones is effective
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  5 Best Acupuncture Points You Can Easily Press and Improves Symptoms Chosen by 100 Acupuncturists (5/5)
  11/26/2018
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  ​1st: Chosen by 31 out of 100 Acupuncturists
  Indications
  Stiff neck and shoulders, Headache, Cold intolerance, Edema, Stress, Anxiety, Insomnia, Tiredness of Eyes, Low back pain, Knee pain, Constipation, Menstrual cramps, rough skin, High blood pressure, Diarrhea, Pollen allergy, Sore throat, Toothache, Dizziness, Snoring, Ringing in ears
  This acupuncture point is all-around and the strongest acupuncture point effective for various symptoms all over the body.
  Acupuncture point
  Large Intestine-4 (LI4)
  Location of LI4
  LI4 is located where the bones of the index finger and the thumb meets and is the index finger side (Fig. 1).
  Pressing LI4 promotes the secretion of the substance having an analgesic effect and affects the symptoms all over the body.
  How to press LI4
  Push your thumb into the inside of your index finger and count 10 (Fig. 2).
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  Whether or not you catch a cold depends on the power of the hair inside your body?
  1/5/2018
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  ​There is a difference between people who tend to catch a cold easily and people who don’t.
  What makes the difference is the power of cilia which are the hair inside our body.
  Cilia line the respiratory tract from the back of nose to bronchial tubes. The length is about 1/100 mm. Since cilia keep waving 15 times per second, even if you are infected by a virus, cilia deliver the virus to the back of throat and to the stomach very quickly, and the virus is killed by stomach acid.
  But if the power of cilia is weakened, the virus doesn’t reach the stomach, stays in the air way, invades the body and causes inflammation, resulting in sneezing, runny nose, sore throat, cough, headache and/or fever.
  What weakens the power of cilia?
  Coldness
  The colder the temperature is, the slower the activity of cilia is. That means the function of cilia to deliver and discharge viruses becomes weaker.
  Lack of water
  In winter, water is lost from exhaled air and the skin because the air is dry.
  In summer, when you sweat, you feel thirsty and drink water, but in winter, water is lost gradually without your notice and you don’t feel thirsty so much, so you don’t drink water.
  Why does lack of water lower the activity of cilia?
  Fig. 1 shows normal mucus and cilia and Fig. 2 shows decreased mucus and cilia.
  When viruses come into your nose, cilia deliver the virus with mucus to your mouth or stomach, forming phlegm. But the lack of water decreases mucus and the viruses stay on the cilia without being delivered, and the viruses invade the cell and increase the number, resulting in catching a cold.
  A virus which invaded the body in the morning becomes ten thousands in the evening (16 hours later) and becomes one million in the next morning (24 hours later), causing various cold symptoms.
  So it is important to keep cilia active to prevent a virus from invading the body.
  How can we hydrate the body efficiently not to catch a cold?
  Even in winter, about 1.5 litter of water for a day is required. It is recommended to drink a glass of water 7-8 times throughout a day and you can protect your cilia from dehydration. It is not good to drink a lot of water at once because large amount of water is discharged as urine and doesn’t help hydration.
  What beverage is good to drink for hydration?
  Water or tea is good. Coffee and alcohol have a diuretic effect, so they are not good for hydration.
  How to protect our body from viruses during sleep
  While sleeping, we lose water from exhaled air and the skin, so during sleep, the activity of the cilia slows down and the possibility that we allow viruses to invade our body is higher.
  The method which protects our body from viruses during sleep is inhaling the smell of mint.
  Menthol contained in mint activates the function of cilia.
  Mint towel: soak a towel in a bucket of water dropping 7-8 drops of mint oil and squeeze it lightly and hang the towel in your bed room. Menthol activates cilia and it moisturizes the room.
  Mint mask: spray water in a spray bottle containing a drop of mint oil. Menthol activates cilia and prevents the mouth from drying.
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  What To Eat To Prevent Flu
  12/26/2017
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  ​Flu has two characteristics that are high fever and physical weariness.
  A very strong flu was going around this summer in Australia, so it could come here this winter.
  To prevent flu, the strength of the immune system is important.
  The immune system is the self-defense system that prevents the invasion of viruses and germs into our body and attacks harmful cells to our body.
  To strengthen the immune system, it is important to elevate the ability of immune cells.
  What food strengthens the immune system?
  The difference between people whose immune system is strong and people whose immunes system is weak is the difference of the ability of the immune cells.
  The stronger immune cells eat multiple viruses and germs while normal immune cells eat one virus or germ.
  The important substance is Lipo Poly Saccharide (LPS) which is drawing attention as a substance effective to prevent flu, dementia, cancer, etc.
  LPS is rich in root vegetables.
  Taro: 93 (micro gram/100 g)
  Carrot: 80
  The food to strengthen the ability of immune cells: 567
  Relationship between age and immune strength
  The strength of the immune system is peak at 20 years old, half at 40 years old and becomes 10% of the peak at 70 years old.
  Experiment
  6 people whose ages are between 40s and 60s and who have 0 to 1 % of active immune cells ate the food to strengthen immune cells for 10 days.
  The number of active immune cells became 17 to 24% from 0 to 1 %.
  The food that strengthens the immune system and prevents flu is Lotus Root.
  Lotus root also contains substance of mucin that prevents a virus and a pollen from invading the mucus membrane.
  Recommended amount of LPS a day is 500 micro grams, which is contained in 100 grams of the lotus root (Fig. 1).
  It is good to know that LPS is contained more in the skin and the section portion of the lotus root (Fig. 2).
  Related article:
  If Your Cough Continues For More Than 2 Weeks
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  If you catch a cold easily, your Antenna of the Cell may not be normal
  8/17/2017
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  Every cell has antenna (Fig. 1). If the antenna is normal, our body is protected from diseases by strong immune system. But the antenna is abnormal, the immune system becomes weak, leading to diseases.
  The research of the antenna of the cell is attracting attention.
  Various governments put a lot of budget on this research.
  For example, Tami flu which is an antiviral drug is a drug to control the antenna of the cell, protecting the body from virus. It is reported that the activation of the antenna of the cell suppressed the metastasis of cancer cells.
  The antenna of the cell is officially called Sugar Chain.
  Sugar has a few kinds and combination of sugar makes white sugar and carbohydrate.
  Sugar chain is what 8 kinds of sugar are combined.
  Sugar chain plays an important role of the function of the immune system
  In our body, a few thousands of cancer cells are produced every day, but immune cells kill these cancer cells. The immune cells also kill the pathogens from outside such as virus or bacteria.
  How to strengthen the immune system has been considered raising the offensive power of the immune cells so far. These day strengthening the antenna of the cell, sugar chain, is considered strengthening the immune system. On the contrary, the weakness of the antenna of the cell leads to the weakness of the immune system.
  The difference of the immune system strength between 20s and 60s
  Experiment:
  Collecting immune cells from the blood, it is compared how the immune cells battle against bacteria when the immune cells are put into the bacteria. The bacteria their immune cells battle against is pneumococcus which increases to more than one million within 10 hours.
  The immune cells of 20s female quickly eats pneumococcus, moving around. One hour later, about 3000 pneumococcus decreased by 40 %. This is the condition that the antenna of the cell is active.
  On the other hand, the immune cells of 63 years old female are slow in the movement and don’t eat the bacteria very much. One hour later, about 3000 pneumococcus barely decreased. This is the condition that the antenna of the cell is not working.
  According to the latest research, the lowering of immune strength is not that the strength of immune cells becomes weak and unable to eat external pathogens quickly, but the lowering of immune strength is caused by the immune cells not reacting to the external pathogens.
  Why do the immune cells not react to the external pathogens?
  If the antenna of the cell doesn’t work very well, the immune cells can’t find the external pathogens.
  The antenna of the cell plays a role to find foreign substance at first such as cancer cells or viruses.
  Usually when bacteria invade our body, there is no immune cells at the place where was invaded by the bacteria. There are only normal cells, but the normal cells also have the antenna, so they can detect the invasion of the bacteria. When the cell detects the danger, the cell transmits a signal to the cells around. The cells receiving the signal to the cells around. This process is repeated and the signal is transmitted to the immune cells in the bone or lymph. Once the immune cell receives the signal, the immune cell quickly goes to the site of bacteria and removes them (Fig. 2).
  But the antenna is like a hair. The number of antenna decreases with age. The antenna of the cell not only decreases but also becomes short. That makes difficult to receive the information of danger. That is why even if the immune cells are strong, they can’t detect and remove foreign substance.
  But there is food that makes the shortened antenna long again!
  Sugar chain (antenna of the cell) has to be a certain level of length to keep the immune strength.
  According to the recent research, most people who were 100 years old and over had long sugar chain. Therefore, keeping the antenna of the cell long leads to healthy and long life.
  All young people have long sugar chain?
  Even if the age is young, people with stress, smoking or lack of sleep can have short sugar chain. Young people who often catch a cold can have short sugar chain.
  Is it possible to make the shortened sugar chain long again?
  It has turned out that shortened sugar chain can become long again.
  It is important to intake sugar which becomes the material of sugar chain with meals. Supplying sugar with meals can make the sugar chain longer, resulting in stronger immune system.
  What is the food making the antenna longer?
  That is EBN.
  EBN (Edible Bird’s Nest) is a swallow’s nest.
  Why can a swallow’s nest extend sugar chain and raise the immune strength?
  Because it contains Sialic Acid which is a kind of sugar composing the antenna of the cell and receives various information at the tip of the antenna (Fig. 3).
  Sialic acid decreases with age, shortening the antenna and lowering the ability to detect enemies. But if you eat a swallow’s nest rich in sialic acid, sialic acid is absorbed in the small intestine, is delivered to the whole body, reaches the antenna of the cell and attaches the tip of the shortened antenna. Attached sialic acid extends the antenna and makes the ability to detect enemies better. That makes immune cells react to enemies more quickly.
  Is sialic acid contained in only swallow’s nest?
  Sialic acid was originally found in submaxillary gland of a cow.
  Human’s saliva contains a small amount of sialic acid which is a few hundredth to a few thousandth of a swallow’s nest.
  But a swallow’s nest is too expensive to eat every day and it has not been researched that what ingredient contains how much sialic acid.
  The mammals also obtain immune substances including sialic acid from placenta and mother’s milk.
  The following ingredients were analyzed for the amount of sialic acid.
  Group A (nutrition given from parents to children)
  Milk, honey
  Group B (eggs receiving nutrition from parents)
  Cod roe, salmon roe, capelin with roe, hen’s egg
  Group C (meat)
  Chicken thigh, chicken’s skin, beef tongue, lean beef, pork butt
  Which ingredients contain sialic acid as much as a cup of swallow’s nest soup?
  A cup of swallow’s nest soup (about $50) contains 200 mg of sialic acid.
  Number 3: 2 bags of Cod roe contains 180 mg of sialic acid
  Number 2: 4 pieces of eggs contains 227mg of sialic acid
  Number 1: 2 pieces of capelin with roe contain 197 mg of sialic acid (Fig. 4)
  Eggs are cells containing a lot of sugar chain whose tip is sialic acid.
  Eggs grow outside of mother’s body so they are easy to be exposed to the enemies. That is why eggs are surrounded by a lot of sialic acid detecting the enemies.
  If you think your immune system is weak or you catch a cold easily, please try to eat the above 3 ingredients more.
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  Prevention of Flu - When do you brush your teeth?
  1/28/2017
  1 Comment
  ​As a result of researching 5800 people who was infected by flu and their family for 16 years, new facts have come to light.
  1. Who easily transmits flu to other family members is father.
  When father is infected to flu first in the family, there is high possibility to transmit it to other family members. The possibility of father’s transmitting flu is 2 times more than mother’s. Father’s consciousness to prevent infection tends to be less than mother’s.
  2. The time period when infection spreads out most at home is during a meal.
  During a meal, we don’t wear masks and have a conversation, easily spreading viruses.
  How to prevent flu brushing teeth
  When is good to brush teeth to prevent cold and flu?
  To strengthen immune system, brushing teeth right after getting up in the morning is the best timing. 500 people who had flu were researched about their life style by a doctor and it turned out that a lot of them didn’t brush their teeth right after getting up in the morning. since the doctor instructed their patients to brush their teeth right after getting up in the morning, the number of flu patients dramatically decreased.
  Why can brushing teeth right after getting up in the morning prevent flu infection?
  Viruses of flu and common cold are usually covered by protein, so even if they go into the body, they can’t easily invade the body cells. But there is an enzyme which breaks the cover of protein, called protease. Protease is an enzyme which breaks down proteins coming into the intestines. Protease exists in the mouth and when viruses contact protease, the covered protein is broken down and the viruses are exposed. That makes the viruses easy to invade the membrane of the cell and highly contagious. Brushing teeth right after getting up in the morning washes out protease in the mouth not to contact viruses, preventing the infection of viruses.
  When we are awake, saliva plays a role to wash out bacteria in our mouth. But while we are sleeping, saliva in our mouth decreases and bacteria increases. The number of bacteria at the time that we get up in the morning becomes about 30 times as many as the number of bacteria after dinner. The more bacteria in the mouth increase, the more protease which exposes viruses increases. If you eat breakfast without brushing your teeth, this protease attaches to the membrane of the mouth and the throat. If viruses invade the body and come to the area, protease exposes the viruses, strengthening the power of their infection. So it is effective for prevention of virus infection to remove protease by brushing teeth right after getting up in the morning.
  In addition to brushing teeth, if you clean your tongue using a tongue cleaner, it is more effective. However, it is not recommended to use a toothbrush to clean your tongue because it can be a cause that you lose taste.
  Related articles:
  Actions you should not do on a cold winter morning (2/3)
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  How much do you know about New Common Sense of A Cold? (3)
  12/3/2016
  1 Comment
  At home during the daytime
  Q18. It is better to wash the clothes of a person who have a cold separately from others. True or False?
  A18. False.
  Viruses can be washed away mostly by water.
  Q19. Ventilating the room by opening windows increases viruses in the room. True or False?
  A19. False.
  Opening windows doesn’t increase viruses in the room because outside is less people, that means there are less viruses than in the room.
  Viruses usually become inactive within half a day to 2 days. “Inactive” means “not infectious”. Viruses can’t increase without infection to people.
  However, if you don’t clean the room, viruses can float up in the air when you open the window. It is recommended to clean the room frequently.
  Q20. A snack to prevent a cold is dried squid rather than Manju (steamed cake filled with a sweet red bean filling). True or False?
  A20. True.
  This is because when you chew dried squid, you secrete a lot of saliva, and you can wash away viruses with the saliva. People who don’t secrete saliva a lot tend to catch a cold, so it is important to wet the throat with water. Chewing a gum is also good for the same reason.
  Q21. Taking a nap in Kotatsu (a low table covered with a heavy blanket and the inside is equipped with electric heat source.) causes you to catch a cold. True or False?
  A21. True.
  In Kotatsu, upper respiratory which is important for the prevention of a cold is hard to warm up. Kotatsu and electric blanket is not good to use when you sleep because they heat up forcibly. A hot-water bottle is good to sleep with because if you feel too warm, you can kick it out from your bed.
  Q22. Muscular people hardly catch a cold. True or False?
  A22. True.
  Relationship between sleeping time and a cold
  According to a research held by a research group in the United States, it was discovered that people who slept less than 6 hours caught a cold about 4 times as easily as people who slept more than 7 hours.
  Q23. When you have a cold, to warm up the body, it is okay to drink a little hot Sake (Hot Japanese wine) or any kinds of alcohol. True or False?
  A23. False.
  When you drink alcohol, your body temperature goes up once but after that, your body temperature goes down sharply.
  Q24. To warm up the body, it is better to eat hot spicy food. True or False?
  A24. False.
  When you eat hot spicy food, you sweat too much all at once and after that, you feel cold suddenly. It is important to sweat slowly to recover from a cold.
  Q25. When you have a cold, it is better to eat meat rather than vegetables. True or False?
  A25. True.
  Meat contains less fibers than vegetables, so meat is digested more easily than vegetables. When you are coming down with a cold, eating meat is good to strengthen your energy as well.
  Q26. If you cough only a little bit, it is better not to sop a coughing with the medicine. True or False?
  A26. True.
  Coughing is an action that the body is trying to discharge viruses in the body. If you stop coughing completely, you can’t discharge the viruses from the body. If the coughing makes you very tired, it is good to stop the coughing at a certain level.
  Honey is effective for coughing, but please do not give it to children who are less than 1 year old because it is dangerous for them.
  It is better not to stop runny nose completely with the medicine for the same reason.
  Q27. It is okay to take Chinese herbs right before going to bed. True or False?
  A27. True.
  Taking Chinese herbs makes the body effectively, so it is okay to take it without caring about when to take. But in the case of western medicine, it is necessary to follow the prescription.
  Q28. When you are coming down with a cold, soaking in the hot bath water for a short time is better than soaking in the tepid bath water for a long time. True or False?
  A28. False.
  You can’t warm the core of your body if you soak in the hot bath water for a short time, so it is better to soak in the bath water that you feel comfortable to stay in to warm the core of your body.
  A cold usually gets better naturally. But if you experience symptoms you have never had or your condition is getting worse, it is better to go see a doctor.
  ​
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  How much do you know about New Common Sense of A Cold? (2)
  12/3/2016
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  ​Outside during the daytime
  Q8. It is possible to take in viruses even if wearing a mask. True or False?
  A8. True.
  The size of a virus is 1/10000 mm, so viruses can go into your mouth and nose from the gap between a mask and your face. Therefore, it is important to wear a mask without a gap. There is a mask called N95 mask which avoid 95 % of water-based viruses.
  Q9. Gargling every hour is good enough. True or False?
  A9. False.
  Q10. Drinking water every 20 minutes leads to the prevention of a cold. True or False?
  A10. True.
  Gargling every hour is not enough because cold viruses can invade your body in 20 minutes. So if you drink water every 20 minutes, that leads to the prevention of a cold. If you drink water or other beverage every 20 minutes, you can wash out the viruses in the throat, they go into the stomach, and they are killed by stomach acid.
  Q11.A scarf protects your body from a cold better than gloves. True or False?
  A11. False.
  The important thing is not which is warmer, but which can protect your body from viruses. Gloves can protect the hands where viruses get easily attached on.
  Q12. Cold viruses can live on the palm for 1 day at the longest. True or False?
  A12. False.
  There is a data that viruses lived for 1 week on the palm. That is why it is important to wash hands.
  Q13. Virus infection happens less in the airplane than in the train. True or False?
  A13. Downward air flow in the airplane is stronger than in the train, so viruses tend to stay on the floor.
  What is a cold? (Difficult Questions)
  Q14. How many times does a person catch a cold in a lifetime? (A) About 200 times (B) About 600 times
  A14. (A) About 200 times.
  Children catch a cold about 10 times a year because they don’t have the immune. The number of catching a cold decreases when you become an adult because an adult has the immune.
  Q15. How many kinds of cold viruses exist? (A) About 20 kinds (B) About 200 kinds
  A15. (B) About 200 kinds.
  We catch a cold many times because there are many kinds of cold viruses.
  Q16. What condition is called a cold?
  A16. A cold is a condition that patients visit a doctor complaining that they catch a cold.
  Flu is diagnosed by some tests, but there are no tests for a cold.
  Q17. A cold is a condition showing common cold symptoms excluding__________________.
  A17. Diseases other than a cold
  There is no definition of a cold. Common symptoms such as headache can be caused by other diseases. It is not until all the possibilities of other diseases are excluded that a cold is not diagnosed.
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  Ichiro
  This Blog is for a memo of my clinical realizations, information about health I have learned recently and update information.