PW editors interviewed a cross-section of health, nutrition and lifestyle gurus who advise a ‘holistic approach’ to build robust immune systems especially of children and adolescents – Archana N, Mini P. & Cynthia John Even as the US, UK and Europe are fighting a deadly second/third wave of the Coronavirus, aka Covid-19 pandemic, fortuitously in India the infections curve has flattened and is moving downwards from peak of 97,860 Covid positive cases per day last September to 9,110 in February. Consequently, the Central and state governments have been progressively easing the restrictions imposed upon reopening of businesses, travel and public congregations. In early January, state governments also began to cautiously reopen schools for secondary students and in some states for middle and junior schoolers. But even as schools have reopened, student classroom attendance is irregular and sparse. With doubts about the impact of approved vaccines on children not yet cleared, parents are vacillating over granting the mandatory consent for their children to attend in-school classrooms for fear of their becoming infected. However, it’s pertinent to note that children worldover, and especially in India, have been the least affected by the rampaging virus. As the virus ravaged populations across the world throughout the past year, scientists are puzzled that young children account for only a small percentage of Covid-19 infections and fatalities. Now, latest research suggests that the immune system of children tends to be better equipped to combat the SARS-CoV-2 virus than adult systems. Another contributing factor highlighted by several international studies is that the effect of the BCG vaccine (taken immediately after birth) reduces risk of Covid infection. Yet even as scientific opinion is veering towards the conclusion that children and adolescents have stronger immune systems to fight the Coronavirus, simultaneously there is rising awareness that this natural advantage needs to be augmented by enhancing children’s immunity to enable them to withstand this and other viruses. And contrary to the opinions of miracle cure advertisers who advocate consumption of immunity-booster concoctions, there’s more to building immunity to the multiplying and fast mutating viruses that have emerged in a global environment ruined by man-made toxins and pollution. Increasingly, health and wellness pundits and professionals are falling back upon advocacy of traditional prescriptions such as mindful diets, sufficient sleep, regular exercise and stress reduction. PW editors interviewed a cross-section of health, nutrition and lifestyle gurus who advise a ‘holistic approach’ to build robust immune systems especially of children and adolescents. Breastfeeding Every infant is born with protective immunity as immunoglobulins pass from her mother to the foetus in the placenta. This natural immunity mediated by immunoglobulins which lasts for about six-nine months after birth, is boosted by breastfeeding. Paediatricians are unanimous that breast milk contains vital properties that boost the immune system of infants because it is rich in proteins, fats, sugars, antibodies and probiotics. It contains all five types of antibodies: immunoglobulin A (IgA), immunoglobulin D (IgD), immunoglobulin E (IgE), IgG, and immunoglobulin M (IgM). Thick, yellowish breast milk known…
