Your body is designed with a built-in firewall to protect you from viruses, bacteria, and other pathogens. That firewall is your mucosal immunity, the health of which can be tested by doing a comprehensive stool analysis and measuring secretory IgA (SigA). One of the greatest forces to lower Secretory IgA and weaken our mucosal immunity is chronic stress. This is because, according to research here, here and here, stress disrupts normal cortisol production, and cortisol regulates SigA. Because of this relationship between the adrenals and mucosal immunity, when we test and correct stress hormones, we are in turn testing and correcting mucosal immunity. This is all parlayed through SigA. Normally, you secrete about 3 grams of SigA into the GI tract daily into the mucus layer of the mucosal barrier, providing a first line of defense against viruses and other microbial threats. Sig A functions to bind invading microorganisms and toxins, entrapping them in the mucus layer and inhibiting their motility. It also helps to agglutinate the organisms and neutralize the toxins they secrete and thus helps them be harmlessly eliminated in the stool. SigA also tags food as acceptable or not, so low SigA can result in food sensitivities.
SigA deficiency can lead to a weakened defense system, allowing viruses and other microbes to penetrate through the mucosal barrier. As you age, SigA production declines, leaving you more vulnerable to pathogens, unless we intervene to restore proper adrenal function and SigA levels. SigA can also be in excess, indicating the presence of a chronic gut infection and/or food sensitivities. By testing SigA as well as factors that affect SigA like cortisol and DHEA, we can restore mucosal immunity and improve your resilience to invading pathogens.
"Given the importance of S-IgA in immune defense at mucosal surfaces and the frequency with which infections are initiated at these surfaces, S-IgA downregulation could be a means by which chronic stress increases susceptibility to infection." (Phillips AC, Carroll D, Evans P, et al. Brain Behav Immun. 2006;20(2):191-197)
Anyone with a concern about a respiratory virus, digestive tract infection, recurrent sinus infections, or recurrent bladder infections would benefit from testing and correcting stress hormones and HPA axis dysfunction. When the adrenals aren't doing well, which is common when we're stressed, the dysregulation of cortisol often ends up weakening mucosal defenses throughout the body, leaving you prone to respiratory infections, gut infections, vaginal yeast infections, bladder infections, and sinus infections. Depending on what the labs reveal, we will customize a program for you to strengthen this key defense system that you naturally possess to fight off invading pathogens.
Start boosting your immunity now by scheduling an initial consultation here!
