Do you turn to a mixture of Emergen-C, ibuprofen, and cough drops at the slightest hint of a sore throat or fever?
If so, you’re not alone: most people try to avoid getting sick at all costs!
While this strategy may provide some temporary relief, immunity goes way deeper than band aid solutions.
And that means avoiding the above type of scenario is as simple as nourishing your immune system each and every day.
How? With organ meats. Keep reading to learn how these underrated superfoods could become your immune system’s best friends.
- The history of using organ meats for immunity
- Why beef organs are so great for the immune system
- Vitamin D
- Zinc
- B vitamins
- Rare peptides
- Like supports like
- How to use organ meats to support your immune system
The history of using organ meats for immunity
Before our current era of antibiotics and immunology, those who wanted to bolster their body’s natural defenses didn’t have much to rely on.
In fact, the ancient cultures of old probably didn’t even realize that they had an immune system — but they still were able to strengthen it by trusting in nature’s design.
Look no further than the work of Weston A Price for a perfect example of this. Modern science has only recently demonstrated that children who are breastfed have stronger immune systems than children who aren’t, but that didn’t stop traditional cultures from intuiting the importance of breastfeeding on their own. [1]
Price’s studies also showed that the diets of traditional cultures contained 5-10 times more vitamins and minerals than the processed diets of ‘civilized’ cultures. [2] These added nutrients were protective against that generation’s most threatening illnesses, including tuberculosis.
Of course, traditional cultures also got plenty of sunlight — yet another practice that has been scientifically validated more recently. “Recent epidemiological evidence indicates a significant association between vitamin D deficiency and an increased incidence of several infectious diseases,” a 2015 review confirms. [3]
So, how did the cultures of yesteryear use organ meats? In pretty much every way possible. They ate a truly nose-to-tail diet and prized beef liver above almost all else, giving this special organ preferentially to nursing women, children, and the sick and elderly.
Eventually it was realised that any given organ meat conferred vitality to that same organ in us humans…giving a whole new meaning to “you are what you eat.” Organs like spleen, thyroid, thymus, and bone marrow. [4]
Fast forward to the 1930s, when scientists discovered that beef spleen is so potent that it can boost WBC (white blood cell) counts. In Germany a spleen extract called splenin is still used in some treatment protocols to this day. [5]
Why beef organs are so great for the immune system
Beef organs contain nearly everything needed to get your immune system naturally functioning at its best. The top highlights include vitamin D, zinc, B vitamins, and rare nutrients.
Vitamin D
Vitamin D stands out compared to other nutrients. It’s a vitamin and a hormone, and it plays an incredible number of roles within the human body.
Foremost among these roles? Vitamin D promotes immunity. Studies dating back to 1983 have shown that the immune system’s macrophage cells actually help make vitamin D. [6][7] And a 1984 study found that vitamin D also plays a role in T cell proliferation. [8]
Vitamin D may also:
- Reduce your risk of developing MS [9]
- Reduce your chances of developing heart disease [10]
- Reduce the severity and duration of colds and flu’s [11]
- Improve fertility and sperm count in males [12]
Other immune-boosting effects are still being discovered to this day. Suffice to say that vitamin D is great for immunity — and a whole host of other things! It even works with other vitamins, like vitamin A, that also reduces “infectious disease morbidity and mortality.” [13]
Given that over a quarter of all adults in the UK are deficient in vitamin D, it may be a good idea to supplement with organ meats. [14] Good sources include grass-fed liver and kidney. These supplemental foods are especially important if you live in a cloudy area without much sun.
Zinc
Zinc’s pro-immunity qualities are well-known. As a natural antioxidant, zinc can help keep inflammation and oxidative stress low enough that your immune system can function at its best. [14]
As an added plus, zinc can stop many types of viruses from binding on cells and replicating, essentially stopping their spread. Many researchers feel that zinc is one of the very best natural anti-virals. [15]
A diet deficient in zinc can cause enough oxidative stress to increase your risks of heart problems, cancer, and cognitive problems. [16] Thankfully, ensuring adequate zinc status is as simple as eating organ meats or taking organ meat supplements each week! Liver and kidney are both great sources of zinc.
B vitamins
Immunity isn’t the first thing people usually think about when they think about B vitamins.
Maybe it should be, though. While B vitamins are indeed energizing and contribute to the most basic aspects of cellular ATP production, they also play a huge role in regulating immunity.
Vitamin B12, for example, helps both the nervous system and immune system fight off invaders. It also assists with blood cell formation. [17] Beef liver is so rich in B12 that even the hardest-training athletes can use it to protect their immune systems.
Vitamin B2/riboflavin can also boost the immune system by increasing systemic energy production. [18]
Rare nutrients
As great as the vitamins above may be, they’re just the start. Many beef organs contain immune-boosting peptides that strengthen our corresponding organs.
Beef thymus is high in thymosin peptides and thymic humoral factor, both of which can send important signals to your own thymus gland. [19]
Bone marrow’s rare nutrients also make it a standout immunity-booster. Researchers have discovered that it’s rich in a special fatty acid, alklyglycerol, that’s both cytoprotective and immunoregulatory. [20]
Just as important to your immunity is all the bad stuff that organ meats don’t contain. Nearly all organ meats are impressively low in omega-6, polyunsaturated fats.
Why is this so important? In the words of endocrinologist Ray Peat, “Unsaturated oils [weaken] the immune system’s function in ways that are similar to the damage caused by radiation, hormone imbalance, cancer, aging, or viral infections.” [21]
PUFA’s can even damage your highly important thymus gland: “immunodeficiency, produced largely by damage to thymic cells, increases when larger amounts of PUFA are eaten for a prolonged time.”
How to use organ meats to support your immune system
When it comes to boosting immune health the natural way…organ meats are a true superfood.
Using organ meats is both safe, simple, and effective. Supporting your immune system is as simple as adhering to the principle of like-supports-like — beef liver can support your own liver, beef spleen can support your own spleen’s immunity, etc. Consider eating or supplementing with a wide variety of organ meats each week to get your immune system firing on all cylinders.
And don’t worry if you can’t find a reliable source for fresh, grass-fed beef organs. At Hirsch Organic we make every effort to meet and exceed EU organic standards.
Need some examples? Our liver supplements and multi-organ supplements are certified by the UK’s largest and oldest organic certification body, the UK Soil Association.
Our beef organ supplements are sourced from 100% organic British farms and produced at tightly regulated UK facilities.
Last but not least, our organ supplements are absolutely free of harmful additives. Our raw organ preparation process utilises rapid freeze drying for optimal preservation of the vitamins, enzymes and minerals in the raw beef liver, kidney and heart. It’s quality that the whole family can trust.
