Received Susan Davis' newsletter last night and it was about
Sterol 117 ($55 on sale) - and it looked so interesting, especially bc Marcel is having such a tough time w/ pollen right now
. Anyway, here is what sterols do (from her site):
Sterol 117 doesn’t treat symptoms per se—it works deeper to help the body’s immune system realign and rebalance. Phytosterols suppress the release of Interleukin 4 (IL-4) so histamine is not released and allergy symptoms are controlled. Also, Interleukin 6 (IL-6) is normalized acting to protect lung tissue from further dysfunction. Thus, over time, with use of Sterol 117, we have seen pets with severe environmental allergies who have followed all of our other allergy protocols, get long-term relief with Sterol 117.
So basically, if histamine cannot be released - symptoms cannot occur. I love this approach bc it isn't treating symptoms, it's preventing the histamine reaction altogether. It strengthens the immune system too, over time. It is also being used (sterols, that is) in cancer, CFS, HIV, and other immune related disorders to help modulate the immune system and bring it out of a "hyper" state.
So, I spent last night researching these sterols and found a ton of info out there - all confirming this inhibition of the histamine response, here is another article:
www.americanwellnessnetwork.com - Stop Allergies in Their Tracks. Cool! So, I emailed Susan asking for a correct dosage for Marcel - but she emailed back that it's too big for him and she really only uses it in larger animals.
So then I started hunting for an alternative, bc I seriously must try this. Anyway, there is a fairly well known (and also studied) product called
Moducare ($19 on iherb.com) that contains the appropriate and "proven" ratio. Interestingly, Only Natural Pet sells this exact same product - with a different label and calls it Immune Response ($22) - there are 39 reviews of that product on Only Natural Pet.
Anyway, I'm giving Moducare a try - this whole phytosterol thing is really interesting!
