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Handling Seasonal Allergies

It seems like there are only two approaches to reducing allergy symptoms.  You can either a) wait until you have symptoms and then take a drug to try and reduce them or b) take one of the new drugs to try and block the allergic response altogether.  I’m not a fan of either approach and have worked with my manufacturers to come up with a better alternative, based on recent research.  Because allergies are quite complicated, we had to come up with something that works on various levels so that it both reduces symptoms as well as reduces the allergic response long-term.  This new formula called Perilla Px has become a favorite of many of my clients who suffer from seasonal allergies.  Besides their symptoms being reduced rather quickly, they’ve also commented that their allergies just “didn’t show up this year.”  That’s exactly how this formula works.

In order to understand how Perilla Px works, let me give a very brief explanation of what is happening when someone “has allergies.”  One of the immune responses—known as the Th2 response—is in charge of allergic reactions.  When a body is exposed to something it perceives as an allergen, a whole host of signals and reactions occur.  One of the primary signaling cytokines is called IL-4, which leads to downstream increases in the signaling from IL-5,6,9,10, and 13 and each one is responsible for a different part of the allergic response.  For example, IL-13 increases the number of IgE antibodies while IL-10 tells the body to make more mast cells.  After the body has been exposed to an allergen for the first time, it basically prepares itself for a massive assault the next time that allergen comes calling.  It prepares by attaching the IgE antibodies to the mast cells which are found predominantly in the lungs, skin, and the linings of the nose and intestinal tract.  The symptoms show up when the allergen binds to the antibody and causes the mast cell to degranulate or rupture.  When the cell degranulates, it releases histamines and fatty acids—remember every cell is made up of that lipid bi-layer?  Those lipids (or fatty acids) are acted upon by enzymes (specifically lipoxygenase) that, along with the histamines, give us all those unpleasant symptoms.  At the same time, more signaling occurs to even further increase the production of IL-4,5,6  etc. as well as more IgE antibodies, causing a vicious feed-forward cycle.  Basically, your body continues to stay on high-alert, ready to respond with symptoms each and every time you’re exposed to that allergen.

This is where perilla extract comes in.  Perilla has a long history in China, Japan, Korea and India for its use in a variety of respiratory and allergy symptoms.  Perilla is an herb in the mint family rich in essential oils.  The Japanese conducted many studies on perilla and were able to better explain how it works so well for allergy-related complaints.  They discovered that perilla actually inhibited many of the cytokines, like IL-4,5,6 and 10.  It was even shown to reduce IgE levels, inhibit lipoxygenase,  as well as causing a significant reduction in histamine release.  While this is all fascinating if you’re a chemistry student, the most important studies showed a reduction in real-world symptoms like sneezing, coughing, itchy eyes and nasal discharge.1-5

The best way to use Perilla Px is to take 2 tablet three times per day, along with a 2 times 15 grams of Immune Supreme for five days at the start the allergy season.  To further support the calming of the allergic response, you can combine Perilla Px with Omega 3 6:1, ProFlora and Perfect E 3.0.  If you find yourself saying, “hey, my allergies have not shown up,” then you know it’s working. After the 5 days load, taking 1 cap of Perilla Px twice a day should keep the allergies away for the rest of the allergy season. I developed this protocol in 2001 for a hockey player who was on the verge of making the NHL, but was afraid of being cut at training camp, because of poor endurance levels due to allergies. He is still playing, and actually was on the team that won the Stanley Cup last year. The enormous success he had with the protocol got me more players who were suffering from the same problems. BioSignature practitioners, who espoused this protocol, always report on amazing this works. Now, go get rid of your sniffles.

1 Yamamoto H. Anti-allergic effect of perilla seed extract in patients with allergy. Food & Dev 1997;32(9):41-43

2 Imaoka K, Inouye S, Takahashi T, et al. Effect of Perilla frutescens extract on anti-DNP IgE antibody production in mice. Arerugi 1993;42(1):74-80

3 Ueda H, Yamazaki M. Anti-inflammatory and anti-allergenic actions by oral administration of a perilla leaf extract in mice. Biosci Biotechnol Biochem 2001;65(7):1673-75

4 Shin TY, Kim SH, Kim SH, et al. Inhibitory effect of mast cell-mediated immediate-type allergic reactions in rats by Perilla frutescens. Immunopharmacol Immunotoxicol 2000 Aug;22(3):489-500

5 Ueda H, Yamazaki M. Inhibition of tumor necrosis factor-alpha production by orally administering a perilla leaf extract. Biosci Biotechnol Biochem 1997;61(8):1292-95