Immunity - informational context

'Boosting immunity' is the language of popular texts, not of immunology. Tradition speaks more plainly: keep warm, rest, eat warm food and wait out the season when illness spreads.

The herbs associated with this topic are linked individually in the catalogue. The catalogue treats them as part of that care for routine, not as a tool that would 'shift' the immune system anywhere.

The immune system is not a switch that can be turned up — in autoimmune disease the aim is, on the contrary, to quieten it. That is why the catalogue is reserved about claims of 'immune stimulation' and states for each herb only what is documented.

The best-documented measures in this field are dull and not herbal: vaccination as recommended, sleep, hand-washing, not smoking and enough protein. No infusion replaces them.

With autoimmune disease, after a transplant or on treatment that suppresses immunity, discuss every herb with a doctor — some species interfere with that treatment.

Repeated serious infections, long unexplained fevers or protracted weight loss are not a reason to change your tea but a reason for an examination.