With the Royals visiting, you can bet there'll be a whole lot of shakin' going on.
The recent H1N1 outbreak won't be stopping Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, from pressing flesh during their 12-city tour across Canada beginning today, confirms Clarence House.
"No, they won't be changing protocol on handshaking," says a representative.
It's unclear whether Charles and Camilla's organizers carry hand sanitizers, but if anyone's prepared, it may be the Prince whose family has long believed in alternative health practices including homeopathy and naturopathy.
These time-honoured systems treat chronic conditions but also help to boost the immune system.
And our immune systems need boosting, according to a recent Canadian survey. Eighty-four percent of us agree that boosting our immune system is key to health, but only 35% are proactive in doing so.
"Our immune system is our defence network," says pharmacist Sherry Torkos, author of the Canadian Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine. "When we are exposed to a virus, it gets taken up by our lymphatic system. The cells, called macrophages, recognize the foreign invader and, like Pac-man, gobble up the virus."
When our immune systems are not in tip-top shape and are exposed to a new virus (such as the H1N1) to which our bodies have had no previous exposure and therefore no immunity, we are vulnerable. Some of us, particularly those in high-risk groups, can become very ill, she says.
The recent H1N1 outbreak won't be stopping Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, from pressing flesh during their 12-city tour across Canada beginning today, confirms Clarence House.
