If you've ever struggled to shake a chest infection, recover from a cold, or breathe easily after being unwell, your macrophage balance could be a factor.
The name macrophage comes from the Greek word for "big eater," which I love, because that's exactly what they are. Macrophages are white blood cells that patrol your body, your lungs in particular, gobbling up anything that shouldn't be there – viruses, bacteria, dust, dead cells, debris. They're your innate immune system's front line. However, they come with a catch because macrophages exist in two states: The attackers and the healers.
When something invades, say a respiratory virus, your body first calls in the M1 macrophages – the first responders. They move in fast, raise the alarm, release inflammatory signals and get to work destroying the invader. This is inflammation, and in the short term it's exactly what you want. It's how your body fights off the virus.
The problem is what happens next. Because if that first-response team never stands down, the process never switches off. Inflammation drags on, leaving you coughing, wheezy, congested, wiped out. This can also leave you vulnerable to a secondary infection. This is where the M2 macrophages come in. They are the clean-up and repair crew.
Their job is to:
✅ Switch off the inflammation once the threat is dealt with, calming your lungs down
✅ Clear away the mess; the dead cells, the debris, the gunk left behind after the battle
✅ Repair the tissue, helping your lungs heal and return to normal
✅ Restore the calm so you can breathe freely again.
In other words, M1 macrophages help you survive the illness. M2 macrophages help you recover from it. So where does Zestt Breathe+ fit in? When Darcy and I formulated Breathe+, the shift from attack to repair mode was exactly what we wanted to stimulate.
This is because fast recovery is critical for anyone with sensitive lungs or who is immunocompromised, like Darcy (who suffers from sarcoidosis and COPD). At the core of Zestt Breathe+ are anthocyanins, the deep purple bioactives we concentrate from New Zealand organically grown blackcurrants. Anthocyanins have been shown to promote the production of M2 macrophages, driving your body toward that repair-and-restore mode. They help calm the inflammation, support a clearer respiratory tract, and mop up damaging free radicals.
And they don't work alone. We built the Zestt Breathe+ bioactives to work as a team:
🌱 Quercetin, a natural flavonoid and zinc ionophore, moves zinc into your cells where it can do its immune-supporting work, and brings its own antioxidant and anti-viral properties.
👉🏼 Chelated zinc, critical for a high-functioning immune system (in a gentle, bioavailable form).
👄 BLIS K12™ oral probiotic, supporting a healthy oral microbiome, your body's very first line of defence.
What this means for you
The benefits people notice include:
✅ Easier breathing, with support for a clearer respiratory tract and less phlegm build-up ✅ Faster recovery from coughs, colds and respiratory bugs, so you spend less time flattened
✅ Calmer lungs, with support against the lingering inflammation that makes breathing hard work
✅ A stronger innate immune response; your body's own natural defence system, doing its job better.
Nothing else matters when you can't breathe, so we built Zestt Breathe+ to help your lungs do what they do best: heal, clear and carry on taking in oxygen every day!