How to Boost Your Immunity

During certain times of the year, we tend to let our guards down and modify our routines. We might change our eating schedules, the total hours in which we sleep, etc. These types of behaviors put our body's defense mechanisms to the test, and by doing so, we compromise our general sense of wellbeing and health.  Additionally, our environment supposes a continuous challenge to our entire immune apparatus. Pollution, toxic chemicals, bacteria, viruses, and fungi are all at constant war with our immune system.

There are many factors that have the ability and propensity to alter our body's natural defenses; some of these are beyond our ability to control them as they are internal factors and processes, such as autoimmune diseases, seasonal changes, and advanced age. Other factors are external, and so we can exercise some degree of action and control to try and ameliorate or outright eliminate their harmful effects. These external factors could be anything from an unbalanced diet, cigarette smoke, caffeine, environmental pollution, stress, a sedentary lifestyle, an excess of strenuous physical activity, and they all have the potential to impact our organisms and considerably weaken our immunity adversely. Once our immune apparatus has been compromised, we give diseases and infections a free pass. Colds, flu, bacterial infections, etc. will affect you more often and for longer durations.

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How do we know that our immune system has been compromised? There are plenty of symptoms that can, if you know to look for them, give you clues as to the state of your immune system. For example Blisters on the lips and surrounding tissues, feelings of fatigue and overall malaise, wounds that take long to heal appropriately, muscle cramps and pain without having practiced any physical activity, and hair fragility.

Today is as good a time as any to begin boosting your immunity and defense systems.

Nutrition is one of the most important variables that affect the state of our immunity, and it is one that we can exercise complete control of. If our nutrition is inadequate or imbalanced, our immune system is the first to suffer. A balanced diet will keep your immunity where it needs to be, functioning properly and robustly.

By following simple, nutritious guidelines, we can charge our defense systems and get them in tip-top shape. It is important to remember that our nutritional intake should be varied. A balanced diet with the right proportions of all macro and micronutrients will guarantee an internal balance that translates directly into stronger defenses.

It is extremely important that you keep in mind that diets rich in fats reduce our body's immune response. It is also not a matter of merely decreasing the quantity of fat in our diets as the provenance of the lipids is crucially important. We should be consuming monounsaturated fats such as those found in fish, dried fruits, and olive oil. Processed fats should be avoided as they can quickly place undue strain on your systems. Regularly consuming fermented dairy products such as yogurt or kefir can also contribute to increasing your defenses.

Besides trying to balance your general diet, there are targeted micronutrients that have a proven positive effect on immune system health.

1. Vitamin C
   Vitamin C reduces the duration and severity of seasonal colds and flu; this is because the phagocytes and t-cells used by our defense systems need vitamin C to carry out their functions promptly and adequately. We find vitamin C in fruits and vegetables, such as strawberries, kiwi, citrus fruits, melon, peppers, tomatoes, and cabbage.
    
2. Vitamin A
   Vitamin A contributes to our immunity by ensuring that our body's natural barriers against infections, that is our mucous membranes, are healthy. Studies have proven that no nutritional deficiency is more consistently tied with infectious disease than that of vitamin A. It can be obtained from foods such as liver, fish oil, butter, eggs, and dairy products and in foods such as spinach, carrots, and orange fruits and vegetables.
    
3. Vitamin E
   Vitamin E is a powerful antioxidant and as such has potent immune properties. For example, vitamin E plays a vital role in the differentiation of immature T cells in thymus, particularly in the elderly. Vitamin E can be found in many foods such as wheat germ, soy products, olive oils, dried fruits and dark green leafy vegetables.
    
4. Vitamin B complex
   The vitamins in the B complex all play an essential role in immune health. These nutritional compounds present significant participation in the assembly of circulating antibodies for a variety of antigens and the expression of deferred hypersensitive reactions such as those found during rejection of tissue. These vitamins can be found in meats, fish, eggs, some cereals and all dark leafy greens.
    
5. Iron
   This particular nutrient is essential to many cellular processes. It is surprising to note that iron is essentially required for the propagation of virtually all human pathogens and as such part of the immune response is to limit the amount of iron available to pathogens and microorganisms. Iron is found in liver, beef, lentils, spinach, sardines, black beans and even raisins.
    
6. Zinc
   Zinc deficiency can quickly lead to intercurrent infections, decreased serum testosterone level, oligospermia, hyperammonemia and neurosensory disorders. Zinc affects the immune system response in several ways. It is essential for the proper development of innate immunity cells, neutrophils, and NK cells. Also, Phagocytosis, intracellular killing, and cytokine production all are affected zinc levels. A deficiency in Zinc can adversely affect the production T and B cells. Zinc can be found in oysters, beef, crab, lobster, almonds, kidney beans, swiss cheese, and chickpeas.

Your immune system functions in primarily two ways. First, it acts as a first response team against foreign microorganisms that have entered your body; it does this by spurring the synthesis of specialized cells that fight off these pathogens. Secondly, your immune response ensures that the cells of your body are not abnormal or degenerative. As such, it is of the extreme import to keep your immunity as high as possible at all times. The consequences of a weak immune response are too grave to ignore.
 

References:

1. Aderem, Alan, and Richard J. Ulevitch. "Toll-like receptors in the induction of the innate immune response." Nature 406.6797 (2000): 782-787.
    
2. Grimble, R. F. "Effect of antioxidative vitamins on immune function with clinical applications." International journal for vitamin and nutrition research. InternationaleZeitschrift fur Vitamin-und Ernahrungsforschung. Journal international de vitaminologie et de nutrition 67.5 (1997): 312-320.
    
3. Hughes, DAVID A. "Antioxidant vitamins and immune function." Nutrition and immune function'.(Eds PC Calder, CJ Field, HS Gill) pp (2002): 171-191.
    
4. Beisel, William R. "Nutrition and immune function: overview." The Journal of nutrition 126.10S (1996): 2611S.