So, now you see why these four parts of the immune system are the key to your overall health. But what does nutrition have to do with all of this? That's easy; what you eat can either strengthen or weaken your immune system.
It is no surprise that the immuno-nutrition link is crucial. Your body creates 200,000 new immune cells every second of your life and thousands of antibody molecules also have to be made every second. This adds up to millions of cells that the body must rebuild daily.
It is absolutely essential that your body get the nutrients it needs to stay battle-ready at all times. What we eat provides the body with the vital elements to build those millions of immune cells. These are: amino acids, proteins, minerals, and vitamins.
Vitamins, for example, play a key role at every stage of the immune battle. The most recent research shows that a lack of vitamin A lowers the number of T cells—which means fewer immune soldiers to mount an attack. Without enough of the В vitamins—particularly B6 and B12—your cells can't make crucial germ-fighting antibodies, and that means one less arm of defense. Vitamin С has been shown in many studies to be crucial to macrophage activity—because without it, these crucial "cell-eaters" can't do a good job.
Minerals, too, profoundly affect different parts of the immune system. Zinc is perhaps the most vital immune mineral. Without enough zinc in our bodies, many of the lymph system tissues actually shrink, including the thymus where crucial T cells develop, and the lymph nodes where immune soldiers are stored. The concentration of zinc in our cells also affects how energetically the macrophages attack invaders, and studies have shown that low zinc likewise reduces the numbers of T cells. Other minerals are also important. Insufficient selenium reduces antibodies in test animals, and too much copper, cadmium, or lead can actually weaken T cells, so they don't fight invaders efficiently.
Amino acids are also crucial. Tryptophan, phenylalanine, lysine, and methionine are necessary to the production of antibody. And because amino acids are the building blocks for all of the body's cells, they clearly affect how many T cells we will have available to fight off invading germs and cancer.
There are over fifty such crucial immune nutrients, and they must be in precise balance for our immune defenses to work powerfully and efficiently. |
