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    Relationship Between Nutrition and Immunity

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    rhib47957
    Nutrition plays an essential role in regulating the immune system by providing nutrients to immune cells. Many vitamins and minerals directly impact immune cell function. A lack of important micronutrients is a common cause of impaired immunity. Older age, environmental toxins, obesity, poor diet, and chronic diseases can all negatively impact the immune system by damaging immune cells or limiting nutrient absorption. Factors like energy, protein, vitamins A, D, C, B6, B12, folate, iron, zinc, copper and selenium are critical for immune cell differentiation, proliferation and effector functions in maintaining optimal immunity.

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    Relationship Between Nutrition and Immunity

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    rhib47957
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    Nutrition plays an essential role in regulating the immune system by providing nutrients to immune cells. Many vitamins and minerals directly impact immune cell function. A lack of important micronutrients is a common cause of impaired immunity. Older age, environmental toxins, obesity, poor diet, and chronic diseases can all negatively impact the immune system by damaging immune cells or limiting nutrient absorption. Factors like energy, protein, vitamins A, D, C, B6, B12, folate, iron, zinc, copper and selenium are critical for immune cell differentiation, proliferation and effector functions in maintaining optimal immunity.

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    Nutrition plays an essential role in regulating the immune system by providing nutrients to immune cells. Many vitamins and minerals directly impact immune cell function. A lack of important micronutrients is a common cause of impaired immunity. Older age, environmental toxins, obesity, poor diet, and chronic diseases can all negatively impact the immune system by damaging immune cells or limiting nutrient absorption. Factors like energy, protein, vitamins A, D, C, B6, B12, folate, iron, zinc, copper and selenium are critical for immune cell differentiation, proliferation and effector functions in maintaining optimal immunity.

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    25 views3 pages

    Relationship Between Nutrition and Immunity

    Uploaded by

    rhib47957
    Nutrition plays an essential role in regulating the immune system by providing nutrients to immune cells. Many vitamins and minerals directly impact immune cell function. A lack of important micronutrients is a common cause of impaired immunity. Older age, environmental toxins, obesity, poor diet, and chronic diseases can all negatively impact the immune system by damaging immune cells or limiting nutrient absorption. Factors like energy, protein, vitamins A, D, C, B6, B12, folate, iron, zinc, copper and selenium are critical for immune cell differentiation, proliferation and effector functions in maintaining optimal immunity.

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    RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN NUTRITION AND IMMUNITY

    Nutrition plays an essential role in the regulation of optimal


    immunological response, by providing adequate nutrients in sufficient
    concentrations to immune cells. There are a large number of
    micronutrients, such as minerals, and vitamins, as well as some
    macronutrients such as some amino acids, cholesterol and fatty acids
    demonstrated to exert a very important and specific impact on appropriate
    immune activity.

    What factors can depress our immune system?

    • Older age: Aging is sometimes associated with micronutrient deficiencies, which may
    worsen a declining immune function.

    • Environmental toxins (smoke and other particles contributing to air pollution,


    excessive alcohol): These substances can impair or suppress the normal
    activity of immune cells.

    • Excess weight: obesity has also been identified as an independent risk factor for the
    influenza virus, possibly due to the impaired function of T-cells, a type of white blood
    cell.

    • Poor diet: Malnutrition or a diet lacking in one or more nutrients can impair the
    production and activity of immune cells and antibodies.

    • Chronic diseases: Autoimmune and immunodeficiency disorders attack and


    potentially disable immune cells.
    • Effect of Nutritional Status On immunity:
    1. Energy:
    Immune cells require energy for housekeeping functions, as well as for a variety of
    specific tasks such as migration, cytokine synthesis, phagocytosis, antigen processing and
    other effector functions. Immune response is energetically a highly demanding process
    as activated immune/repair system required huge amounts of energy. ATP initiates a
    pro-inflammatory response and is involved in the creation of inflammation, representing a
    fundamental action that the innate immune system takes against an invading pathogen.

    2. Protein:
    The immune system is a wonderful collaboration between cells and proteins that work
    together to provide defense against infection. Proteins represent important macronutrients
    for the immune system, considering that amino acids are essential for the synthesis of
    immune proteins, including cytokines and antibodies that mediate immune responses.
    Protein is important to health, and not eating enough can negatively impact your immune
    system. It is well accepted that protein calorie malnutrition impairs host immunity with
    particular detrimental effects on the T-cell system, resulting in increased opportunistic
    infection and increased morbidity and mortality in hospitalized patients.

    3. Vitamins and Minerals:


    Minerals and vitamins play an essential role in every stage of the immune system.
    Lack of micronutrients is considered the most common cause of secondary
    immunodeficiency and infection.

    • Vitamin A: Vitamin A supplementation (50,000-200,000 IU every 4–6 months) in


    offspring can decrease the incidence of malaria, measles, and diarrhea. β-carotene
    increased lymphocyte blastogenesis. It regulates T cell mediated and antibody
    immune response.

    • Vitamin D: Calcitriol controls the regulatory proteins of microbiota, which protects the
    intestinal barrier. It Influences immune antimicrobial peptides.

    • Vitamin E: It keeps cell membranes from the negative effects of free radicals,
    increases natural killer cell cytotoxic action , prevents the action of macrophages.

    • Vitamin C: It protects cells against free radicals through collagen synthesis. It


    reinforces the antioxidant function of Vitamin E and glutathione. It modulates
    histamine and cytokine levels. It increases phagocytosis.
    • Vitamins B6: Vitamin B is involved in regulating intestinal immunity. It promotes
    lymphocyte migration into the intestine.

    • Folate: Folate controls the action of T cells . It keeps or increases NK cell cytotoxic
    activity.

    • Vitamin B12: Beneficial microbes in the gastrointestinal tract use vitamin B12 to
    improve the body’s defenses.

    • Iron: Iron is important for the evolution of epithelial tissue (22) and the complicated
    control of cytokine function.

    • Zinc: It preserves the skin. It plays an essential role in the evolution and
    differentiation of immune cells. It increases the phagocytic activity of macrophages
    and the phagocytic activity of monocytes.

    • Copper: It is effective in the function of macrophages, (69), monocytes, neutrophils.


    Cu supports immunity as it is associated with many proteins. Deficiencies of copper
    also have been associated with retained placenta, embryonic death, and decreased
    conception rates.

    • Selenium: Selenium increases antibody responses. Se enhanced neutrophil killing


    activity.

    Balancing diets for immunity:


    Stressed person should be adequately supplemented with trace minerals, vitamin A and
    vitamin E. Feeding higher levels than normal of these nutrients in the receiving period can
    compensate for reduced intake and marginal deficiencies. Acquired immunity requires
    vitamins A, B6, B9, B12, D, and C, and selenium, iron, and zinc for differentiation,
    proliferation, and cellular function. After person have recovered from stress-induced immuno
    suppression and are adapted to the finishing diet, balancing diets to meet requirements for
    growth usually provides adequate nutrients for immune function.

    So, Nutrients may impact directly or indirectly upon immune cells causing
    changes in their function. A better understanding of the role of nutrients in immune function
    will facilitate the use reliable and appropriate nutrition to improve human health.

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