You may go out of your way to stay healthy by washing your hands, avoiding contact with sick people and getting immunized against disease. But if you are malnourished from eating a diet high in saturated fats and low in nutrients, you may be compromising your immune system and setting yourself up for frequent illness and lifestyle diseases, including heart disease.
Malnutrition
Malnutrition is a condition of imbalance where you are either getting too little or too much of a given nutrient. While you may tend to think of malnourished people as having too little food, overfeeding is also considered a form of malnutrition. The American diet is often deficient in nutrients such as calcium, iron, vitamin A, and vitamin C, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Even consuming the recommended daily allowance, or RDA, for many nutrients could be inadequate to protect your immune system.
Immune Response System
Your immune system is your body's defense mechanism against environmental pathogens. Your skin provides the first line of defense, providing a protective barrier between the environment and your body. Once pathogens invade your system, either through damaged tissue or through your airways, a complex series of mechanisms kicks in to destroy them. One important immune response is inflammation. When you become injured or infected, your body sends white blood cells and hormone-like substances to speed the healing process, causing temporary swelling. But some stimuli, like free radicals from fried foods or food allergies, can cause chronic inflammation that can lead to a decline in your cardiorespiratory, endocrine, central nervous and digestive systems, turning your immune system against you.
Nutriton and Immune Response
Increasing your consumption of healthy foods that contain antioxidants and other micronutrients can improve your immune system, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Antioxidants are nutrients that remove free radicals, toxic bodies that are natural byproducts of metabolism, from your bloodstream. Free radicals promote many degenerative diseases, including heart disease and cancer. Micronutrients are vitamins and minerals that you need in small amounts to maintain healthy bodily functions. Fresh fruits and vegetables are rich in micronutrients and antioxidants.
Bolstering Immunity
To shore up your immune system, the Cleveland Clinic recommends you limit your consumption of saturated fats and animal proteins, especially red meat. Using olive oil for cooking, eating fresh whole fruits and vegetables and whole grains, and drinking plenty of water are all strategies to improve your diet and boost your immune system. Probiotics like those found in yogurt containing live bacterial cultures have been found to improve digestive health and increase your resistance to microorganisms that cause food poisoning. Regular daily exercise has also been found to bolster your immune function.
References
- Garland Science; The Immune Response
- Cleveland Clinic; Diet, Exercise, Stress and the Immune System
- Medical News Today; Nutrition and the Immune System, September, 2004
- Nutrition Ecology International Center; Panel 2 - Undernutrition and malnutrition in the world
- Arizona Center for Advanced Medicine; Inflammation
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