The immune system is a complex network of cells that function to keep our bodies free of waste and kill infectious invaders. In modern society, we have gradually shifted away from a world that was naturally more tolerable to our immune systems. Plastics, metals, air and water pollution, EMFs, seed oils, and artificial food additives are just a handful of modern problems that affect our immune systems more and more every year. With the recent hiccup that occurred in 2020, more people are searching for a natural solution to health and wellness. I hear constantly that people are shifting to a more a natural way of living. I hope you join the party. Stick around to read about these natural immune boosters.
Immune System Overview
Your immune system is composed of a wide variety of cells and proteins that operate collectively to fight off whatever the body is dealing with. Some of the most commonly known immune cells are called T helper cells. These are cells that mature in the thymus gland that promote certain types of immune function. Your Th1 cells are your infectious immunity while your Th2 cells are non-infectious like allergies, inflammation, mold, etc. The cells that coordinate the balance between these cells are called your T regulatory cells or Treg for short.
Depending on what your immune system is dealing with, Treg cells will allocate more resources to either Th1 or Th2 immunity. These cells are vital to immune function and without them, there would be no orchestrator at the orchestra. There are a handful of nutrients that allow Treg cells to do their job. These natural immune boosters are vitamins A and D, iron, super oxide dismutase, glutathione, and some essential fatty acids. I’ll dig into these nutrients in detail in the next section.
T Regulatory Nutrients
Now that we’ve discussed what the Treg nutrients are, let’s talk about each one and why they’re so important. For all of these reasons listed below, it must be understood that all of the nutrients wear many hats. They are multifunctional and are prone to deficiency due to their high demand. Promotion of immune function is hard to do when there are no materials to do so.
Vitamin A
- Plays a role in light perception via being a necessary component of the rods found in your retina in the eyes. Without it, night blindness can occur due to the eye’s inability to increase light perception.
- It is essential to tissue repair and growth. Vitamin A can become very run down in people with chronic inflammatory conditions due to this. Skin issues, gut issues, autoimmunity. These all drive inflammation and can lead to lower vitamin A levels.
- There is a poorly understood correlation between vitamin A and hormone receptor regulation. So much so that males with low vitamin A can actually experience delayed puberty.
Vitamin D
- One of the biggest roles of vitamin D is regulation of blood calcium levels. Low levels of vitamin D can lead to an increase in the breakdown of bone, hence why you can buy vitamin D milk at the store.
- Similar to vitamin A, vitamin D plays a significant role in tissue repair as well as hormone regulation.
Iron
- Iron is most commonly known to be a mineral necessary for use in hemoglobin for oxygen transportation in the blood. For this reason, it is most commonly deficient in women who experience physiologic blood loss every month during menstruation. Low iron is associated with anemia.
- Iron plays a role in the first phase of liver detoxification that is composed of antioxidants. Without it, the liver will struggle to do its job.
- Iron is also a nutrient that plays a significant role in thyroid hormone synthesis. Along with zinc and selenium, it is vital for optimal thyroid health.
Super Oxide Dismutase
- SOD is a powerful antioxidant that is used not only in immune function, but during the first phase of liver detoxification.
- SOD synthesis requires copper, zinc, and manganese. The most common deficiency that I see clinically is that of zinc. This is why zinc is found in almost every general immune supplement.
Glutathione
- Glutathione is the most powerful antioxidant in the body. Wherever there is inflammation, glutathione is surely at work cleaning up the mess.
- Glutathione is composed of cysteine, glycine, and glutamic acid. The joining of these three things together is accomplished by magnesium and potassium. Various other conversions that occur previously in their synthesis involve activated vitamin B6 or P5P as well as methylated B9 and B12. For this reason, magnesium and vitamins B6, B9, and B12 are necessary for a strong antioxidant system.
- Cysteine that is used to make glutathione comes from homocysteine, a protein that is used as a blood marker for heart health. The reason that this is associated with heart health is that people with high blood homocysteine are more prone to cardiac events. This is due to poor conversion of homocysteine to cysteine and then glutathione.
Essential Fatty Acids (EPA and DHA)
- You’ll find EPA and DHA in fish oil supplements. These are necessary for production of good inflammation and inhibiting bad inflammation.
- These often run low due to poor consumption of dietary fish, grass fed beef, and pasture raised eggs.
- NSAIDs reduce good and bad inflammation. If you’d like a natural aspirin-like effect, taking 3 fish oil pills 3 times a day will do the trick. It’s like taking ibuprofen without stopping the good inflammatory pathways.
Additional Medicine Cabinet Supplements
Here are a few things that I’d recommend keeping on hand in the medicine cabinet. They’re great to use when you’re sick and are natural immune boosters, too!
- Astragalus is a great utility herb that is good for general antimicrobial immune function. Whenever you’re sick, this guy should be a go-to.
- Elderberry is a powerful anti-viral herb.
- Thymus or spleen glandular supplements are great for providing the raw material to keep up with the high demand for immune function. The spleen and thymus are your immune organs and are heavily taxed when you’re sick.
Hopefully, this has provided you with ample information regarding nutrients that are heavily involved with immune function. Ensuring that you’re eating plenty of foods rich in each nutrient as well as getting lots of sun are both great strategies to live healthier. These are general supplements to boost immune function, not solve all of your problems. If you have any sort of immune issue that you’d like to discuss further or are curious about other natural immune boosters, feel free to book a free consultation by clicking here. If you’d like to find a doc in your area who practices how I do, click here. For more immune system articles, click here. Thanks for reading!