No need for drugs. Without going to vitamin supplements and beyond the use of vaccines. Our immune system, the arsenal of defenses that the body has to fight diseases, can be spectacularly benefited by the simple fact of eating well. More and more scientific data support the existence of a direct relationship between diet and the ability to deal with infectious agents. The best of vaccines may be on the menu of the day.
Recent investigations have even come to identify the best foods for this purpose. There seems to be some consensus on vegetables, fruits, lean protein, whole grain and healthy fatty acids. In these categories it is easier to find rich sources of zinc, vitamin C, vitamin D, Omega-3 and other components.
Researchers from the Higher Council for Scientific Research Ascensión Marcos, Sonia Gómez-Martínez and Ligia Esperanza have been working in this field for years and have just published “Immunonutrition”, a book that addresses current knowledge of this relationship between diet and defenses. In your opinion, “diet can help prevent both infectious diseases like others in which inflammatory processes such as obesity, type 2 diabetes or cardiovascular, neurodegenerative or autoimmune diseases underlie”.
Science has shown that key cells of the immune system present very specific nutrient requirements to function well. For example, adequate protein intake is related to the production of antibodies.
Although numerous studies have been published since the 1980s that show that protein deficiency increases the risk of infection, this relationship has been confirmed during the pandemic. In May 2020, an international team of scientists published a report on the relationship between the consumption of certain nutrients, micronutrients and polynutrients and the risk of being infected with coronavirus.. Diets containing adequate amounts of proteins such as glutamine or arginine were shown to reduce risk.
Research that relates the microbiota intestinal with the immune system. Our digestive system uses the work of billions of bacteria that, as a whole, can almost be considered one more organ of our anatomy. They perform functions such as the absorption of vitamins, the use of the energy contained in food or the metabolization of nutrients.
Less known is his defense work. Many of them prevent pathogens from adhering to mucous membranes. We know that practically each individual has its own microbiota. Age and external factors modify the distribution of the different species of possible bacteria. So that the response to disease is virtually individualizedto. Currently, several lines of research are focused on the design of disease prevention strategies focused on the management of the microbiota through specific diets. However, according to a publication by researcher Zheng Danping in the journal “Cell Research”, “there is still no general consensus on what a balanced microbiota is supposed to be”.
The Spanish authors of «Immunonutrition» agree: «Each individual has its own composition of microorganisms, although the functions they perform are the same. This leads us to investigations such as those currently being carried out, which consist of defining a minimum set of functions that are typical of a healthy microbiota, regardless of the microorganisms that perform them”.
Thus, the old phrase of Hippocrates (“that medicine be your food and food your medicine”) is more valid than ever.
2023-06-05 00:18:36
#vaccine #menu #day
