What Is Our Immune System?
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- What Is Our Immune System
- Innate immunity
- Adaptive or acquired immunity
- NUTRIENT THAT PLAYS MAJOR ROLE IN IMMUNE RESPONSES ARE
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Introduction During the flu season or times of illness, people often seek special foods or vitamin supplements that are believed to boost immunity. Vitamin C and foods like citrus fruits, chicken soup, and tea with honey are popular examples. Yet the design of our immune system is complex and influenced by an ideal balance of many factors, not just diet, and especially not by any one specific food or nutrient. However, a balanced diet consisting of a range of vitamins and minerals, combined with healthy lifestyle factors like adequate sleep and exercise and low stress, most effectively primes the body to fight infection and disease. What Is Our Immune System?On a daily basis, we are constantly exposed to potentially harmful microbes of all sorts. Our immune system, a network of intricate stages and pathways in the body, protects us against these harmful microbes as well as certain diseases. It recognizes foreign invaders like bacteria, viruses, and parasites and takes immediate action. Humans possess two types of immunity: innate and adaptive. Innate immunity is a first-line defense from pathogens that try to enter our bodies, achieved through protective barriers. These barriers include: Skin that keeps out the majority of pathogens Mucus that traps pathogens Stomach acid that destroys pathogens Enzymes in our sweat and tears that help create anti-bacterial compounds Immune system cells that attack all foreign cells entering the body Adaptive or acquired immunity is a system that learns to recognize a pathogen. It is regulated by cells and organs in our body like the spleen, thymus, bone marrow, and lymph nodes. When a foreign substance enters the body, these cells and organs create antibodies and lead to multiplication of immune cells (including different types of white blood cells) that are specific to that harmful substance and attack and destroy it. Our immune system then adapts by remembering the foreign substance so that if it enters again, these antibodies and cells are even more efficient and quick to destroy it. NUTRIENT THAT PLAYS MAJOR ROLE IN IMMUNE RESPONSES ARE Vitamin C - Vitamin C may help prevent infections or shorten their stay. ... Vitamin E - Like vitamin C, vitamin E can be a powerful antioxidant that helps your body fight off infection. ... Vitamin A - helping your body's natural defence against illness and infection (the immune system) work properly. helping vision in dim light. keeping skin and the lining of some Vitamin D -plays a significant role in the regulation of calcium and maintenance of phosphorus levels in the blood. These factors are vital for maintaining healthy bones. People need vitamin D to allow the intestines to stimulate and absorb calcium and reclaim calcium that the kidneys would otherwise excrete. Folate/folic acid - Helps tissues grow and cells work. Works with vitamin B12 and vitamin C to help the body break down, use, and create new proteins. Helps form red blood cells (helps prevent anemia) Helps produce DNA, the building block of the human body, which carries genetic information. Iron -to carry oxygen in the hemoglobin of red blood cells throughout your body so your cells can produce energy. Also, iron improves oxygen storage through myoglobin. Myoglobin is a protein containing iron which transports and stores oxygen within your muscles. Selenium -an essential trace mineral that supports many bodily processes. It can help improve cognition, immune system function, and fertility. Selenium is a nutrient that plays a key role in maintaining thyroid hormone metabolism and DNA synthesis and protecting the body from oxidative damage and infection. Zinc -found in cells throughout the body. It is needed for the body's defensive (immune) system to properly work. It plays a role in cell division, cell growth, wound healing, and the breakdown of carbohydrates. Zinc is also needed for the senses of smell and taste. Magnesium -Magnesium is needed for more than 300 biochemical reactions in the body. It helps to maintain normal nerve and muscle function, supports a healthy immune system, keeps the heartbeat steady, and helps bones remain strong. It also helps adjust blood glucose levels. NB -vitamin B6, vitamin C, vitamin E, magnesium, and zinc—play roles in maintaining immune function, and supplements containing them are often sold as immune boosters in doses that greatly exceed the recommended daily allowance.vitamin C, vitamin D, zinc, selenium, iron, and protein (including the amino acid glutamine).They are found in a variety of plant and animal foods and have been identified as critical for the growth and function of immune cells Download 23.61 Kb. Share with your friends:
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