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Flu Season: What is the BEST immunity boost?

You may have seen products on grocery store shelves claiming “immunity boost”  or “immunity blend,” items that claim to increase your immunity in one way or another. This is all due to the Food and Drug Administration allowing manufacturers to use the terms “supports/enhances/boosts” regarding the “immune system” in marketing and on food labels. These kinds of “structure-or-function” claims require very little scientific evidence. Because so many nutrients have been linked to some kind of role in immune function, this claim can be put on just about any food item. This prompted me to research the effects of diet on immunity.

I was shocked when I reviewed the scientific literature on the effects of diet on immunity. I had always thought that eating healthfully and/or boosting my vitamin and mineral intake would bolster my immune system. But studies show that diet has very little effect on your immune response. Unless you are elderly or your nutritional status is severely compromised in some other way, improving your diet isn’t going to boost your immune system.

Despite these findings, it is still very important to eat a well-balanced diet, high in fiber, low in saturated and trans fats, high in whole grains. These aspects of a healthy diet all aid in disease prevention. A healthy diet is crucial for avoiding heart disease, cancer, high blood pressure, and obesity.

Exercise, on the other hand, is the complete opposite as far as the immune system is concerned: exercise has a significant, immediately measurable impact on immune function. Researchers found that when they had sedentary (non-active) individuals walk briskly for 45 minutes per day most days of the week, the number of days they were sick was cut in half! The researchers linked this to the increased levels of “natural killer cells” and neutrophils (a kind of “immunity cell”) found during exercise. These levels actually remain elevated for about three hours after exercise, continuing to “clean house” long after you’ve stopped your activity.

So skip the special “immunity boosting” foods. Eat a consistently healthful, well balanced diet. And exercise moderately most days of the week. An improved immune system is just one of the many benefits that you’ll reap!