Immunity through Nutrition and Natural Product

The best weapon Nature has blessed Humans with is a healthy and strong immune system. Keeping in view pandemic situations like the COVID-19, where due to the mutating nature of the virus, it’s difficult to develop a completely effective and efficient vaccine and the exact time of ending this pandemic is unknown, strategies for boosting and strengthening individual immunity is of utmost priority. Having a nutritious and balanced diet is the first stepping stone to a strong immune system. Malnutrition leads to different illnesses, which in a way can drain the economy of a country and greatly affect the health care systems and the economic condition of the country, determine its optimal nutrition care. Nutrition plays an essential role in modulating immune homeostasis. In the current situation studies have proven the importance of optimal nutritional status to protect against viral infections including Coronavirus and other lung infections. A rich source of balanced and nutritious food comes from the plant and herbs or their extracts available in health drinks and food supplements.  Health drinks have become a great choice owing to their ease of availability and contents having extracts from like Mango, Turmeric, Centella, Amla, tulsi, orange, garlic, ginger etc are in rich in vitamins A, B complex, C, D, E, K, minerals like zinc, selenium, phytoconstituents like curcumin, quercetin, mangiferin, cinnamaldehyde, lactoferrin, and some probiotics has become essential. ¹

Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin that is important in maintaining vision, promoting growth and development, protecting the epithelium and mucosal integrity in the body. It also maintains the cellular and humoral immune responses. In infants, Vitamin A supplementation was showed to significantly improve the antibody response after some vaccines, including measles.²

Vitamin B12 (Vit.B12) plays an important role in immune system regulation.   It helps the formation of red blood cells and white blood cells along with folic acid, formation of T-cells and maintaining cellular immunity, while Vitamin B6, helps to increase the cytotoxic effects of natural killer cells (NK cells), helping to prevent the spread of any infection, damage of tissue, and reduces inflammation. ^3,4

Vitamin C acts as an important antioxidant and enzymatic co-factor for hormone production, collagen synthesis and immune potentiation ⁵. It also exhibits antiviral properties by restoring the mitochondrial function, improving endothelial dysfunction, increasing the formation of interferon-α, modulating cytokines and reducing inflammation.⁶

Vitamin D plays important role in modulating both innate and adaptive immune responses ⁷.

Vitamin E acts as a potent antioxidant and helps to modulate host immune functions ⁸.

In vitro studies have shown that Copper exhibits antiviral properties. It plays an important role in immunity by helping in the development and differentiation of immune cells. ⁹

In-vitro and in-vivo studies state that magnesium is helpful against viral infections and influences immunoglobulin synthesis, immune cell adherence, antibody-dependent cytolysis, Immunoglobulin M (IgM) lymphocyte binding, macrophage response to lymphokines, and T helper-B cell adherence, thus helping to strengthen the Immunity.¹⁰

Iron plays an important role in maintaining a balance between the helper T cells and cytotoxic T cells and helps in the growth of epithelial cells and T cells.³

Selenium has different activities ranging from antioxidant effects to anti-inflammatory properties. Lower levels results in poor immunity, and cognitive decline. Selenium supplementation increased lymphocyte phospholipid and cytosolic glutathione peroxidase activities, thereby increasing the cellular immune response .¹

Zinc (Zn) showed to have antiviral, antioxidant andante- inflammatory activity. Animal model studies revealed that deficiency of Zinc increased oxidative stress, pro-inflammatory TNF-α and vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM)-1 expression and causes lung tissue remodelling. Also, studies proved oral zinc supplementation decreased the incidences of acute respiratory infections by 35%. ³

Probiotics are said to increase antibody production. Yoghurt is the most common probiotic. Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus species, Streptococcus, Enterococcus, Bacillus, and Escherichia coli are the commonly used probiotics that enhance the gut microbiome and has a strong impact on the systemic immune responses and local immune responses at distal mucosal sites, including the lungs.¹¹

Thus we see that a balanced and nutritious food having the recommended amounts of calories, vitamins, micronutrients, trace elements, and probiotics are very much essential to build a strong and enhanced immunity and fight against COVID-19.

References:

1. Ranil Jayawardena, Piumika Sooriyaarachchi,Michail Chourdakis, Chandima Jeewandara, and Priyanga Ranasingh. Enhancing immunity in viral infections, with special emphasis on COVID-19: A review, Diabetes Metab Synd 2020;14(4):367–82.
2. Zhiyi Huang YL, Guangying Qi, David Brand, and Song Guo Zheng. Role of Vitamin A in the Immune System. J Clin Med 2018; 7(9): 258.
3. Mrityunjaya, V. P., R. Neelam, P. Janhavi P. M. Halami and P. V. Ravindra. Immune-Boosting, Antioxidant and Anti-inflammatory Food Supplements Targeting Pathogenesis of COVID-19. Front. Immunol. 2020, Volume 11 , Article 570122, 1-12
4. J Tamura KK, H Murakami, M Sawamura, T Matsushima, T Tamura, T Saitoh, H Kurabayshi, T Naruse. Immunomodulation by vitamin B12: augmentation of CD8+ T lymphocytes and natural killer (NK) cell activity in vitamin B12-deficient patients by methyl-B12 treatment. Clin Exp Immunol. 1999;116(1):28-32. .
5. Yejin Kim HK, Seyeon Bae, Jiwon Choi, Sun Young Lim, Naeun Lee, Joo Myung Kong, Young-il Hwang, Jae Seung Kang,d Wang Jae Lee. Vitamin C Is an Essential Factor on the Anti-viral Immune Responses through the Production of Interferon-α/β at the Initial Stage of Influenza A Virus (H3N2) Infection, Immune Netw 2013;13(2):70–4.
6. Ruben Manuel Luciano Colunga Biancatelli , M. B., John D Catravas , Paul E Marik Quercetin and Vitamin C: An Experimental, Synergistic Therapy for the Prevention and Treatment of SARS-CoV-2 Related Disease (COVID-19). Front Immunol 2020, 11:1451, 1-11.
7. Aranow C. Vitamin D and the immune system. J Invest Med. 2011;59(6):881–886.
8. S Moriguchi Vitamin E and immunity, Vitam Horm, 2000;59:305-36.
9. Chao Li YL, and Chen Ding. The Role of Copper Homeostasis at the Host-Pathogen Axis: From Bacteria to Fungi, Int J Mol Sci. 2019;20(1): :175.
10. Rui-Yun Liang WW, Jin Huang, Shan-Ping Jiang, Ying Lin. Magnesium affects the cytokine secretion of CD4⁺ T lymphocytes in acute asthma, J Asthma. 2012;49(10):1012-1015.
11. David Baud , V. D. A., Glenn R Gibson , Gregor Reid , Eric Giannoni Using Probiotics to Flatten the Curve of Coronavirus Disease COVID-2019 Pandemic, Front Public Health 2020, ;8:186, 1-5.