Help yourself to stronger immunity

Help boost your immunity

By Josh Fischman

You contain multitudes. Within you are billions of defenders, ready to protect your health from threats occurring both outside and inside your body. It’s your immune system, and it consists of a complex combination of cells and proteins capable of detecting and destroying cold-causing viruses, infectious bacteria, and even wayward versions of your own cells that are on their way to becoming cancerous.

But sometimes, when faced with the flu, an allergy, an autoimmune disease like multiple sclerosis, or a life-threatening tumor, your immune system might need a little help.

He could benefit from an advantage, a boost, additional resources to keep you healthy. Supplements, surprising treatments, immunity-boosting vaccines and even exercises can help the immune system do its job. The big question is: which ones work best? Tons of supplements and vitamins that promise to help with immunity line the drugstore and supermarket aisles, and friends and family all have their favorite teas and creams that they swear help. The choices can be confusing.

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That’s where science comes in. For the articles in this special edition, we researched immune boosters backed by randomized controlled trials — the best way to compare treatments to see which is most effective. We also looked for studies involving large groups of people. And we interviewed experts in immunology and specific diseases.

Omega-3 fatty acids are praised for how they reduce harmful inflammation. The same goes for the yellow ingredient in turmeric, curcumin. Learn more about these supplements. Regular use of the former can reduce the risk of heart attack and the latter can alleviate osteoarthritis symptoms. Vitamin D, on the other hand, is not the panacea as once claimed. It turns out that most people make enough of it themselves, because our skin uses energy from the sun to create the vitamin. Additionally, it is found in fortified milk and in fish like salmon.

But vitamin D appears to reduce the risk of developing certain autoimmune diseases like lupus and psoriasis. And sunlight itself can be a good remedy for autoimmune diseases, balancing your immune response to reduce the symptoms of multiple sclerosis and type 1 diabetes, as our story explains.

Stuffed with a cold or an allergy? This is usually due to tissue swelling caused by your immune response. Your best treatment may be the over-the-counter decongestant pseudoephedrine. And saline nasal sprays work great. For food allergies, learn about new immune system medications and treatment protocols that have significantly helped children with life-threatening reactions to peanuts. Animal allergies can be relieved through an approach called hyposensitization.

To treat diseases such as cancer, doctors have exploited the immune system’s precise targeting of antibodies to guide chemotherapy directly to cancer cells, as we describe here. But medications are not the only treatment. Regular exercise, as simple as several hours of brisk walking a week, leads to longer survival for some cancer patients and more immune cells attacking their tumors.

Mysteries about immunity persist, including why stimulation of a major nerve called the vagus nerve appears to enhance the protective effects and why women get more autoimmune diseases than men. But scientists are trying to turn the information gleaned from probing these mysteries into cures. So further boosts to the immune system could be coming soon.

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