Foods that really can boost YOUR immunity
A FEW days of stress, poor sleep and skipped meals won’t just leave you vulnerable to catching a cold, it could put you at risk of life-changing diseases.
That’s because your immune system is one of the body’s five key defence systems — immunity, stem cells, gut bacteria, blood vessels and DNA protection — and when any are weakened, it can open the door to myriad health problems.
All this week we have been serialising a groundbreaking new book, Eat To Beat Disease, by U.S. doctor and scientist Dr William Li. It explains how each of the body’s defence systems work, and shows you the sometimes surprising foods that can be added to your diet to support these systems and help your body stay healthy.
In today’s pullout — part of the Mail’s Good Health for Life month — he explains how to incorporate the important information given throughout this series into your diet, and pick the foods that will help you fight specific conditions and diseases.
He also reveals the importance of the immune system, and the foods that can make it more effective — and those that slow it down when it runs amok and starts to cause illness itself.
WheN it’s on top form, your immune system protects the body from any invasions by viruses, bacteria and parasites through an ingeniously designed system of pattern recognition.
This allows your immune cells to identify and destroy threats while leaving healthy cells alone.
It is (or should be) a system on perpetual standby, like the fire brigade, ready to leap into action when an alarm is sounded.
A healthy body automatically knows whether to turn up or turn down its immune response. Neither inactive nor overactive, it operates from a point where all forces are carefully balanced and constantly alert.
But the stresses and strains of modern life can render it weak. Obesity puts you at risk of this, as does diabetes, malnutrition (which includes an unhealthy diet, as well as insufficient food) and too much alcohol.
A weak immune system doesn’t just let rogue infections slip through the net, it can also cause it to become confused and start attacking its own harmless cells.
These exaggerated immune responses are seen in allergic reactions, where the immune system adopts an overkill response to an otherwise harmless allergen, such as pollen or a certain food. The same reaction can lead to asthma.
Immune system overactivity can also manifest as serious autoimmune diseases including type 1 diabetes, lupus (a condition causing inflammation of the joints, skin and organs), multiple sclerosis, psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis.
These are all the result of damage to cells caused by a trigger-happy immune system viewing something innocent as a foreign invader.
Regular exercise, proper sleep, and lowering and managing your stress levels will all help your immune system stay healthy. But recent discoveries have changed our understanding of the immune system.
The study of food compounds has advanced significantly in recent years, and we know that what we eat and drink can turn the two arms of immunity — the under- performing immune system and over-functioning immune system — up or down to defend our health.
You can boost your body’s resilience with foods that support our immune defences, and foods that can calm it when it becomes overactive.
Turn to the back page to read about the specific foods that can fine-tune your immune system and help you thwart disease.
And, overleaf, discover how diet changes can be used to fight serious diseases.