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How Does the Immune System Work: 3 Key Nutrients

  • Writer: Marcie Vaske, MS, LN, CNS
    Marcie Vaske, MS, LN, CNS
  • 5 days ago
  • 5 min read

How does the immune system work?


I'm going to talk about three key nutrients to help support our immune system.


My name is Marcie Vaske and I'm a licensed nutritionist with Flusso Nutrients. At Flusso Nutrients, we just work really hard to educate you on different types of vitamins and supplements that can help support your overall health.


And so today I'm just going to uncover how the immune system works in our body and what key nutrients you may want to make sure you have enough of.

[Video Transcript Below + Supplement Links Discussed In Video]


Understanding How the Immune System Works


So what exactly is this personal defense force of ours called the immune system? And the immune system has actually two main parts. One is the innate immune system, and what this system does is it's our first defense against toxins, pathogens, anything that the body sees as a foreign body. This innate immune system works quickly to fight off anything that it doesn't want. So what I mean by fast is it can kick in at any time between a few minutes and at just a few hours from the exposure. And essentially it targets anything that is foreign without having any kind of prior exposure to it.


The second piece of our immune system is the adaptive immune system. Now this system is a bit more specialized because it begins to learn and recognize invaders so that it can work better the next time around. Essentially this system actually only comes into play either two days or even in two weeks of the exposure. And as it gets exposed to it more, it comes back harder and stronger to get rid of the toxin. So while our immune system is working hard nearly every day just to keep out invaders and germs, and it depends on how much exposure we've had to them and which system actually has to come out. So we need to keep our immune system very robust.


Key Nutrients That Support the Immune System


So there are several nutrients we need to help support our immune system. And the first line can be vitamin C, vitamin D, and zinc. Those are all kind of ones we've probably heard before and kind of know like, oh, I feel like I'm getting sick. So sometimes you might take extra zinc or you go drink some extra vitamin C or take a vitamin C supplement.


Immune support ad with bottles of vitamins C, D, and Zinc. Title in orange and teal, informational text, and playful dot pattern in background.

The Role of Vitamin A in Immune Health


Those are all great ways to support our immune system, but there's also other nutrients that we need, and one such nutrients is vitamin A. Now, the way that it helps support our immune system is that vitamin A helps to support our mucosal barriers. And these barriers are found in our gut, our skin and our lungs. And our skin is essentially our first line of barrier defense. Vitamin A also helps to regulate our T and B cells. These are just types of immune system cells. Now if we have a deficiency in vitamin A, we may be setting ourself up for more gut infections and upper respiratory infections.


Vitamin E and Oxidative Stress Protection


The next one on the list is vitamin E. And vitamin E is a powerful antioxidant that helps to support our oxidative stress in our body. So essentially it protects our immune cells from our oxidative stress. Oxidative stress are like things that just break down our cells that create issues within them. Vitamin E also enhances our T cell function. And so where can you find some extra vitamin E in your diet? Well, nuts are a great source and seeds both are very plentiful in vitamin E. And you can also take it in supplement form.


The Importance of B Vitamins for the Immune System


Now, I already mentioned that the B vitamins are very important and that's going to be third on my list. But there's some specific ones that are more important than the other ones for our immune system, and that's going to be vitamin B6 vitamin B9, and vitamin B12. Now vitamin B6 is especially needed for this antibody creation and also the communication between our immune cells folate or vitamin B9 is going to be very helpful to support the synthesis of our DNA. And lastly, vitamin B12 works with folate for red blood cell formation and also our immune cell formation.


Lifestyle Habits to Strengthen the Immune System


So those are just some key nutrients that can help with our immune system to keep it a little more robust as we move into the fall season. And you don't have to take supplements. We can find all of these nutrients in the foods that we consume, but we must consume foods wisely. So really consuming a diet of whole real foods, healthy proteins, good carbohydrates, healthy fats, those are all going to be full of these nutrients.


And just as important as the food we eat is what we do with our body. So making sure that you get some movement within the day is going to help support your body, not only just physically but also at the immune level. Also getting enough sleep. Sleep deprivation can be such a hindrance not only on your immune system but on so many different systems within your body. So making sure you're prioritizing your sleep, your prioritizing what you put in your mouth every day and you're prioritizing just getting some movement in.


Supplements and Final Tips


So while our immune system is rather complex taking care of, it really isn't, it just comes down to the basics. Fruits, vegetables, proteins, carbs, fats, and getting enough sleep.


And if you struggle with getting a more variety of fruits and vegetables of the foods that I just spoke about, you can take each of these in supplement form and I will actually link them down three different options that you could choose from for the vitamin A, the vitamin E, and also the vitamin Bs.


And this way you can just give yourself an extra boost if you struggle with getting in some of the foods and or not getting enough sleep. And one thing I'll say, I just said that you can take supplements and, but you can never really out supplement a bad lifestyle, which means not enough sleep or out supplement a bad diet. So you have to kind of compromise and meet in the middle.


So I hope that this helps you learn a little bit more about your immune system and how easy it really is to keep it robust and keep you feeling great.


Thanks for watching.



Check out the high-quality supplements we discussed in this video - links below for your convenience!

3) Vitamin E by Integrative Therapeutics: create an account here, then search the name "Vitamin E by Integrative Therapeutics" - https://us.fullscript.com/welcome/flussonutrients

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