Support your immune system, via your gut

To work well your immune system needs your support.  It needs your gut to be working well too, again this needs your help.  Here are 7 things you can do to support your immune system, via your gut.  I’ve also included an explanation of why those things help.

cheerful woman amongst flowers

If you find you are particularly prone to illness, without a known medical cause, it may be that your immune system needs more support.  Did you know that 70% of your immune system is believed to be in your gut?  That’s huge and means that supporting your immunity goes beyond getting your vitamin C!

Below are 7 ways you can support your immune system via your gut, followed by an explanation of why those things can help.

7 Ways to Support Your Immune System

  • Reduce your sugar intake.
  • Eat ‘live’ or ‘bioactive’ yoghurts regularly.
  • Stop smoking.
  • Ensure you eat small amounts of saturated fats (typically in red meat and coconut oil) and larger amounts of unsaturated fats (typically in avocados, nuts and seeds). Avoid trans fats by checking ingredients lists for ‘hydrogenated oil’ and ‘partially hydrogenated vegetable oil’.
  • Up your fibre intake: enjoy wholegrain foods, and plenty of fruit and vegetables.
  • Eat cooked and cooled potatoes, green bananas and oats to boost your resistant starch intake.
  • Only take antibiotics when you have a medical need for them, and only take them as per your prescription instructions.

How These Things Can Help – The Science Bit

In the 1980s scientists thought that our immune system response was as result of our dominant side.  That is, which type of immune cells (helper T-cells) we had most of.  The science has now evolved with the discovery of more types of cells (regulatory T-cells) that help us to manage our responses.  And, the health of your gut microbiome may play a role in the effectiveness of this regulation.

In case you haven’t heard of it, the gut microbiome consists of bacteria, virus, fungi and more living in our gut.  It sounds horrible, but scientists have found that this is really important for us.  Even more important is keeping it in balance.  An imbalanced gut has been linked to various T cell-related diseases, including autoimmune conditions , cardiovascular disease, and asthma.

It is believed that the bacteria in our gut microbiome affects the development and function of those T cells, with different bacteria can have different effects.  For example, the bacteria strain Klebsiella in high numbers is associated with an immune and inflammatory response that results in IBD symptoms.  High levels of other bacteria are associated with autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and MS.

However, some bacteria, for example Bacteroides fragilis and Bifidobacterium, are thought to activate our immune cells and help reduce inflammation!

Here is how the steps above can help you keep all of these bacteria in balance:

Sugar

A high sugar diet has been associated with a reduction in anti-inflammatory gut bacteria and an increase in pro-inflammatory bacteria.  While we need both, this imbalance increases our risk of inflammation and reduced immune function.

Live/Bioactive yoghurt

This type of yoghurt contain live bacteria and therefore have ‘probiotic properties’.  This means they can help to populate your gut microbiome with helpful (‘friendly’) bacteria.

Smoking

Various studies have linked cigarette smoking with an imbalanced gut microbiome.  The level of three types of bacteria was increased, each of these bacteria have been associated with chronic ill-health conditions.  There is also a link to an increase in some pathogens (microorganism that can cause disease).  There is additionally the potential for beneficial bacteria to be decreased in numbers.

Stopping smoking can help restore balance.

Fat and cholesterol

Cholesterol is a fat and is really important for us – it is needed to maintain all of our body cells (including those of the immune system), and it is important for our hormones and vitamin D production.  The immune system cells need cholesterol to develop effectively.

While you may have been lead to believe that cholesterol is bad for us, it is actually the level and type of lipoproteins that can make a difference to our health.   The lipoproteins are particles made up of cholesterol and other fat surrounded by protein – they carry the cholesterol and triglycerides around your body.  Low density lipoproteins (LDL) carry them to our tissues; high density (HDL) carry the cholesterol to the liver for removal.  If we have too much LDL compared to HDL, health problems can result.

While we get cholesterol in small amounts from our food, our main source of cholesterol is our liver.  The liver makes cholesterol from saturated fat and regulates the cholesterol levels in the body.  We also produce some HDL in our intestines which then travels in the blood to the liver.  It carries a problem substance called lipopolysaccharide made by less favourable gut bacteria, that can contribute to inflammation in the liver.  It is thought that when it is bound to the HDL, this substance is unable to ‘activate’.  This means that keeping your microbiome healthy may help to protect the health of your liver.

To get rid of cholesterol, the liver adds it to bile, which we then luse to help us digest fat.

Fibre and resistant starch

Resistant starch is a form of carbohydrate that we cannot digest.  In the intestine, gut bacteria feed on it and produce short-chain fatty acids such as butyrate and propionate.  Butyrate particularly has been identified as having anti-inflammatory effects, and is important to the health of the intestines themselves.

We can get resistant starch from cooked and cooled potatoes and rice, unripe bananas, legumes and oats.

Of course, fibre is important to help our food move through our digestive system.  It also provides a feast for the gut bacteria to help them thrive.  Current advice is for an adult to consume 30g of fibre per day, on average UK adults get around 20g.  That’s a third less than the recommended amount – make sure you are getting what you need.

NOTES:

  • Don’t up your fibre intake too quickly as you may experience some digestive discomfort.
  • If you start to experience constipation when you increase fibre, try increasing your fluid intake slightly.

Antibiotics

There is no doubt that antibiotics can be a hugely beneficial form of medicine, and in many cases life-saving.  But, not only do many remove the problematic bacteria causing illness, they can also destroy other bacteria.  This can leave your gut in a state of imbalance and increase your risk of other problems.

It is important that antibiotics are taken correctly.  Only take them if they have been prescribed to you for the particular symptoms you are currently struggling with, and make sure you complete the course.  Not completing it may allow any remaining problematic bacteria to ‘return’ and result in you needing another course.

Don’t forget if you experience side effects to speak to your doctor or pharmacist for advice.

It may be helpful to ensure you follow the other steps in this guide to support your microbiome as much as possible during and after taking antibiotics, if you are not already doing so.  You could also speak to a suitably qualified professional about probiotics to support you during this time.

Does your immune system need more support?

Of course, the advice in this article is generic and intended to provide help to any reader.  If you need more specific support with a particular health concern, nutritional therapy can offer a personalised approach.  To find out more, book your free, no-obligation call with me and we can discuss your needs and how I can support you.

References/Further Reading