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Nutrition and Immunology pp 147–156Cite as

Impact of Nutritional Status on Immune Integrity

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Abstract

Nutritional immunology remains an area ripe for further investigation. Many important relationships between specific nutrients and immune function remain to be identified. In some cases, these studies will reveal new biological roles for the nutrient or new modes of regulation of the immune system, thereby making important contributions to basic as well as clinical sciences. Although many nutritionists have a keen interest in the interrelationships between nutrients and the immune function, this area has not been widely embraced by the immunological community. Thus, nutritional immunology was left for many years in the hands of those investigators brave enough to try to master two separate and complex disciplines. As a result, only a few areas of nutritional immunology have received extensive investigation. Although some like to point out that hundreds of articles can be found describing the impact of diet on the immune function, the bulk of the early literature was a patchwork of studies. Interesting data often of limited scope received little follow-up investigation. There were, however, some persistent and wonderful pioneering efforts put forth by Chandra, Beisel, Scrimshaw, and Newberne to name a few (1-3). Joined by other labs, these investigators have provided extensive detail regarding the effects of deficiencies in zinc, copper, and protein calories on a number of facets of immune defense in both humans and animal models. These early studies, along with more recent investigations to be discussed, provide compelling evidence that nutritional status and immune status are tightly linked and that immune integrity can be rapidly altered by changes in nutritional status.

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Authors
  1. Pam Fraker
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Rheumatology/Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Department of Internal Medicine, University of California at Davis, Davis, CA, USA

    M. Eric Gershwin MD

  2. Department of Food Science and Technology, University of California at Davis, Davis, CA, USA

    J. Bruce German PhD

  3. Department of Nutrition, University of California at Davis, Davis, CA, USA

    Carl L. Keen PhD

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Fraker, P. (2000). Impact of Nutritional Status on Immune Integrity. In: Gershwin, M.E., German, J.B., Keen, C.L. (eds) Nutrition and Immunology. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59259-709-3_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59259-709-3_12

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, Totowa, NJ

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-61737-148-6

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