Antioxidant vitamins protect also against infectious diseases

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Antioxidant vitamins protect

also against infectious diseasesAntioxidative vitamins are nowadays at the

center of attention because they offer protection against degenerative disorders

such as cancer and coronary diseases.

Now that infectious diseases are again becoming a growing problem, it is

important that these nutrients also offer a number of possibilities in the fight

against this type of disorder.

Vitamin A

That these possibilities are greater than is often suspected, is one of the

important facts prominent in a publication by Harbige in the journal Nutrition

and Health, which he devoted to the subject of nutrition and immunity. In some

aspects the article is very detailed, however, certainly not exhaustive, as is

evident, among other things, from the fact that vitamin C is not reviewed.

 

Vitamin A is an antioxidant, of which the protective influence against

infectious diseases has been demonstrated in numerous studies, as is elucidated

by Harbige. Whereas in earlier days it was thought that this effect was mainly

due to the improvement of the barrier function of epithelial surfaces, it now is

evident that this nutrient favorably influences various other defense

mechanisms.

 

It has been found, among other things, that children with a vitamin-A deficiency

show an abnormal proportion in the number of types of T-lymphocytes and that

these abnormalities can be brought back to normal by vitamin A.

 

Stimulating T-cells

It is furthermore important that vitamin A as well as the antioxidant vitamins

beta carotene and vitamin E can have a stimulating effect on the number of

T-lymphocytes, and especially on the number of CD4+-cells, the type of T-cells

that plays a central role in the regulation of immune processes.

 

Worth mentioning in this respect is a study among elderly people, in which a

daily supplementation of 100 mg vitamin E caused a 50% increase in T-lymphocyte

number, which was mainly due to an increase in CD4+-cells.

 

Furthermore, the author reports various animal experiments, from which it is

evident that vitamin E increases the resistance against infectious diseases in

other ways as well, e.g. by improving the phagocytic capacity of

polymorphonuclear cells.

 

(Nutrition and immunity with emphasis on infection and autoimmune disease;

Harbige LS (Division of Immunology, United Medical School of Guy's and St.

Thomas's Hospital, Rayne Institute, London, United Kingdom); Nutrition and

Health, 10(4):285-312, 1996)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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