The human immunity system is both complex and amazing at the same time. Every cell of the immunity system has a specific designated role to identify a potential problem and limit its impact on your health. Our immunity system is an intrinsic part of a healthy lifestyle, and people take immunity boosters to keep it functioning better. The organic immune boosters join our body’s fight against dangerous pathogens like parasites, bacteria, fungi, viruses, and toxins.
Most people think that these immune cells are circulating in the body through the bloodstream, but that’s not the complete picture.
The human immune system is made of organs, tissues, and cells. Here’s an overarching glimpse into the complex system:
- Organs producing white blood cells (WBC)
- Antigens and antibodies developed after exposure to viruses
- Lymphatic systems that carry the WBC
- The gut microbiome comprises 70% of the immunity system
What is Gut Microbiome?
Research shows that the gut microbiome actively communicates with other cells and systems to manage the immunity system and control the impact of unhealthy contact on the body. In layman’s terms, one can understand the gut microbiome as good bacteria, also known as probiotics. Our gastrointestinal tract harbours more than 100 trillion bacteria and archaea that together comprise the gut microbiome. These microbes are also present on the outer wall of the intestinal lining. This outer part, known as the mucosa, assists the bacteria to break down food, eliminates unnecessary components, and extracts nutrients.
The human gut is constantly at work to maintain a healthy balance of the good bacteria in the body. Experts also recommend natural probiotics as organic immunity boosters to enhance good bacteria count in the body. However, it’s always important to maintain homeostasis, a state of balance between different kinds of microorganisms in the body.
How Does The Gut Boost Immunity?
When 70% of your immune cells reside in the gut, it’s vital to understand their mechanisms. Let’s take a look at how the gut boosts your immunity:
● Acts as a barrier
Just like the skin, your gut is also a primary barrier against the intrusion of pathogens. It allows the good elements to pass and eliminates all toxic components. The gut bacteria release antimicrobial chemicals to destroy the toxic pathogens invading our bodies. They also tighten the intestinal cells to make the gut barrier thoroughly strong.
● Produces antibodies
If you’re exposed to any pathogen, your body needs 3 to 10 days to release antibodies against the pathogen. Once the antibodies are developed, they can provide long-term protection against the virus. Vaccines also leverage this mechanism and inject an inert form of the virus into the body. Our bodies produce antibodies and boost immunity. The gut produces an antibody known as immunoglobulin A (IGA) which is vital for immune defences in the gut and lungs.
● Prevents allergy
A strong gut assists in allergy prevention by recognizing the good and bad in our surrounding environment. As breast milk boosts immunity and ensures gut health, breast-fed babies are less likely to develop allergies in the later stages of life.
● Reduces inflammation
Gut microbes reduce unnecessary inflammation by increasing mucus production and stirring reactions from the immune system, whenever required.
During childbirth, the mother passes a part of her microbiome to the baby. A few days before birth and the following 1000 days are extremely crucial for seeding the gut and having a strong immune system for life. Breast milk also supplements the process and boosts immunity later in life. Compounds like lactoferrin in breast milk protect the baby from gut problems.
Assisting Your Gut Towards Great Immunity
Yes, your gut is brilliant at its tasks, and you are taking natural immunity boosters to help with its functionality. But besides taking these plant-based immunity boosters, it is vital to take active measures for maintaining a healthy gut. Here are a few common tips to always abide by:
● Keep the stress levels low
It’s quite difficult to maintain a low-stress level in today’s world, but it is crucial for your health, too. Stress adds to sleeping disorders and digestive disorders, along with a direct impact on your mental well-being. If you are continuously struggling with stress and anxiety, exercising and meditation can also help in maintaining overall mental well-being.
● Increase your whole foods intake
If your diet mostly includes processed food, here’s a strong warning for you to stop. Processed food directly impacts your gut microbiome and leads to serious health concerns like inflammation, skin complications like acne and eczema, food intolerance, weight fluctuations, allergies, digestive issues, and depression. Try to include more fruits, vegetables, and whole foods in your daily diet to maintain healthy probiotics in the body. You should also reduce your refined sugar intake.
● Have enough fibres
The National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS) data show that the overall UK population is not consuming enough fruit, vegetables, and fibre. Their diet includes more salt, added sugar and saturated fat than the healthy limits. This is alarming, as fibres boost the healthy bacteria in our body, contributing to the overall health of the immunity system. Fibre helps to strengthen our gut, maintain our blood sugar levels, ensure heart health and eliminate all toxins from the body. So, it is vital to have enough fibre intake to maintain a good immunity system. Pears, avocado, strawberries, apples, raspberries, bananas, carrots, broccoli, kidney beans, and quinoa are some common foods with high-fibre content.
● Increase your regular consumption of probiotics
Probiotics are good bacteria that boost our immunity system by keeping the gut healthy. Probiotics are easily available in abundance in fermented foods like yoghurt and kombucha tea. You can enhance the probiotics by taking natural immunity boosters. Do consult your medical adviser for more insights on getting better nutrition and supplementary immunity boosters.
Choose Your Gut Instinct
There is no instant immunity booster, and it requires healthy lifestyle choices to keep your gut healthy. But now that you know the connection between your gut health and immunity system, start taking natural probiotics and organic immune boosters to strike the right balance of good bacteria in your body. Immunity boosters and supplements can fill in the nutritional gaps caused by a history of processed food consumption and exposure to harmful substances.
Prioritize your gut health over everything, and go for plant-based, natural immunity boosters to assist in your search for good health!