Optimising Your Immune Health With Diet

How is our immune system and our diet connected?

Our immune system is like a power station of cells, tissues, and messengers that work together to fight off infections. To do its job properly, it needs a regular supply of good quality food rich in vitamins (such as Vitamins A, C, D, and E), minerals (such as zinc, iron and selenium), protein, omega 3 fatty acids and antioxidants. Without these key nutrients, our immune system cannot function optimally leading to us falling unwell.

Gut health is also important for immune health, with approximately 70% of the immune system is located in the gut. Our gut microbiome is composed of ‘good gut bacteria’ or beneficial microbes, which help to reduce inflammation, regulate immune system responses and prevent any harmful microbes from taking over. Importantly the food we eat directly impacts our gut microbiome, therefore impacting our immune health.

So, although food is not the only factor in immune health (e.g. hygiene is very important too), it does play an important role and is worth considering.

What’s the best thing you can do to optimise immune health when it comes to diet?

Try to be consistent.

Immune health is a long-term game. Taking copious supplements when you feel a cold coming on isn’t the best solution. However consistently trying to eat more plants and increasing your variety of plant foods, will. It’s not about being perfect, in fact there’s no way to eat perfectly, it’s about gradually building good long-term habits.

Consistently make great food choices, such as:

1. Increasing Your Plant Diversity

The phrase “eat the rainbow” gets thrown around a lot, and for good reason! Different plant foods contain different types of fibre, antioxidants, polyphenols, vitamins, and minerals. And each one feeds and supports different strains of our gut microbes.

There’s research to show that people who eat 30 or more different plant foods each week have a more diverse gut microbiome and better signs of good gut and immune health.

Some ways you can increase your plant diversity include:

• Choosing mixed salad greens instead of just one type
• Adding herbs and spices to your meals (Yes, they all count as plant foods too!)
• Mixing up the grains you choose, e.g. having oats one day, followed by quinoa or rice the next
• Keeping a variety of mixed nuts, seeds, and legumes as pantry staples
• Building meals around vegetables, not just protein or carbs

2. Getting Plenty of Fibre

Fibre is one of the most underrated nutrients for your immune system. Most people only think of it only in terms of digestion, but fibre has many benefits. Fibre acts as food for our gut microbes, which then produce beneficial compounds such as short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). These SCFAs play an important role in our immune health by strengthening the gut barrier so pathogens can’t pass through, reducing inflammation and supporting immune cell development.

There are a few types of fibre, and each do different things. For example:

• Soluble fibre (found in oats, legumes, fruit) feeds the beneficial microbes
• Insoluble fibre (found in wholegrains, vegetables, seeds) supports good digestion
• Resistant starch (found in green bananas, lentils, as well as cooked and cooled potatoes and rice) helps to produce SCFAs

So, how much fibre do we need?

Most adults need (at least) 25–30g of fibre per day, but sadly most Australians don’t even get close to that.

Some easy ways to add more fibre into your day include:

• Adding a handful of nuts or seeds to your breakfast
• Snacking on fruit
• Mixing beans or lentils through your usual meals, such as in pasta sauce and curries
• Swapping white bread and low fibre cereals for wholegrain versions
• Adding an extra vegetable to your usual dinner rotation

What this means for you:

Supporting your immune system through food doesn’t require expensive supplements, superfoods, or crazy restrictive diets. The best diet is one rich in a wide variety of plant foods, fibre, and is something that you can maintain since immune health is built over time.

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