Naturally Boost Immunity Following California Bird Flu Outbreak

Following the outbreak of various infectious diseases recently, including bird or avian flu in California, you may be wondering how to naturally boost your immunity to improve your own defences. The state of California has declared an emergency over this H5N1 bird or avian flu outbreak and it is important to keep one’s immunity levels high in these sorts of scenarios.

While this virus effects poultry or birds, it is transmissible to humans. So far, there have been no person-to-person infections. While the first human death from H5N1 was confirmed as of today. This outbreak could play out in any direction, what can do no harm is to make sure your immune system is functioning optimally and boosted.

Naturally Boost Immunity

The basis of boosting your immunity naturally focuses on increases in white blood cell counts and circulating antibody levels. Let’s look at some easy ways you can start to boost your immune system naturally right away.

Bone Marrow & Immunity

Naturally increasing your white blood cell count is easy to do for most people. White blood cells are derived from bone marrow so you want to start by maintaining a strong bone structure. You can do this through optimising your intake of phosphorus, vitamin D and calcium.

Sources of vitamin D include natural sunlight on the skin, liver meat, red meats and mushrooms. Sources of calcium and phosphorus include cheese, sardines and kefir or Greek yoghurts. Vitamin D is fat soluble, so you will have to ensure you are eating healthy fats with vitamin D rich foods.  

Vitamin D is essential to the uptake of calcium which builds bone, while phosphorus also forms an essential part of the inner bone structure. These essential nutrients all contribute to maintaining a healthy bone mass and density.

In the winter a lot of people are drawn to sitting down or being stationary for large periods. Building bone density also depends on high impact exercise. Going on regular runs or walks might help to improve your overall bone density. This will indirectly provide a good basis of white blood cells from bone marrow in the longer term. A lot of older people get ill more easily and it is important for all people to maintain their mobility.

Having more white blood cells circulating means that more viral protein, or other pathogenic disease antigens, will get intercepted and destroyed. This will naturally boost your immunity.

Naturally Boost Immunity With Vitamin D

Vitamin D helps to build bone and the inner bone marrow structure, where white blood cells are produced, while vitamin D also independently assists with immunity.

Vitamin D increases the number of T killer cells in the body. These are highly specialized white blood cells that destroy unhealthy cells, like cancer cells or pathogens. Your body makes the major immune antibodies, or viral detectors, from the resulting viral antigens or particles after they are destroyed.

Higher vitamin D levels will improve antibody detection of foreign viruses and assist the immune system. This means that keeping your vitamin D levels high is important for naturally improving and boosting your immune system naturally. You can read our article on improving vitamin D levels in your food here.

Vitamin C

Vitamin C is a popular vitamin, with loads of studies citing how it is able to improve your immunity naturally. One reason vitamin C can improve your immunity is through increased antibody production. Different immune cells also need to accumulate vitamin C to function correctly. Vitamin C also helps to produce collagen protein complexes. You can read about our article on collagen here.

Vitamin C improves your basal immunity levels through increases in circulating antibody proteins. Much of your immunity is dependent on the simple action of producing antibodies that match viral proteins that invade the body.

White blood cell counts also increase directly following increased uptake of vitamin C. This is another way this vitamin improves immunity and immune system responses. Vitamin C has been shown to directly improve the immune response in many studies.

Antioxidant Immunity Support of Vitamin C

This vitamin is one of the bodies most important antioxidants too and will assist with removing any toxins or toxic by-products produced by viral proteins when destroyed by white blood cells. Support your immune system naturally by improving the intake of other essential and supporting antioxidants like selenium or glutathione. These antioxidants will be used ahead of vitamin C to conserve its levels within the blood. This could support the immune system naturally.

Vitamin C deficiency is one major contributing reason as to why elderly people can get ill. It also appears to be able to prevent many respiratory or lung infections. Surprisingly something so accessible as vitamin C is the fourth leading nutrient deficiency in the USA. Maintaining high vitamin C levels is also important when the body gets infected.

Major vitamin C sources include oranges and some green leafy vegetables, like spinach or broccoli. Increasing your uptake of vitamin C through your diet is a proven and really good way to increase immunity and the immune system response naturally.

Zinc

Zinc is also important for optimal immunity. This mineral has an important role, like vitamin C, in the activity of key immune cells. Zinc improves the status of the adaptive and innate immune systems. This mineral is vital for the activity of natural killer cells that destroy pathogens.

Zinc is also essential for the survival and function of various T cells and B immune cells. Deficiency in zinc can half the number of available and effective T immune cells. Supplements with zinc have been shown to reduce the incidence of respiratory and lung tract infections, as well as preventive action against malaria.

As an antioxidant, zinc also has vitamin C conserving actions. It is also important for protein and DNA synthesis, which is key to antibody function. Therefore, zinc might also help to naturally boost the immune system.

Boost Immunity Naturally With Protein Intake

Improved protein intake leads to a better functioning immune system. This phenomenon was observed when high impact or elite level athletes were getting quite sick in comparison to those not exercising as much.

There are pathogens everywhere, this is an unavoidable fact of the world we live in. When your protein intake dips, you are slightly more susceptible to the natural pathogens or viruses in the surrounding environment. Managing your protein intake means that you maintain a basal level of circulating antibodies to prevent infectious diseases.

Increasing your protein intake is really very easy too and a great way to potentially naturally improve your immunity. Your body proteins, including viral detecting antibodies, are made of amino acids. Red meats and fish are rich in amino acids that will help to sustain normal levels of protein production. If you are vegetarian, you can consume nuts that rich in specific proteins that will encourage an improved immune response.

These include BCAAs or branched chain amino acids, as we’ve written about in relation to working out, that will assist with antibody production and maintaining a basal level of antibodies. Ensure that you are consuming all 20 naturally occurring amino acids for optimal immunity.

Natural Anti-Viral Compounds

Falling under the category that may be able to assist with naturally boosting the immune system are natural anti-viral compounds. These are plant anti-viral compounds and extracts that have immune boosting or anti-viral properties. Some plant compounds are strong antioxidants, so will preserve vitamin C levels in the body. Examples of these are flavonoids and gingerol, a compound that you find in ginger root.

These plant phytochemicals might be able to assist with boosting the immune system naturally. Natural plant antioxidants might also be able to detoxify the body of certain viral pathogen toxins that result from the immune system. Various studies have discovered that gingerol may naturally enhance immunity in animals. This effect is described as immunomodulation.

Another plant compound that might improve with immune system functioning is curcumin. This phytochemical is a really strong antioxidant and has been shown to effect parts of the immune system. Curcumin was shown to enhance the effectiveness of certain T-cells that are crucial to immune system functioning.

Ashwagandha is an immunomodulating herb that can potentially enhance the functioning of the immune system. The plant phytochemicals in this adaptogenic herb, including alkaloids, can improve the number of immune T cells and enhance their activity.

Licorice has been used in traditional medicine to treat respiratory diseases. It has been shown it can improve and enhance the immune response to viruses, while activating B cells.

You also have plant enzymes, such as bromelain that is found in pineapples in really large amounts. Bromelain is a protein digesting enzyme that might be able to break down viral or other proteins in your food or blood and assist the immune system naturally. Bromelain has also been studied for its effects on certain key white blood cell levels, it might be able to synergistically improve their immune abilities.

Conclusion

Following the outbreak of any highly infectious disease, it is important to ensure your immune system defences are strong. The new H5N1 bird or avian viral outbreak is no different. Immunity basically depends on antibody levels and white blood cell count.

There are many ways you could potentially support and boost your immunity naturally, including improving your levels of calcium, phosphorus, assisting antioxidants, plant anti-viral compounds, vitamins C and D.

Plant compounds like bromelain might be able to help with the breakdown of viral proteins, while also ensuring you have good bone density is also quite important to an optimal immune system.

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