In my last post, I wrote about the key nutrients I seek to optimize going into cold and flu season. These are also supplements I have on-hand in case of acute illnesses.
You can see what supplements I trust here.
Today, we need to talk about the top misconceptions I see in the health and wellness space about immunity.
They are:
- Sugar reduces immune function
- Vitamin D boosts immunity
- Zinc boosts immunity
- Nuts, seeds, and their oils are bad
There is a great deal of harm coming from these misconception, each of which is a gross over-simplification of highly complex and nuanced issues.
Where do these ideas come from?
Impairments in glucose metabolism go hand in hand with poor immunity. Full-blown type 2 diabetes (and insulin resistance) is the extreme of this, but it starts with just a mildly elevated fasting blood glucose or an impaired glucose tolerance.
Low vitamin D is associated with worse outcomes in acute illness, and plenty of studies have documented reductions in acute illness with vitamin D supplementation.
Zinc has likewise been documented to provide some benefit in acute illness.
Nuts, seeds, and seed oils are the culprit of the month for modern health problems.
But as I always like to say... the devil is in the details... and that is what the rest of this post is about. I'm going to discuss what most of the influencers are missing in their messaging that I see hurting patients.