Boosting Body’s Immunity to Curb Cancer Incidence
Healthful Vitality | 11/19/2019 | By Dr. B. R. Achyut, PhD | Boosting Body’s Immunity to Curb Cancer Incidence
The human body is constantly working under the influence of external and internal stimuli. The immune system is the first line of defense and one of the significant determinants of the body’s inner strength in health. The good news is that the immune system, whether adaptive or acquired, can be activated to fight against diseases such as cancer.
Direct evidence comes from seminal research work by Drs. Allison and Honjo, who received the Noble Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2018 for discovering immune inhibitory molecules (PD1 and CTLA4). As a result, evidence reveals that anti-cancer therapies are being developed by targeting key immune inhibitory molecules, called immunotherapy. The US FDA has approved several immunotherapies in the past couple of years for treating cancers that have revolutionized cancer therapy.
How the Immune System Works?
A healthy immune system recognizes every foreign molecule, toxin, chemical, and microorganism that enters the body by distinguishing them as self or non-self. The immune system gets activated only if the intruders are different from the self-molecules, amino acids, glucose, and fatty acids, which are the body’s building blocks.
The active immune system is often characterized by inflammation, where key immune cells and cytokines are recruited at the site to eliminate unknown entities via a fight. The immune system returns to its normal state after the job is done. A healthy immune system is required to eliminate infections. Besides, it is also necessary to eliminate other environmental entities from time to time. Sometimes the immune system fails to attain a normal state. This failure is due to clinical conditions like autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, and Graves’ disease.
Immune System and Cancer
Cancer is a major cause of premature deaths worldwide. And cancer has been at its peak compared to past decades. But, again, the primary reason is the immune system. An unhealthy lifestyle, environmental factors, and aging impair the immune system.
A report by Dr. Mina Bissell showed that cancer cells are always present in the body from a young age. “It’s the microenvironment that restrains cancer progression.” Unfortunately, choosing an unhealthy lifestyle makes our body vulnerable, causing an impaired immune system, failing the microenvironment in restraining cancer, advancing to cancer cell growth, and metastatic spread all over the body.
Can we boost the immune system by changing our lifestyle? The answer is yes! Limiting all the impairing immune factors and introducing immune-boosting factors may bring the immune system back on track to fight against cancer cells in the body. As a part of cancer awareness, we need a plan of action to limit cancer incidence and deaths in the future. Controlling cancer incidence should be the priority in the community, especially for the younger generation.
Immune Impairing Factors
Several epidemiological studies have identified certain critical mediators affecting the normal immune system function. These mediators are not new but are the use of immunosuppressive drugs to treat immune-related diseases, nutrient deficiencies, poor diet choices, lack of enough sleep at night, and chronic stress due to family life and work.
Studies have shown the correlation of immune dysfunction with chronic sleep loss, aging, and nutritional deficiencies such as zinc, copper, iron, selenium, vitamins A, B6, B12, C, D, E, and folic acid. Also, malnourishment and being obese or overweight may impair immune functions.
In aged patients treated for certain medical conditions, the result may be loss of appetite, less eating, and/or poor diet may cause weakened immunity. For example, the overuse of red meat has been linked to immune-altering inflammation. Besides, it is a proven cause of several cancers. In addition, several reports have mentioned the link between a compromised immune system with the overuse of sodium-rich processed and packed foods. Moreover, immune impairing factors are predominant in our current eating habits and lifestyle.
Immune Boosting Factors
The connection between the immune system and health has been appreciated for a long time. The emergence of immunotherapy against cancer has recently emphasized the importance of boosting the immune system. How can we introduce immune-boosting factors as a part of a healthy lifestyle from a very early stage?
The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics provides guidelines for immune health. The guidelines provide a good overview of healthy eating habits. It also provides the importance of balanced vitamin and mineral-rich diet in immune health. Notably, the nutritional supplements are zinc, copper, iron, selenium, vitamins A, B6, B12, C, D, and E, calcium, and folic acid, which should be taken as a part of a healthy diet plan.
Moreover, routinely using prebiotics and probiotics through yogurt is a smart choice for immune health. Indeed, the intake of colored vegetables and fruits in large major portions could be an excellent way to introduce fibers, minerals, and vitamins via raw sources. Packaged fruit juice should be something other than fruit. One should avoid eating bad fats or saturated fats (red meat). Moreover, a balanced diet is necessary for health benefits.
Active Lifestyle for Boosting Body’s Immunity to Curb Cancer Incidence
An active lifestyle is always preferred over sedentary and inactive physical habits. The reason for this is to increase the flow of blood in all parts of the body through which a healthy immune system works. A sedentary lifestyle causes the restriction in blood flow in certain organs leading to hypoxia and cancer progression. There is a guideline to achieve at least 6,000-10,000 steps every day for healthy blood flow and mechanical functioning of the body. Also, mindfulness, yoga, meditation, and proper night sleep decrease stress behavior and may improve the body’s overall well-being.
Community Programs for Boosting Body’s Immunity to Curb Cancer Incidence
“Health is wealth” has been a great saying for a long time. To emphasize, the “Health is wealth” saying remains to say due to the lack of mindfulness and wisdom in a high-paced lifestyle. Essential to realizing humans chase wealth by compromising health. The incidence of several chronic diseases, including cancer, is expected to increase in the coming decades significantly. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop an age-based diet plan incorporating all the necessary factors to boost immunity.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is working towards a stronger focus on nutrition. This focus of WHO is expected to save 3.7 million lives by 2025. This WHO emphasis can be only possible if it starts at the family level and is managed at the community level. A high level of enthusiasm is needed for health and wellness programs at religious, educational, health, and social institutions. Processed and packaged food culture must diminish. Processed and packaged food need to be replaced by freshly cooked food. Community-based programs should encourage parents and children to work together toward diet and healthy living. This work-together effect will bring not only health but also a family connection.
Author:
Dr. B.R. Achyut is a Biologist, Educator, Innovator, Scientific Writer, and Aspiring Entrepreneur in the field of Cancer. He is working as an Associate Scientist at Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University. He has earned a Ph.D. in Cancer Inflammation and Genetics from India at Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow. In the year 2009, he came to the National Cancer Institute at National Institutes of Health, Bethesda for Postdoctoral Fellowship. Later, he moved to Henry Ford Health System, Detroit (2013) and Augusta University, Augusta (2014).
He significantly contributed to the tumor microenvironment area of cancer focusing on Upper GI, breast, and glioblastoma preclinical models. His seminal research work is published in several international cancer and therapy journals. He is recognized as a “Top 10 in 10” list of “Young Professional to Watch 2017” by Augusta Magazine and Augusta Chamber of Commerce. Later, Georgia Trend Magazine in 2017 recognized him as a “40 under 40” in the state of Georgia. He is a big fan of Cricket game. In the past, he established “Augusta Cricket League” and recently, “Suwanee Avengers” Cricket team in Georgia.
(Related Article: Cancer Awareness Among Younger Generation)