Being deficient in certain vitamins and minerals can cause a weakened immune system. It’s important to know what deficiencies contribute to a weak immune system and how to support it through lifestyle changes and immune health supplements.
What Deficiency Affects the Immune System?
Being deficient in vitamins and minerals—particularly Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Zinc, Iron, and even a protein deficiency—can cause your immune system to weaken and struggle to fight off certain infections and illnesses. Let’s look at how these deficiencies impact overall health.
Vitamin C
Being deficient in Vitamin C can cause a wide variety of issues such as scurvy (this is a severe form of deficiency), weak immune system, skin issues, bleeding gums, and teeth, as well as neurological and psychological symptoms. When it comes to the immune system in particular, being Vitamin C deficient makes you more susceptible to infections, since Vitamin C helps your white blood cells function properly (and those are imperative in helping your body fight off sickness).
Vitamin D
Being Vitamin D deficient can bring risks such as poor bone health, rickets, osteomalacia, and an increased risk for cancer, type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, tuberculosis, and joint health issues. It can also make you more susceptible to sickness during cold and flu season. In recent studies, scientists have found that over 2,000 genes in your body are influenced specifically by Vitamin D levels. Being deficient in Vitamin D is also linked to increased autoimmunity as well as increased susceptibility to infections.
Zinc
Zinc deficiency is caused by a lack of zinc absorption, which is typically due to medical conditions. Having a zinc deficiency can impair your immune system; it can reduce the number of T-cells in your body (which fight infection), it can impair antibody production, and it can negatively affect other cells and organisms that allow your immune system to function properly.
Iron
Also known as iron deficiency anemia, this can lead to a lack of oxygen in your body’s organs and tissues, making it more difficult for your body to fight infection. Iron helps your immune cells grow and mature, so the lack of iron makes it more difficult for T-cells to fight infections. This deficiency can also impair your immune response to vaccines and other infections, can make you more vulnerable to contracting infections, and can contribute to the development of some immunological disorders.
Protein
Being protein deficient can cause your immune system to weaken, altering your body’s physical barrier against invaders. Protein deficiency can also reduce the concentration of amino acids, and the body needs amino acids to fight illness and infection.
What Are the 3 Causes of a Weakened Immune System?
Three major causes of a weakened immune system are chronic or severe stress, poor nutrition, and chronic disease.
Chronic Stress
When you’re chronically stressed, your body’s immune system becomes significantly suppressed, which makes you more susceptible to infections and illnesses. Chronic stress leads to a dysregulated inflammatory response and alters the production of your immune cells. Cortisol—the stress hormone—disrupts the balance of immune cell activity. When you function in a chronically stressed state for a long period of time, your body gets used to having a high amount of cortisol in your blood which increases inflammation and suppresses your immune system and its ability to properly fight infection. Chronic stress -> high levels of cortisol -> increased inflammation -> suppressed immune system.
Poor Nutrition
Poor nutrition and lack of essential nutrients lead to deficiencies in important vitamins and minerals like Vitamins A, C, D, and E, Zinc, Selenium, and Iron. These nutrients are vital for proper immune function at the cellular level. When you eat a poor diet, your body is not able to get the nutrients it needs to fight off infections, both common and severe. Poor nutrition also impairs the production of immune cells and antibodies, as well as their activity. Eating a well-balanced diet rich in nutrients is key to having a strong, healthy immune system!
Chronic Disease
Whether it’s an autoimmune disorder like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, or Hashimoto’s, or it’s a more severe diagnosis like cancer, having a chronic condition of any kind can suppress your immune system and its ability to fight infection. Chronic diseases can cause chronic inflammation, which alters immune cell function and weakens your body’s ability to ward off harmful germs and pathogens. With some diseases, your body can have an autoimmune response, which is where the immune system attacks its own body’s healthy tissues by mistake (an example of this: is a Celiac’s response to eating gluten).
What Are 3 Causes of Immune Deficiency?
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Genetics contributes to the amazing things that make us unique, but it can also cause certain challenges for immune health. There are mutations that come from specific genes that can lead to primary immunodeficiency disorders (PIDDs). These disorders cause the immune system to weaken simply due to inherited defects in the genetic code. There are over 200 forms of PIDDs, all of which come from the genetic code that controls immune cell function.
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The environment you live in is also a factor of immune deficiency. If you’re exposed to certain pollutants, and chemicals, have poor nutrition, don’t sanitize properly, or have limited access to clean water, your body’s normal immune function becomes severely disrupted. Certain pollutants can damage immune cells directly, which decreases their ability to fight infection. Some industrial chemical toxins can also disrupt immune cell function. Limited microbial exposure—basically, when you’re not exposed to a variety of environments early in life—can cause an underdeveloped immune system, which could make you more susceptible to allergies and other diseases. Lack of exposure can lead to a weak immune system in your child as well. Environmental factors play a larger role in your overall health than you probably realize! It’s important to ensure you’re diversifying your exposure, and taking into account what your body can handle.
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There are many infectious diseases that can weaken your immune system: HIV, Mono, the flu, measles, brucellosis, Epstein-Barr Virus, and more! These weaken your immune system by directly attacking immune cells, depleting their function, and ultimately decreasing your body’s ability to fight off any infection.
How Do You Fix a Weak Immune System?
One of the best ways to strengthen your immune system is to make a few simple lifestyle changes:
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Eat a well-balanced, vitamin-rich diet. Eating foods that are rich in Vitamin C will give your immune system the boost it needs.
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Take immune health supplements or individual vitamins
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Sleep! At least 7-9 hours per night.
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Practice mindfulness through journaling, praying, meditating, yoga, etc. This helps regulate your nervous system and keep cortisol levels low.
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Exercise regularly! Even if it’s yoga, pilates, or a 15-minute walk, moving your body helps stimulate your white blood cells.
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Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate! Drinking enough water helps your body flush toxins and circulate white blood cells.
Conclusion
Being sick gets in the way of day-to-day life. It gets in the way even more if your immune system is weak and not able to fight off infections. Having a weak immune system is fixable (outside of anything chronic)! To have a strong immune system, it’s important to give your immune system the support and nutrients it needs. Enter: Immune Health PLUS®. Made with a unique and proprietary formula of powerful beta glucans, an organic mushroom blend, and supercharged immune ingredients like elderberry and essential vitamins, this supplement is a powerful way to give your body a healthy, thriving immune system. Beta-glucans are this supplement’s star—they are little fibers that rapidly activate and naturally bolster your body’s immune response! Get yourself a bottle of Immune Health PLUS® today and watch your immune system get stronger.