6 Vital Nutrients For Autoimmune Prevention

Your immune system is a complex machine, and just like a car, it can’t function properly without the right fuel. Here are six key nutrients that one functional medicine doctor considers to be the premium fuel. If your body is deficient in any or all of these key nutrients, your immune system is at risk of going haywire and attacking the body’s own tissues, which could lead to autoimmune disease. Restoring optimal levels of these nutrients can help prevent autoimmune disease, and even help reverse autoimmune disease.
Six Common Nutrient Deficiencies in autoimmune patients
Here are the six nutrient deficiencies that research has linked to autoimmune disease, and that I most commonly see in my autoimmune patients. Make sure you’re getting enough of each of them to help prevent autoimmune disease from onsetting.
1. Vitamin D
Even if you live in a warm climate and get plenty of sunlight, your vitamin D levels could still be below optimal levels. This is particularly problematic for patients with an autoimmune disease, because vitamin D plays a critical role in the immune system. Vitamin D supports your ability to fight off viral and bacterial infections that can trigger or worsen autoimmune diseases. Additionally, vitamin D stimulates regulatory T cells, which are responsible for differentiating between dangerous invaders and “self” cells, or cells that belong to the body. When vitamin D promotes the T cells, it teaches the immune system to not attack itself.
2. Omega 3 fatty acids
Many Americans are deficient in Omega 3 fatty acids, mostly because our modern day diet tends to contain more polyunsaturated vegetable oils instead of quality animal fats. Studies have shown that Omega 3 oils enhance B cell activation and select antibody production, which can lower the inflammatory response and help your immune system fight off pathogens.
3. B vitamins
B vitamins have a lot of important functions including providing energy to our cells. They also control immune function, hormones, mood, sleep, nerves, circulation and digestion. Vitamin B12, for example, supports the production of white blood cells, which are essential components of the immune system. When your body is low in B12, the white blood cell count is lowered, which in turn weakens the immune system, making it more susceptible to mistakenly attacking its own cells. 
4. Selenium
Studies show that this mineral is essential in regulating excessive immune responses such as those from autoimmune diseases. It is also a crucial nutrient for proper thyroid function, and studies show that increasing selenium in autoimmune thyroid patients decreases their thyroid antibodies.
5. Zinc
Zinc affects multiple parts of the immune system, from the skin barrier to gene regulation within lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). In fact, zinc is crucial for the production of white blood cells, and studies show that people with zinc deficiency are more susceptible to pathogens.
6. Magnesium
Magnesium is important for both immune function and heart health. It is a mineral that most people are chronically lacking, mostly from stress filled lives and diets high in sugar (sugar depletes magnesium levels). Magnesium deficiency has been shown to cause increased production of proinflammatory cytokines, which raises your overall level of inflammation, contributing to autoimmune diseases.

What Causes Nutrient Deficiencies in Autoimmune Patients?
Now that we know which nutrients play a critical role in the immune system, let’s look at why autoimmune patients are often low in them and why it’s critical to increase these nutrients to help prevent autoimmune disease from starting or getting worse. 
A Nutrient-Poor and Inflammatory Diet
If you are eating a lot of white flour products, refined sugars and processed foods, these foods are completely devoid of nutrients, and what little vitamins they offer typically are added synthetically. 
In addition to nutrient-poor, processed foods, a diet high in inflammatory foods can also cause nutrient deficiencies. Inflammatory foods, including gluten, grains, legumes, nuts and seeds, nightshades, eggs, dairy, sugar and caffeine, not only stimulate your immune system, but they also cause leaky gut.
We know from Dr. Alessio Fasano’s research that virtually all autoimmune patients have a leaky gut. What you may not know is that when your gut is leaky, the junctions in the intestinal walls that keep your GI lining tight become “loose” allowing food proteins, bacteria, yeast and viruses to enter the bloodstream. In addition, some people have blunted villi — the small hair-like projections in your small intestine that absorb nutrients — and so they can’t absorb foods properly, eventually becoming deficient in vitamins and minerals.. This causes a wave of inflammation that triggers or worsens autoimmunity. Collagen may help reduce symptoms of leaky gut.
Gene Mutations
Common gene mutations such as MTHFR significantly reduce your ability to convert certain nutrients that contribute to methylation, including B vitamins, choline, folate and more. VDR mutations can cause low vitamin D, and mutations that control Sulfation, a liver detoxification pathway, can cause zinc deficiency. If you have one or more of these gene mutations, you might be getting plenty of nutrients from your diet or supplements, but your body simply isn’t able to optimally utilize them.

How To Test For Nutrient Deficiencies
If you have an autoimmune disease and want to get your levels tested, there are standard lab tests your doctor can order to assess your nutrient states. However, conventional medicine relies on “normal” reference ranges that are far from optimal. We, as functional medicine practitioners, use a much more extensive range of references to get to the root cause of any chronic condition.
If you or loved one has, or shows signs of an autoimmune condition please call us at 321-783-1960. Remember, these conditions do not just go away on their own, they get worse and the prescription drugs only mask the symptoms with the condition progresses. Don't hesitate to call or visit our website for more information. www.spacecoastadvancedhealth.com   321-783-1960

Space Coast Advanced Health
299 N. Orlando Ave.
Cocoa Beach, Fl. 32931





321-783-1960







Location: 299 N Orlando Ave, Cocoa Beach, FL 32931, USA

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