Research
Micronutrients & recovery
Micronutrient deficiencies (specifically Zinc, Vitamin A, Iron, Selenium) impair both innate and adaptive immune responses, increasing susceptibility to infections like pneumonia, diarrhea, and measles.
Ensure your diet includes sources of Zinc, Vitamin A, Iron, and Selenium, especially if you are caring for young children or are elderly. If you have a restricted diet or known absorption issues, consider that food alone might not be enough to support full immune competence, and professional guidance on supplementation may be beneficial.
ModerateSupportsHIGH confidence
Micronutrient deficiencies cause specific immune impairments that affect both the innate and adaptive immune systems, such as impaired phagocyte and lymphocyte activity with zinc deficiency, or compromised development of neutrophils, macrophages and NK cells with vitamin A deficiency.
Why this rating
Review paper citing multiple primary studies on specific nutrients.
Source
Immune Function and Micronutrient Requirements Change over the Life Course
Silvia Maggini et al. · Nutrients · 2018
DOI 10.3390/nu10101531
narrative_reviewCited 697×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Restoring deficient micronutrients (Vitamins A, C, D, E, B2, B6, B12, folic acid, iron, selenium, zinc) to recommended levels improves immune function and increases resistance to infection.Moderate
- Aging (immunosenescence) leads to a decline in adaptive immunity, particularly a reduction in naive T cells and thymic involution, increasing susceptibility to infections and reducing vaccine efficacy.Moderate
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