Nutrition and the Immune System: A Complicated Tango

Overview

Journal Nutrients

Date 2020 Mar 25

PMID 32204518

Citations 81

Authors

Carina Venter

Stefanie Eyerich

Tara Sarin

Kevin C Klatt

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Enthusiasm exists for the potential of diet to impact the immune system, prevent disease and its therapeutic potential. Herein, we describe the challenge to nutrition scientists in defining this relationship through case studies of diets and nutrients in the context of allergic and autoimmune diseases. Moderate-quality evidence exists from both human intervention and observational studies to suggest that diet and individual nutrients can influence systemic markers of immune function and inflammation; numerous challenges exist for demonstrating the impact of defined diets and nutrient interventions on clearly influencing immune-mediated-clinical disease endpoints. A growing body of evidence suggests that further consideration of dietary patterns, immune system and gut microbiome composition and function, and subsequent epigenetic modifications are needed to improve our understanding of diet-immune system interactions.

Citing Articles

Avocado consumption during pregnancy linked to lower child food allergy risk: prospective KuBiCo study.

Cheng F, Bauer E, Ford N, Backman K, Voutilainen R, Pasanen M Pediatr Res. 2025; .

PMID: 40055533 DOI: 10.1038/s41390-025-03968-4.

Disruption of tryptophan metabolism by high-fat diet-triggered maternal immune activation promotes social behavioral deficits in male mice.

Sun P, Wang M, Chai X, Liu Y, Li L, Zheng W Nat Commun. 2025; 16(1):2105.

PMID: 40025041 PMC: 11873046. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-57414-4.

Systemic immune-inflammation index to albumin (SII/ALB) ratio as a novel dual-dimensional powerful predictor for hip fractures in elderly females with diabetes: a postmenopausal longitudinal cohort study.

Lu J, Wei F, Sun J, Zhai Z, Pan J, Huang S BMC Endocr Disord. 2025; 25(1):57.

PMID: 40016771 PMC: 11869492. DOI: 10.1186/s12902-025-01889-1.

Changes in the Concentration Profile of Selected Micro- and Macro-Elements in the Yellow Ligament Obtained from Patients with Degenerative Stenosis of the Lumbo-Sacral Spine.

Strojny D, Sobanski D, Wojdyla R, Skora K, Hoczela M, Wyczarska-Dziki K J Clin Med. 2025; 14(4).

PMID: 40004784 PMC: 11857044. DOI: 10.3390/jcm14041252.

Dietary content and eating behavior in ulcerative colitis: a narrative review and future perspective.

Qin L, Lv W Nutr J. 2025; 24(1):12.

PMID: 39849464 PMC: 11755847. DOI: 10.1186/s12937-025-01075-y.

References

Mestas J, Hughes C . Of mice and not men: differences between mouse and human immunology. J Immunol. 2004; 172(5):2731-8. DOI: 10.4049/jimmunol.172.5.2731. View

Kremer J, Lawrence D, Jubiz W, Digiacomo R, RYNES R, Bartholomew L . Dietary fish oil and olive oil supplementation in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Clinical and immunologic effects. Arthritis Rheum. 1990; 33(6):810-20. DOI: 10.1002/art.1780330607. View

Chen M, Lam B, Kanaoka Y, Nigrovic P, Audoly L, Austen K . Neutrophil-derived leukotriene B4 is required for inflammatory arthritis. J Exp Med. 2006; 203(4):837-42. PMC: 2118292. DOI: 10.1084/jem.20052371. View

Hu J, Raikhel V, Gopalakrishnan K, Fernandez-Hernandez H, Lambertini L, Manservisi F . Effect of postnatal low-dose exposure to environmental chemicals on the gut microbiome in a rodent model. Microbiome. 2016; 4(1):26. PMC: 4906585. DOI: 10.1186/s40168-016-0173-2. View

Ulven S, Christensen J, Nygard O, Svardal A, Leder L, Ottestad I . Using metabolic profiling and gene expression analyses to explore molecular effects of replacing saturated fat with polyunsaturated fat-a randomized controlled dietary intervention study. Am J Clin Nutr. 2019; 109(5):1239-1250. PMC: 6499508. DOI: 10.1093/ajcn/nqy356. View

Wilck N, Matus M, Kearney S, Olesen S, Forslund K, Bartolomaeus H . Salt-responsive gut commensal modulates T17 axis and disease. Nature. 2017; 551(7682):585-589. PMC: 6070150. DOI: 10.1038/nature24628. View

Kellow N, Coughlan M, Savige G, Reid C . Effect of dietary prebiotic supplementation on advanced glycation, insulin resistance and inflammatory biomarkers in adults with pre-diabetes: a study protocol for a double-blind placebo-controlled randomised crossover clinical trial. BMC Endocr Disord. 2014; 14:55. PMC: 4099169. DOI: 10.1186/1472-6823-14-55. View

Basil M, Levy B . Specialized pro-resolving mediators: endogenous regulators of infection and inflammation. Nat Rev Immunol. 2015; 16(1):51-67. PMC: 5242505. DOI: 10.1038/nri.2015.4. View

Venter C, Maslin K, Holloway J, Silveira L, Fleischer D, Dean T . Different Measures of Diet Diversity During Infancy and the Association with Childhood Food Allergy in a UK Birth Cohort Study. J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract. 2020; 8(6):2017-2026. DOI: 10.1016/j.jaip.2020.01.029. View

10.

DeChristopher L, Uribarri J, Tucker K . Intake of high fructose corn syrup sweetened soft drinks is associated with prevalent chronic bronchitis in U.S. Adults, ages 20-55 y. Nutr J. 2015; 14:107. PMC: 4609055. DOI: 10.1186/s12937-015-0097-x. View

11.

Calder P . Omega-3 fatty acids and inflammatory processes: from molecules to man. Biochem Soc Trans. 2017; 45(5):1105-1115. DOI: 10.1042/BST20160474. View

12.

Beyer K, Lie S, Kjellevold M, Dahl L, Brun J, Bolstad A . Marine ω-3, vitamin D levels, disease outcome and periodontal status in rheumatoid arthritis outpatients. Nutrition. 2018; 55-56:116-124. DOI: 10.1016/j.nut.2018.03.054. View

13.

Muraro A, Halken S, Arshad S, Beyer K, Dubois A, Du Toit G . EAACI food allergy and anaphylaxis guidelines. Primary prevention of food allergy. Allergy. 2014; 69(5):590-601. DOI: 10.1111/all.12398. View

14.

Hudert C, Weylandt K, Lu Y, Wang J, Hong S, Dignass A . Transgenic mice rich in endogenous omega-3 fatty acids are protected from colitis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2006; 103(30):11276-81. PMC: 1544078. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0601280103. View

15.

Szmidt M, Kaluza J, Harris H, Linden A, Wolk A . Long-term dietary fiber intake and risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a prospective cohort study of women. Eur J Nutr. 2019; 59(5):1869-1879. PMC: 7351821. DOI: 10.1007/s00394-019-02038-w. View

16.

Boyce J, Assaa A, Burks A, Jones S, Sampson H, Wood R . Guidelines for the diagnosis and management of food allergy in the United States: summary of the NIAID-Sponsored Expert Panel Report. Nutrition. 2011; 27(2):253-67. DOI: 10.1016/j.nut.2010.12.001. View

17.

Estruch R . Anti-inflammatory effects of the Mediterranean diet: the experience of the PREDIMED study. Proc Nutr Soc. 2010; 69(3):333-40. DOI: 10.1017/S0029665110001539. View

18.

Turner D, Shah P, Steinhart A, Zlotkin S, Griffiths A . Maintenance of remission in inflammatory bowel disease using omega-3 fatty acids (fish oil): a systematic review and meta-analyses. Inflamm Bowel Dis. 2010; 17(1):336-45. DOI: 10.1002/ibd.21374. View

19.

Vernocchi P, Del Chierico F, Russo A, Majo F, Rossitto M, Valerio M . Gut microbiota signatures in cystic fibrosis: Loss of host CFTR function drives the microbiota enterophenotype. PLoS One. 2018; 13(12):e0208171. PMC: 6283533. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0208171. View

20.

Schwingshackl L, Hoffmann G . Diet quality as assessed by the Healthy Eating Index, the Alternate Healthy Eating Index, the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension score, and health outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2015; 115(5):780-800.e5. DOI: 10.1016/j.jand.2014.12.009. View