Immunity boosting nutraceuticals: Current trends and challenges

Abstract

The immune function of the human body is highly influenced by the dietary intake of certain nutrients and bioactive compounds present in foods. The preventive effects of these bioactive ingredients against various diseases have been well investigated. Functional foods are consumed across various diverse cultures, in some form or the other, which provide benefits greater than the basic nutritional needs. Novel functional foods are being developed using novel bioactive ingredients such as probiotics, polyunsaturated fatty acids, and various phytoconstituents, which have a range of immunomodulatory properties. Apart from immunomodulation, these ingredients also affect immunity by their antioxidant, antibacterial, and antiviral properties. The global pandemic of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus‐2 has forced the scientific community to race against time to find a proper and effective drug or a vaccine. In this review, various non‐pharmacological interventions using nutraceuticals and functional foods have been discussed. Practical applications Despite a plethora of research being undertaken to understand the immunity boosting properties of the various bioactive present in food, the findings are not translating to nutraceutical products in the market. Immunity has proved to be one of the most important factors for the health and well‐being of an individual, especially when the world has been under the grip of the novel coronavirus Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus‐2. The anti‐inflammatory properties of various nutraceuticals can come out as potential inhibitors of the various inflammatory processes such as cytokine storms, usually being observed in COVID 19. This review gives an insight into how various nutraceuticals can help in the prevention of various diseases through different mechanisms. The lack of awareness and proper clinical trials pose a challenge to the nutraceutical industry. This review will help and encourage researchers to further design and develop various functional foods, which might help in building immunity.

Cytokine Pattern of Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells Isolated from Children Affected by Generalized Epilepsy Treated with Different Protein Fractions of Meat Sources

“…It was found that a recombinant IL-1 receptor antagonist significantly reduced seizure duration and recurrence [ 34 , 35 , 36 ], as well as incidence of status epilepticus in rodents [ 37 ]. A possible upregulation or downregulation of proinflammatory cytokines, such as IL-6, IL-1β, TNF-α; as well as anti-inflammatory cytokines, such as IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, IL-11, and IL-13, can be mediated by nutraceutical which defined an immune-boosting property of such foods [ 38 ]. Nutritional treatment with low levels of proinflammatory nutrients and high levels of nutrients with anti-inflammatory properties may be conceived against autoimmune and other chronic diseases.…”

Dietary Recommendations for Post-COVID-19 Syndrome

“…As for immunostimulators, milk proteins and peptides (bovine lactoferrin, lactoperoxidase, serum albumin, β-lactoglobulin, and α-lactalbumin) have been used as effective immune boosters [ 102 ], although the mechanisms underlying this beneficial effect are not completely clear. Furthermore, probiotics (i.e., Lactobacillus and Bifidobacteria ) might improve the immune response, favoring the competition with pathogens for colonization in the gut and maintaining intestinal barrier integrity, thus reducing permeability to a pathogen and its microbial metabolites [ 104 ].…”

Polysaccharides From Pogostemon cablin (Blanco) Benth.: Characterization and Antioxidant Activities

“…et al, 2021b ; Chumroenphat, 2021 ). Moreover, previous studies have demonstrated that polysaccharides have low toxicities and no side effects when used for a disease treatment ( Basak and Gokhale, 2022 ). Most polysaccharides can relieve oxidative stress damage ( Liu et al, 2021 ; Wang et al, 2021 ).…”