Studies published in the 1980s and 1990s clearly show specific immune-enhancing effects of the proper use of nutritional supplements, proteins, hormones, and certain drugs. Micronutrients are now known to play a key role in many of the metabolic processes that promote survival from critical illnesses. The paragraphs that follow discuss nutrient supplements, proteins, and hormones, and examine their role in enhancing the human immune system. The Role of Vitamins Vitamins are essential for oxidative phosphorylation and protection against oxidants. Dietary supplementation with ascorbic acid, tocopherols, and vitamin B6 enhances several aspects of lymphocyte function.
Benefits are most evident in the elderly.
During the 1920s and 1930s, vitamin A became known as the anti-infective vitamin, and the first attempts were made to use vitamin A therapeutically during the course of infectious illnesses. The first systematic studies of immunonutritional interrelationships in laboratory animals were initiated in 1947 by Abraham E. Axelrod and his students. Human studies soon followed-and, by the late 1970s, the field of nutritional immunology was well established. Newer research into vitamin A shows its importance to overall good health and its protective effects against tumor growth. The treatment had no adverse effects.