GOLDILOCKS IMMUNITY - PART 1
GETTING YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM FUNCTIONING JUST RIGHT
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Coronavirus has impacted us all.
The way we live, connect, work, think.
We will all have ‘our story’ to tell.
Evidenced by our need to work out how to adapt to this impact, we’ve taken to search engines for answers on “corona”, "breaking news", "national quarantine", "N95 masks", "cassa integrazione" (layoffs) and "congedo parentale straordinario" (extraordinary parental leave), "Protokol penanganan virus corona" (coronavirus handling protocol), "pencegahan terhadap terjangkitnya virus corona" (prevention of coronavirus outbreaks), "menjaga kebersihan diri" (keep yourself clean), "stimulus package 2020", “toilet paper”, "Microsoft Teams", "Zoom", and "Woolworths delivery".
A massive surge in interest on “stress relief” and “boosting immunity” has also consumed our searches and thoughts. Sometimes not as productively as we’d hoped. Oftentimes more conflicting than aligning. And most of the time, the point at which we start is unclear.
IS “BOOSTING” YOUR IMMUNITY APPROPRIATE FOR YOUR OWN UNIQUE HEALTH STORY?
In the current environment - where COVID-19 has surged the snowball of stress further down the very long and slippery slope it was already rocketing down leaving a pathway of inflammatory destruction in its wake - perhaps approaching our immune system and its function from a different view point is worth considering.
What if we took a step back and checked in on firstly how we eat (our approach and behaviour) and the environments in which we eat (our lifestyle) over what we eat? What if we took this season of distancing and home-stay to get great at the basics again? What if what you already have in your hands is a forerunner for your immune system functioning normally, healthfully, optimally?
our sense of
SMELL.
A very underrated player in the functioning of your immune system, so it is here that we start our journey back to basics.
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Our ability to distinguish foods by smell or their odour is governed by the sensory olfactory system.
Olfaction involves a pathway of biochemical and electrophysiological processes, which allows the conversion of molecular information into sensations, helping us to perceive a smell. Food odour is paired with unique sensory characteristics, resulting in consumption (desire) or avoidance (disinterest) of that food. In essence, smelling food results in that mouth-watering feeling and influences appetite. It’s in the stimulation of saliva, where immune proteins called immunoglobulins (antibodies) are produced that initiates the oral immune function of saliva.
Food smells not only stimulate salivary production but also influence digestive behaviour. Food smells help our body predict the characteristics of and prepare for the food we are about to ingest. In fact, exposure to certain food smells may even decrease our desire for other foods with different qualities. For instance, sweet smells appear to increase our appetite for sweet foods, yet at the same time may decrease our appetite for savoury foods, and vice versa.
Your oral health matters.
Your oral health status has a profound impact on your body’s ability to acquire and utilise nutrients from our food. Conversely, the nutrients you consume determine the state of oral health through preventing tooth loss and oral diseases.
Oral structures like teeth, the tongue and saliva work in a synchronised fashion to identify food smells, anticipate food, increase appetite, produce saliva and chew the food down to an appropriate size where the stomach awaits its receipt. The tongue, for instance, is equipped with cells that regulate taste and odour perception (what we refer to as flavour) and contain metabolic hormones that help you know when you’ve had enough. At the same time, saliva is being produced due to the smell and anticipation of food, and continues to be produced while our teeth help to chew and break it down.
a smelly situation.
Without the ability or having a reduced ability to smell impacts salivary flow and important immune cells found within saliva’s composition, like secretory IgA. Secretory IgA (sIgA) is the major antibody found in bodily secretions and plays a critical role on our first line of defense in protecting our intestinal lining from toxins and pathogenic microorganisms. The consequence to our health from producing inadequate sIgA can be immune deficiencies and a lowered immune defense, alongside a dry mouth that in turn increases risk of tooth decay and/or loss, poor gum health, and other oral diseases. Even further, and as already mentioned, oral health status impacts profoundly on the body’s ability to extract and utilise nutrients. If our body cannot access those nutrients, we are at risk of lowered immunity and a loss or reduction in specific functions like the simple act of smelling. And the cycle continues.
Research has recognised that sense of smell may play a larger role in our immune health that we have previously considered, or underestimated its relevance within clinical treatment strategies. A study comparing salivary production after smell and taste stimulation documented that secretory immunity (namely sIgA) was increased in both young and elderly persons. Even though secretion rates of sIgA were significantly higher in younger persons, this finding is particularly relevant to elderly persons where dry mouth and immune deficiencies are common.
It’s not just the elderly benefiting from stimulating sense of smell. Premature infants have also been recently studied. Findings observed that continuous olfactory (smell) stimulation using breast milk significantly improved heart rate stabilisation and behavioural rate stabilisation in premature infants. A growing body of research also shows a relationship between impaired sense of smell function and neurological/neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, and may also be a factor in depressed mood and autoimmune conditions.
imagine! smell!
The sense of smell is an ancient sensory modality that was vital for survival. Through perceiving and sampling the chemical composition of surrounding environments and the foods grown in these environments, humans could determine what was safe and delicious and what was unsafe and potentially lethal. Eat those berries. Don’t eat those mushrooms. Now, marketing agents use colourful imagery on larger than life billboards, or bombard our social media accounts where we only need to imagine what the food tastes like to start saliva production and charge our appetite.
Valuing your sense of smell is really easy to do. Here are a few tips to get started:
Retrain your nose to enjoy the smell of food - bring your food or drink close enough to your nose to detect its unique odour.
Imagine what your food tastes like before mindlessly eating it - could you determine a food by only its smell if you were blind-folded?
Be the one to prepare your food - this goes for kids too. The time it takes to prepare your meals is vital to the body sensing food tastes and flavours, and preparing the digestive system for what’s to come.
Small mouthfuls - perhaps a better phrase here would be tonguefuls, as opposed to a mouthful of food filling the middle cavity and overflowing into both cheeks! Smaller mouthfuls allow your tongue time to determine the flavours that are present (remember flavour is both taste and smell), and also for saliva production to occur and get well mixed with your food in order to break down every part of it before swallowing.
Ensure your diet is nutrient-rich - zinc plays a an important role in your sense of smell and taste, and a deficiency in zinc and other nutrients like vitamin A, B vitamins (like B6 and B12), Vitamin D, vitamin E, copper, iodine, and iron may impact your sense of smell. A whole food diet containing healthy proteins, unprocessed carbohydrates, healthy fats, adequate water and colourful antioxidant-rich foods like vegetables and fruits, is a great way to ensure your body is receiving the nutrients it requires.
Correct any nutrients deficiencies - this starts with a great diet. If necessary for your unique health situation, lifestyle modifications and supplementation with nutrients may also be required to ensure optimal nutrient status and therefore optimal body function.
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WHAT SMELL?
If you have noticed your sense of smell is off (pardon the pun) or has recently changed, please don’t ignore it and have it investigated by your health professional. Smell disorders have been linked to health conditions including:
nutritional deficiencies
nasal and sinus disorders, including dysfunctional breathing
allergies
poor oral health
depression
autoimmune conditions
neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases
respiratory infections
head injuries
ageing
brain tumours
medications
therapies, like cancer therapy
cigarette smoking.
If you answer yes to any of the following questions, please don’t delay and reach out to your health professional to discuss:
Can you smell anything at all?
Can you taste any food?
When did you first notice the problem?
Is the problem getting worse?
Are there regular changes in your sense of smell?
Have you been told that you have allergies or chronic sinus problems?
Do you have your oral health checked regularly?
What medications do you take?
References
Ahn-Jarvis, J., & Piancino, M. (2019). Chapter 14: Impact of Oral Health on Diet/Nutrition. Monographs In Oral Science, 134-147. https://doi.org/10.1159/000455383
Carreira, L., Midori Castelo, P., Simões, C., Capela e Silva, F., Viegas, C., & Lamy, E. (2020). Changes in Salivary Proteome in Response to Bread Odour. Nutrients, 12(4), 1002. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12041002
Krishna, A., Morrin, M., & Sayin, E. (2014). Smellizing Cookies and Salivating: A Focus on Olfactory Imagery. Journal Of Consumer Research, 41(1), 18-34. https://doi.org/10.1086/674664
N'Gom, P., & Woda, A. (2002). Influence of impaired mastication on nutrition. The Journal Of Prosthetic Dentistry, 87(6), 667-673. https://doi.org/10.1067/mpr.2002.123229
Park, Y., & Im, Y. (2020). The effects of a continuous olfactory stimulation using breast milk (COSB) on behavioral state and physiological responses in Korean premature infants. Journal Of Pediatric Nursing. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pedn.2020.02.042
Perricone, C., Shoenfeld, N., Agmon-Levin, N., de Carolis, C., Perricone, R., & Shoenfeld, Y. (2012). Smell and Autoimmunity: A Comprehensive Review. Clinical Reviews In Allergy & Immunology, 45(1), 87-96. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12016-012-8343-x
Strous, R., & Shoenfeld, Y. (2006). To smell the immune system: Olfaction, autoimmunity and brain involvement. Autoimmunity Reviews, 6(1), 54-60. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autrev.2006.07.002
Schiffman, S., & Miletic I. (1999). Effect of taste and smell on secretion rate of salivary IgA in elderly and young persons. The Journal of Nutrition, health, and ageing., 3(3), 158-64.