Nutritional Immunology: A Multi-Dimensional Approach
Open Access
- 1 December 2011
- journal article
- review article
- Published by Public Library of Science (PLoS) in PLoS Pathogens
- Vol. 7 (12), e1002223
- https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1002223
Abstract
Nutrition is critical to immune defence and resistance to pathogens, with consequences that affect the health, welfare, and reproductive success of individual organisms [1], [2], and also has profound ecological and evolutionary implications [3]–[5]. In humans, under-nutrition, notably of protein, is a major contributor to morbidity and mortality due to infectious diseases, particularly in the developing world [1]. Likewise, over-nutrition and its associated metabolic disorders may impair immune function, disrupt the relationship with symbiotic and commensal microbiota, and increase susceptibility to infectious disease [6]. Despite the undoubted importance of nutrition to immune defence, the challenge remains to capture the complexity of this relationship. There are three main aspects to this complexity: (i) nutrition is a complex multi-dimensional problem for hosts, pathogens, and commensals; (ii) host immunity is a complex, multi-dimensional trait; and (iii) nutrition and immunity interact via multiple direct and indirect pathways, including involvement of the host's microbiotaKeywords
This publication has 43 references indexed in Scilit:
- Human nutrition, the gut microbiome and the immune systemNature, 2011
- Microbiota–immune system interaction: an uneasy allianceCurrent Opinion in Microbiology, 2011
- Macronutrient balance mediates trade‐offs between immune function and life history traitsFunctional Ecology, 2010
- Impact of diet in shaping gut microbiota revealed by a comparative study in children from Europe and rural AfricaProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2010
- The gastrointestinal tract as a nutrient-balancing organProceedings. Biological sciences, 2010
- Innate immunity and intestinal microbiota in the development of Type 1 diabetesNature, 2008
- A microbial symbiosis factor prevents intestinal inflammatory diseaseNature, 2008
- Lifespan and reproduction in Drosophila : New insights from nutritional geometryProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2008
- Diet-induced obesity in mice causes changes in immune responses and bone loss manifested by bacterial challengeProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2007
- Flexible diet choice offsets protein costs of pathogen resistance in a caterpillarProceedings. Biological sciences, 2005