The Pseudoscience of “Boosting” The Immune System
In today’s Medium article I’ll be discussing pseudoscience, misinformation, other false suggestions about “boosting” the immune system and basic information on the immune system. Many Individuals from anti-vaxxers to health professionals get this subject so incorrect but with health professionals, I can see why our bodies immune system is so complex there are many components to it. So without further ado, let’s get into the article.
➡️ Brief Summary of the Immune System
Without going into too much detail, below will be a brief section on the immune system for basic reader understanding, can do more in your own time if you wish
One of the most important parts of the immune system is the types of antibodies that dwell within: [1]
- IgG (compromises approx 85% of the immunoglobins in adults) [2]
- IgA (compromises 5–15% of serum immunoglobins in adults) [2]
- IgM (compromises 5–10% of the total immunoglobins in adults) [2]
- IgE (compromises of less than 1% of total immunoglobins in adults [2]
- IgD (compromises of less than 1% of serum immunoglobins in adults [2]
Further down, there are 5 different subtypes of IgG and 2 for IgA. Then we have a complement system, which plays an important role in eliminating microbes during innate and adaptive immune responses [3]. Won’t go into further deal about the complement system as it’s far too complex for this article.
There are also blood components to our immune system such as polymorphonuclear leukocytes (white cells) which are active in acute inflammatory responses and can easily be differentiated into neutrophils, eosinophils and basophils [4]. Other blood components of our immune system comprises of monocytes, eosinophils, macrophages and lymphocytes.
This is just a basic summary of the immune system and which is set up by a mind-numbing set of coordinated cells and pathogens.
References: [1] Phillip, D. (2021). Immune — A Journey into the Mysterious System That Keeps You Alive, Part 3: Hostile Takeover, p. 146–150
[2] Cruise D, Lewis R. (2003). Illustrated Dictionary of Immunology 2nd Edition, p. 317–325
[3] Abba A, Litchman A. (2009). Basic Immunology — Functions and Disorders of the Immune System, Chapter 8: Effector Mechanisms of Humoral Immunity, p. 163
[4] Cruise D, Lewis R. (2003). Illustrated Dictionary of Immunology 2nd Edition, p. 485
➡️ Don’t Take Supplements
When buying your supplements with the idea of boosting your immune system, you’re potentially wasting your money on items you won’t need and has no scientific evidence on even doing anything to your immune system. But there are other ways to stay healthy, having clean hands, going to the gym, managing stress, getting vaccinated and having good sleeping patterns [1].
There have been many social media influencers touting miracle remedies and supplements all over social media, especially on Instagram where there has been a massive spike in people searching for immune-boosting products [2] which won’t actually do anything to “boost” your immune system. Dubious vitamins companies are not FDA or MHRA regulated [3] so there’s a high chance of what you buy could be highly dangerous despite what celebrities and social media influencers may say, many do not even work as the label claims. Furthermore, the scary thing about buying products that falsely “boost” your immune system may not be evaluated or even prove to be effective like FDA authorised products are [4]. There is very strong evidence that the only way to truly “boost” or update your immune system is through vaccination [5].
References: [1] https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/can-supplements-help-boost-your-immune-system
[2] https://aacijournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13223-020-00474-6
[3] https://www.pennmedicine.org/updates/blogs/health-and-wellness/2020/february/the-truth-about-supplements
[4] https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/fda-101-dietary-supplements
[5] https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12272-017-0969-z
➡ Should we really be boosting our immune system?
Well, one science article from McGill reckons this is not such as the great idea that people intend to think it is, as they quote “but the truth is that boosting the immune system is a scientifically meaningless claim. So is “supports immune function”. These are marketing terms, not scientific ones. The immune system is not like a muscle the size of which can be boosted by exercise.” [1], the analogy used at the end of the quote is fantastic and easy to put across so people understand.
Also if we do change between various lifestyles there is no scientifically direct proven link to an enhanced immune system or any proper changes [2]. We have to think that the immune system is so complex that doing certain things and taking certain products will not boost anyone’s immune system, in fact, you could be doing the opposite and making the situation worse. Dr Suzanne Casel, MD [3] an immunologist working for Cedars Sinai says that the concept of trying to boost your immune system is inaccurate [4] and even goes on to quote that “You actually don’t want your immune system to be stronger, you want it to be balanced.”, Dr Cassel says that supplements don’t really have any effect on your immune response.
You can do things to keep your immune system healthy, as this isn’t the same way as boosting it, with such as exercise, eating with a healthy diet and a great sleeping pattern. [5]
References: [1] https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/critical-thinking-health-general-science/boost-your-knowledge-about-boosting-your-immune-system
[2] https://www.matherhospital.org/wellness-at-mather/boosting-your-immune-system-is-it-even-possible/
[3] https://bio.cedars-sinai.org/cassels/index.html
[4] https://www.cedars-sinai.org/blog/boosting-your-immune-system.html#:~:text=There%20are%20some%20diet%20and,it%20is%20supposed%20to%2C%20Dr
[5] https://joinzoe.com/learn/covid-boost-immune-system
➡ If we could, which parts of our immune system should we “boost”?
Absolutely none of it, we have to think any slight deviation would make our immune system too weak or too powerful. Here are some examples of why you wouldn’t wish to intentionally “boost” it: Should we have stronger or angry macrophages and neutrophils? No, as this would mean stronger
inflammation, with more fever and getting sick even more. How about more muscular NK Cells? Well if this happens they may also eat away at healthy cells that are just hanging around. Well, what about enhanced dendritic cells? You would literally drain and tire yourself with your immune system even faster thus leaving you open to the smallest of infections which would make you pervious and open when a dangerous infection begins. Well, what about enhanced T and B cells? This would cause autoimmune diseases to occur because some of these cells would start to attack your own tissue [1].
Without sounding like a CD on repeat you slowly get the idea of how bad the situation could be if we had a reality to which we could actually boost our immune system.
Reference: [1] Phillip, D. (2021). Immune — A Journey into the Mysterious System That Keeps You Alive, Part 4: Rebellion and Civil War, p. 279
➡ Other Scientific Studies
One Meta-analysis study from NCBI looked at the science and myths behind boosting the immune system and the conclusion to this study was — “Commercial websites are an important component of the information available to the public on the topic, and thus contribute providing biased information.” [1]
Another study from the Journal of Medical Internet Research looked at managing the current infodemic we have within the Covid-19 pandemic and one quote from this study was — “Responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and the related infodemic require swift, regular, systematic, and coordinated action from multiple sectors of society and government. It remains crucial that we promote trusted information and fight misinformation, thereby helping save lives.” [2]
Even Chiropracter are chiming in with false scientific information that chiropractic care according to their claims could impact the immune system. This is the quote from the study I’m referring to — “In their reports, the ICA provided no valid clinical scientific evidence that chiropractic care can impact the immune system. We call on regulatory authorities and professional leaders to take robust political and regulatory action against those claiming that chiropractic adjustments have a clinical impact on the immune system.” [3]
References: [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6673706/
[2] https://www.jmir.org/2020/6/e19659/
[3] https://chiromt.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12998-020-00312-x
➡ Conclusion
As we see from the huge amount of information about, that “boosting” the immune system as a science concept doesn’t exist is based on pseudoscientific claims that are highly inaccurate and if we could boost our immune system to some capacity it would do more harm than good to our system, just save that money on making your healthy by going to the gym, eat healthier and stay stress-free.
💥 Thanks for reading, Lawrence. Please consider a small contribution, in the form of a beer as all articles are created in my small amount of spare time: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/LawrenceRob