HN Explorer

Ask HN: Why don't we try to boost the immune system?

2 points by yehosef ↗ HN
The world is rushing the develop a vaccine for SARS-CoV-2, spending billions of dollars in the process. This is for a virus that is dangerous or deadly to some people, mostly older but also younger. Many people's immune system (IS) is able to beat down the virus so effectively they are asymptomatic - the don't even know they have the disease.

Does anyone else find it strange that there is virtually no discussion or promotion by the health authorities (that I've heard) to boost the immune system. At the end of the day, it's the body's immune system that will fight the virus and the vaccines are just try to teach it how to fight it (ala the Matrix - "Whoa - I know Kung Fu")

Vitamins A, B, C, and D, in addition to some micronutrients like Selenium and Zinc, are all known to boost immune function (for medical references just google "Vitamin {X} immune system" - there are plenty).

Wouldn't it make sense to recommend to people to supplement with safe dosages and, if possible, get blood work to see if there is a more serious deficiency which would call for higher doses?

Am I missing something?

6 comments

[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 19.6 ms ] thread
poormystic
Hi :) yes I think that you probably are missing something. All the immune system helpers you've mentioned mighf very well work just as advertised, but that doesn't mean that the combined effect of several immune system boosters will be the expected sum of the individual effects. Things interact, and stimulating the immune system is not best done through special dietary regimes. The best way to enhance the workings of the immune system is to laugh, to find wonder in the world around you and to wonder at Love. Make others happy, play music, spend quiet time.:)
yehosef
>The best way to enhance the workings of the immune system is to laugh, to find wonder in the world around you and to wonder at Love. Make others happy, play music, spend quiet time.:)

Is there any science to back that up? I'm not saying these things are not helpful, but to say that "the best way" doesn't involved dealing with essential vitamin deficiencies, seems a little anti-science.

Also - I'm not suggesting that these chemicals are magical fairies that help just by eating them - if you are not deficient, it probably won't help to take more (with the exception of Vit C which is given in high-doses via IV to help)

Here are some articles to help understand that these compounds are important for immune function (the abstract is usually enough):

A: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6162863/

B: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7010964/

C: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5707683/

D: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3166406/

Vit D deficiency is widespread https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4018438/

poormystic
I suppose "best" is something of a personal value judgement, for which I must apologise. However, the science is called "psychoneuroimmunology" and can be discussed with any doctor.
yehosef
Sure, mental state plays a big role. It could even be that if you had to "choose" between vitamin deficiency vs happiness deficiency, the latter would be more harmful. But, it would seem that vitamin deficiency is an easier technical problem we should solve regardless. And yet, I don't see any discussion of it coming from CDC or WHO, etc.
PaulHoule
It may well be that people are not killed by COVID-19 but are killed by a disordered immune response to COVID-19, the same is possible true about "chronic lyme disease".

Generally autoimmune diseases are a big problem: this lady probably had one

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadezhda_Krupskaya

so did Issac Asimov.

Thus you don't want to "activate the immune system" in general, rather you want to activate good immune responses and deactivate bad immune responses and that is not so simple.

yehosef
a "disordered immune response" typically means an immune system that is not working properly, which may be genetic, etc but is more likely a deficiency. This is how I understand it, but I'm open for counter-references.

>Thus you don't want to "activate the immune system"

This is exactly what the adjuvants in vaccines do. But I'm talking about "boosting" the immune system - make sure it's working effectively which means it's got the right molecules to do what it needs to. Vitamin supplements (specifically in the case of deficiency) should allow the immune system to "do its job".