Your diet plays a crucial role in determining your overall health and immunity. While a nutrient-dense and well-balanced diet strengthens your immune system, consuming ultra-processed and nutrient-poor foods can weaken it significantly. Many people unknowingly include foods in their daily meals that impair immune function over time, leading to increased vulnerability to infections and chronic conditions. By identifying and limiting these immune-suppressing foods, you can protect your health and enhance your body’s natural defenses.
Our diet majorly affects how we feel and how our body functions!
While a nutrient-dense, well-rounded diet supports your immune system, a diet that’s low in nutrients and high in ultra-processed foods impairs immune function. And such foods have become the main food source for many.
In our daily eating pattern, we generally are not conscious about the foods which are impairing overall health slowly and consistently.
Specially in today’s fast life, hassling with coping up well with being on time many prefer some foods which demand less or no special time to cook. Nutrition factors going very down and easy to cook option is much preferred.
Here is the list of 10 foods which are impairing our immune system. If we become little more conscious on restricting them on daily basis, we can add more health to our precious life!
- Sugar
Eating or drinking too much sugar curbs immune system cells that attack bacteria. When your immune system is compromised, you are more likely to get sick. If you eat a lot of foods and beverages high in sugar or refined carbohydrates, which the body processes as sugar, you may be reducing your body’s ability to ward off disease.
There’s no doubt that limiting how much added sugar you consume promotes your overall health and immune function.
Foods that significantly raise blood sugar, such as those high in added sugars, increase the production of inflammatory proteins like tumor necrosis alpha, C-reactive protein (CRP), and interleukin-6 (IL-6), all of which negatively affect immune function. High sugar in diet is also linked with growing cancerous cells in the body.
What’s more, having high blood sugar levels may inhibit the response of neutrophils and phagocytes, two types of immune cells that help protect against infection.
Furthermore, it has been shown that high blood sugar levels may harm gut barrier function and drive gut bacteria imbalances, which can alter your immune response and make your body more susceptible to infections.
Additionally, diets high in added sugar may increase the susceptibility to certain autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, in some populations.
Limiting your intake of foods and beverages high in added sugar, including ice cream, cake, candy, and sugary beverages, can improve your overall health and promote healthy immune function.
- Salt
Salt is the kitchen’s most popular seasoning used in various cuisines across the globe. It is not only added to foods as a flavouring agent but also plays a crucial role in maintaining human health. But when consumed in excess, this very flavouring agent can lead to several health issues.
Salt may also inhibit normal immune function, suppress anti-inflammatory response, alter gut bacteria, and promote the generation of immune cells that are implicated in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases
3 Fried food
Fried foods aren’t good for overall health and may cause immune dysfunction. Fried foods are high in AGEs and should be limited in any healthy diet. AEGs are formed when sugars react with proteins or fats during high temperature cooking, such as during frying.
AGEs are thought to weaken the immune system in several ways, including by promoting inflammation, depleting your body’s antioxidant mechanisms, inducing cellular dysfunction, and negatively affecting gut bacteria
So ultimately cutting on fried food will reduce the intake of AGE’s.
4 Fast Food
Fast food has been linked to many negative health outcomes. Eating it too frequently may also take a toll on your immune system.
Diets high in fast food and highly processed foods may drive inflammation, increase gut permeability, and cause bacteria imbalance in the gut, all of which can negatively affect your immune health
Fast food can also contain the chemicals such as phthalates. Phthalates can leach into fast food, for example, through packaging or plastic gloves worn during food preparation
Phthalates are known to disrupt your body’s endocrine, or hormone-producing, system. They may also increase the production of inflammatory proteins that can weaken your immune response to pathogens and cause immune dysregulation.
In addition, phthalates may reduce gut bacteria diversity, which can negatively affect your immune system
- Foods that contain certain additives
Food additives are substances added to food to maintain or improve its safety, freshness, taste, texture or appearance. We always buy packed foods and beverages but mostly are unaware by these additives shown on the packets
Many food items, especially ultra-processed foods, contain additives to improve shelf life, texture, and taste. Some of these may negatively affect your immune response.
For example, some emulsifiers, which are added to processed foods to improve texture and shelf life, can alter gut bacteria, harm your gut lining, and induce inflammation, all of which can cause immune dysfunction
Lastly, corn syrup, salt, artificial sweeteners, and the natural food additive citrate may also negatively affect your immune system
6. Certain high fat foods
A diet high in saturated fats and low in unsaturated fats has been associated with immune dysfunction.
High saturated fat intake can activate certain signaling pathways that induce inflammation, thus inhibiting immune function. High fat diets may also increase your susceptibility to infection by suppressing your immune system and white blood cell function
That said, eating a well-balanced diet high in fiber and healthy fat sources is likely a good way to support immune health.
7. Highly refined carbs
Eating highly refined carbs like white bread and sugary baked goods too often may harm your immune system.
These are types of high glycemic foods that cause a spike in your blood sugar and insulin levels, potentially leading to the increased production of free radicals and inflammatory proteins like CRP.
Plus, a diet rich in refined carbs may alter gut bacteria, which can negatively affect your immune system.
Choosing nutritious, high fiber carb sources like starchy vegetables, oats, fruit, and legumes over refined carbs is smart to support immune health.
- Artificial sweeteners & other beverages
Most of us are aware that sugar isn’t the healthiest food out there, and it goes far beyond tooth decay and sugar highs. Studies have shown that refined sugars can suppress the immune system for hours after ingestion. In fact, research shows that consuming just 8 tablespoons of sugar, the equivalent of about 2 cans of soda, can lower our immune system by up to 40%!
Many people do not realize that 80% of your immune system is housed in your digestive system. Sugar feeds “bad” intestinal bacteria, and proliferation of these bad bacteria causes lowered immunity. This is why gut health is extremely important for boosting your immune system and warding off illness.