Zapatera Belén, Prados Andreu, Gómez-Martínez Sonia, Marcos Ascensión
Immunonutrition Research Group. Department of Metabolism and Nutrition, Institute of Food Science, Technology and Nutrition (ICTAN), Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Madrid. Spain..
Nutr Hosp. 2015 Feb 26;31 Suppl 3:145-54. doi: 10.3305/nh.2015.31.sup3.8762.
Immunonutrition is an emergent and interdisciplinary subject, since it comprises several aspects related to Nutrition, Immunity, Infection, Inflammation, and Injury or tissue damage, what is known as Nutrition and 4 “Is”. Within these interactions the endocrine, nervous and immune systems are involved, microbiota being a part of the last one. Nowadays, gut microbiota has been shown to play an essential role, not only in the gastrointestinal tract but also into the nervous system, because of its bilateral connection. There are several methods to study Immunonutrition, which allow measuring different immunological biomarkers to provide information about the nutritional status. However, it should be taken into account that there is not a single gold standard parameter to evaluate the cause- effect relationship between nutrition and the immune system. On the contrary, a combination of biomarkers have to be assessed depending on the different nutritional situations. Since Immunonutrition is a multidisciplinary matter as mentioned above, the study on the interactions between nutrition and the immune system has not been exclusively focused as such, but bearing in mind other systems of the organisms as well as a wide range of confounding factors and determinants coming from idiosyncratic features, genes and lifestyle of each individual. Therefore, Immunonutrition allows to study the following research fields: 1) Evaluation of nutritional status in presumably healthy people with risk of malnutrition (children, adolescents, adults, pregnant women, elderly, and sportspeople); 2) Assessment of the evolution and progress of patients with nutrition and immune-related diseases, such as food allergies, eating and metabolic disorders; 3) Evaluation of the effects of nutrients, bioactive compounds and both conventional and functional foods on the immune system; 4) Evaluation of impact of lifestyle determinants on the immune system, such as diet, food behaviour, physical activity, sedentariness, sleep quality and quantity, and as a key factor, stress.
免疫营养是一门新兴的跨学科主题，因为它包含了与营养、免疫、感染、炎症以及损伤或组织损害相关的几个方面，即所谓的营养与4个“i”。在这些相互作用中，涉及到内分泌、神经和免疫系统，微生物群是免疫系统的一部分。如今，由于肠道微生物群的双向联系，它不仅在胃肠道，而且在神经系统中都发挥着至关重要的作用。有几种研究免疫营养的方法，这些方法可以测量不同的免疫生物标志物，以提供有关营养状况的信息。然而，应该考虑到，没有一个单一的金标准参数来评估营养与免疫系统之间的因果关系。相反，必须根据不同的营养状况评估生物标志物的组合。如前所述，由于免疫营养是一个多学科问题，对营养与免疫系统之间相互作用的研究并非仅仅局限于此，还需考虑生物体的其他系统以及来自个体特质、基因和生活方式的各种混杂因素和决定因素。因此，免疫营养可以研究以下领域：1）评估可能存在营养不良风险的健康人群（儿童、青少年、成年人、孕妇、老年人和运动员）的营养状况；2）评估患有营养和免疫相关疾病（如食物过敏、饮食和代谢紊乱）的患者的病情演变和进展；3）评估营养素、生物活性化合物以及传统和功能性食品对免疫系统的影响；4）评估生活方式决定因素对免疫系统的影响，如饮食、食物行为、体育活动、久坐、睡眠质量和时长，以及作为关键因素的压力。
