How To BOOST Your Immunity Against COVID-19 If You’re Pregnant (Part 1)
COVID-19 has quickly become one of the most disruptive viral pandemics in modern history. Empty supermarkets, cancelled sporting events, flight cancellations, border closures and social distancing have become the daily norm.
However, amid the panic buying of dunny rolls and pasta, we are also experiencing a refreshing emergence of families, communities and businesses re-aligning health priorities with a new appreciation of the impact that nutrition, exercise, sleep and stress can have on our health.
During pregnancy, your immune system is altered in a unique way to become more effective at raising the alarm against environmental threats to protect both you and your baby. This explains why pregnant women respond differently to microorganisms like Listeria and Salmonella in food.
At the time of writing, health experts are still unsure if pregnant women are more susceptible to contracting COVID-19 or whether they might experience more severe symptoms. It is also unknown if COVID-19 will affect the health of your baby. To keep up to date, please follow the Center for Disease Control and Prevention website.
Pregnant or not, there has never been a more important time to check in with your health to give your immune system some much needed extra care and lovin’. Over the next two blog posts I am going to share the top 6 nutrients to be increasing in your diet right NOW to boost your immunity (all backed by science of course!)
Vitamin D - Get your 20 minutes per day in the sun.
Despite Vitamin D being one of the most easily accessible and affordable nutrients in Australia (hint: it’s free from the sun), 30% of Australian adults are deficient! Even worse, for women, this increases to 50% during winter and spring (1).
A large meta-analysis (that’s a collective analysis of the best high quality scientific studies) showed that Vitamin D deficiency is associated with an increased risk of respiratory infections (such as influenza and Coronavirus) and that boosting your levels back up can help protect you (2).
Vitamin D is also particularly important for pregnant and breastfeeding mums to help build the immune system of her newborn baby (3).
Food sources of Vitamin D include oily fish like salmon, tuna and sardines as well as eggs and fortified milk. Interestingly, mushrooms can also make their own Vitamin D from sunlight too, so leave them on your window sill (sliced or gill side up) to bathe in sunlight for an extra Vitamin D boost (4).
However, we only get 5-10% of our daily vitamin D needs from food so ensuring you get 20 minutes of sunshine on your hands, arms and face every day is the best way to keep yourself topped up (5). To reduce your risk of skin cancer, enjoy the sunshine before 10 am and after 3 pm (when the UV rating is below 3).
If you are already Vitamin D deficient, and worried about your risk of contracting Coronavirus, you will need a high dose supplement to boost your levels back up quickly. Talk to a dietitian or GP about what dose of Vitamin D you specifically require based on your blood test results.
2. Selenium - Snack on 1-2 Brazil nuts per day.
Think back to a time when you sliced open an apple (perhaps for making a fruit salad) and then left it out on the kitchen bench for a few hours. When you came back, did you notice the exposed flesh turned brown? That browning process is called oxidation and viruses like influenza and Coronavirus use oxidative damage to attack our cells and tissues so they can grow, replicate and mutate into more powerful viruses (6)!
Selenium is an essential micronutrient with powerful anti-oxidant capacity to fight oxidative stress and damage in the body. Studies show selenium deficiency can increase the severity of viral infections and reduce your ability to fight infections (7).
So where can you find selenium? It is largely found in seafood, poultry and eggs as well as plant based foods that were grown in selenium rich soils. Selenium deplete soils are found in China, Africa and some parts of Europe, so the quickest way to be sure your foods contain adequate amounts of selenium is to buy Australian grown produce (8). Brazil nuts are surprisingly the highest source of selenium, providing your entire daily needs in only 1-2 nuts.
3. Lactoferrin – Include dairy every day, particularly fermented varieties.
Lactoferrin is a protein found in milk that assists the transport of iron around the body (9).
Lactoferrin levels are highest in the first breastmilk produced after a baby is born (known as colostrum) and has the ability to protect breast-fed infants from infection.
Lactoferrin uses its iron-carrying capacity to support the immune system by stopping oxidative damage in the body during inflammation (similar to selenium above). It also binds to viruses thereby preventing them from entering your cells and stopping the infection at an early stage (10).
As lactoferrin is only found in milk, it is recommended to regularly include dairy in your diet to benefit from it’s anti-viral effects. Fermented dairy products such as kefir, Greek/natural yoghurt and hard cheeses are particularly nutritious as they also contain beneficial probiotic bacteria for the maintenance of a healthy gut. Of course, if for any reason you don’t usually include dairy in your diet, a supplement can be recommended to you by a dietitian.
Looking for individualised advice?
If you would like to learn more about how to incorporate immune boosting nutritious foods into your current diet and lifestyle, click the BOOK NOW button below. We can continue healthy social distancing by connecting via video or phone, right from the comfort of your own home.
Stay safe, stay home, save lives. Xo
References
Daly RM, Gagnon C, Lu ZX, et al. Prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and its determinants in Australian adults aged 25 years and older: a national, population-based study. Clin Endocrinol (Oxf) 2011; Dec 15 [Epub ahead of print]. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2265.2011.04320.x.
Martineau AR, Jolliffe DA, Greenberg L, et al. Vitamin D supplementation to prevent acute respiratory infections: individual participant data meta-analysis. Health Technol Assess. 2019;23(2):1–44. doi:10.3310/hta23020
Farhan Cyprian, Lefkou Eleftheria, et al. Immunomodulatory effects of vitamin D in pregnancy and beyond. Frontiers in Immunology. 2019:10;2739 (pp. 1-17)
Holick MF. Vitamin D deficiency. N Engl J Med 2007; 357: 266-281.
Webb AR, Engelsen O. Calculated ultraviolet exposure levels for a healthy vitamin D status. Photochem Photobiol 2006; 82: 1697-1703.
Molteni CG, Principi N, Esposito S. Reactive oxygen and nitrogen species during viral infections. Free Radic Res. 2014;48(10):1163–1169. doi:10.3109/10715762.2014.945443
Nelson HK, Shi Q, Van Dael P, et al. Host nutritional selenium status as a driving force for influenza virus mutations. FASEB J. 2001;15(10):1846–1848.
National Health and Medical Research Council. Nutrient Reference Values: Selenium. 2014. https://www.nrv.gov.au/nutrients/selenium
Metz-Boutique M.H., Jolles J., Mazurier J., Schoentgen F., Legrand D., Spik G., Montreuil J., Jolles P. (1984): Human lactotransferrin: amino acid sequence and structural comparisons with other transferrins. European Journal of Biochemistry, 145, 659–676.
Ward p.p., Paz E., Conneely o.m. (2005): Multifunctional roles of lactoferrin: a critical overview. Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences, 62, 2540–2548.