Vital role for primary healthcare providers: urgent need to educate the community about daily nutritional self-care to support immune function and maintain health
The importance of self-care to improve health and social well-being is well recognised. Nevertheless, there remains a need to encourage people to better understand how their body works, and how to keep it healthy. Because of its important role, part of this understanding should be based on why the i...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
BMJ Publishing Group
2023-12-01
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| Series: | BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health |
| Online Access: | https://nutrition.bmj.com/content/6/2/392.full |
| _version_ | 1797372402759368704 |
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| author | Philip C Calder Anna Bach-Faig Teresa Bevacqua Chrystopherson Gengyny Caballero Lopez Zheng-Yu Chen Daragh Connolly Wan Lee Koay Simin N Meydani Ari-Sentug Pinar Durval Ribas-Filho Adeline Pierre |
| author_facet | Philip C Calder Anna Bach-Faig Teresa Bevacqua Chrystopherson Gengyny Caballero Lopez Zheng-Yu Chen Daragh Connolly Wan Lee Koay Simin N Meydani Ari-Sentug Pinar Durval Ribas-Filho Adeline Pierre |
| author_sort | Philip C Calder |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The importance of self-care to improve health and social well-being is well recognised. Nevertheless, there remains a need to encourage people to better understand how their body works, and how to keep it healthy. Because of its important role, part of this understanding should be based on why the immune system must be supported. This highly complex system is essential for defending against pathogens, but also for maintaining health throughout the body by preserving homeostasis and integrity. Accordingly, the immune system requires active management for optimal functioning and to reduce the risk of chronic diseases. In addition to regular exercise, healthy sleeping patterns, cultivating mental resilience, adequate nutrition through healthy and diverse dietary habits is key to the daily support of immune function. Diet and the immune system are closely intertwined, and a poor diet will impair immunity and increase the risk of acute and chronic diseases. To help elucidate the roles of primary healthcare providers in supporting individuals to engage in self-care, an international group of experts reviewed the evidence for the roles of the immune system in maintaining health and for nutrition in daily immune support, and discussed implications for population health and clinical practice. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T18:35:19Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-eaca454e12e1411ba15c0712026b05e8 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2516-5542 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T18:35:19Z |
| publishDate | 2023-12-01 |
| publisher | BMJ Publishing Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-eaca454e12e1411ba15c0712026b05e82023-12-29T15:30:07ZengBMJ Publishing GroupBMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health2516-55422023-12-016210.1136/bmjnph-2023-000755Vital role for primary healthcare providers: urgent need to educate the community about daily nutritional self-care to support immune function and maintain healthPhilip C Calder0Anna Bach-Faig1Teresa Bevacqua2Chrystopherson Gengyny Caballero Lopez3Zheng-Yu Chen4Daragh Connolly5Wan Lee Koay6Simin N Meydani7Ari-Sentug Pinar8Durval Ribas-Filho9Adeline Pierre101 School of Human Development and Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK3 Faculty of Health Sciences, Open University of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain5 Rizzo Pharmacy Dr Serena, Corigliano-Rossano, Italy6 Allergy and Clinical Immunology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Benemerita Autonomous University of Puebla, Puebla, Mexico7 International Pharmaceutical Federation, Shanghai, China8 Haven Pharmacy Conollys, Dungarvan, Ireland9 City Wellness Pharmacy, Gelugor, Malaysia10 Tufts Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Tufts University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA11 Zorlu Center Pharmacy, Istanbul, Turkey12 Padre Albino Foundation, Faculty of Medicine, Catanduva, São Paulo, Brazil13 Bayer Consumer Care AG, Basel, SwitzerlandThe importance of self-care to improve health and social well-being is well recognised. Nevertheless, there remains a need to encourage people to better understand how their body works, and how to keep it healthy. Because of its important role, part of this understanding should be based on why the immune system must be supported. This highly complex system is essential for defending against pathogens, but also for maintaining health throughout the body by preserving homeostasis and integrity. Accordingly, the immune system requires active management for optimal functioning and to reduce the risk of chronic diseases. In addition to regular exercise, healthy sleeping patterns, cultivating mental resilience, adequate nutrition through healthy and diverse dietary habits is key to the daily support of immune function. Diet and the immune system are closely intertwined, and a poor diet will impair immunity and increase the risk of acute and chronic diseases. To help elucidate the roles of primary healthcare providers in supporting individuals to engage in self-care, an international group of experts reviewed the evidence for the roles of the immune system in maintaining health and for nutrition in daily immune support, and discussed implications for population health and clinical practice.https://nutrition.bmj.com/content/6/2/392.full |
| spellingShingle | Philip C Calder Anna Bach-Faig Teresa Bevacqua Chrystopherson Gengyny Caballero Lopez Zheng-Yu Chen Daragh Connolly Wan Lee Koay Simin N Meydani Ari-Sentug Pinar Durval Ribas-Filho Adeline Pierre Vital role for primary healthcare providers: urgent need to educate the community about daily nutritional self-care to support immune function and maintain health BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health |
| title | Vital role for primary healthcare providers: urgent need to educate the community about daily nutritional self-care to support immune function and maintain health |
| title_full | Vital role for primary healthcare providers: urgent need to educate the community about daily nutritional self-care to support immune function and maintain health |
| title_fullStr | Vital role for primary healthcare providers: urgent need to educate the community about daily nutritional self-care to support immune function and maintain health |
| title_full_unstemmed | Vital role for primary healthcare providers: urgent need to educate the community about daily nutritional self-care to support immune function and maintain health |
| title_short | Vital role for primary healthcare providers: urgent need to educate the community about daily nutritional self-care to support immune function and maintain health |
| title_sort | vital role for primary healthcare providers urgent need to educate the community about daily nutritional self care to support immune function and maintain health |
| url | https://nutrition.bmj.com/content/6/2/392.full |
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