MMA Nutrition - Boosting Your Immune System
by Bloody Elbow on Aug 9, 2011 4:30 PM EDT
in MMA Technique
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This is a guest post by P.R. Cole, MS, RD and owner and director of Fuel The Fighter. Follow P.R. Cole on Twitter.
While intense athletic training can benefit your body in the long run, it's possible that a new rigorous workout schedule can compromise your immune system when you dive into a more challenging routine. Fortunately your body will develop a stronger defense system to the stress you put on it over time so avoid being a "weekend warrior" and keep on a regular schedule to allow yourself time to adjust. The following are some tips to help you reduce the risk of illness so you can stay focused on training and give it your all.
These strategies are ones that I have always recommended in particular to my client Jorge Gurgel who works incredibly hard during training camp. Jorge keeps up his omega-3 intake by mixing a can of wild salmon, hot sauce and oatmeal together as an afternoon snack. It took me 2 years to take his advice and try it and though I hate to admit it to him, I really enjoy it!
• Seek out Omega-3 fats
Fish like wild salmon, sardines, anchovies, herring and pacific oysters are some of the most potent sources of this essential fat that your body can't make. Plant based sources like flaxseed and walnuts are less powerful forms. If seafood isn't your favorite, pick a brand of omega-3 fish oil supplements that have EPA & DHA fats. Be sure to keep the bottle refrigerated.
• Include foods rich in sulfides
Sulfides found in things like fresh garlic, onions, leeks and scallions may help support your immune system too. Add them to omelets or a stir-fry on a regular basis.
• Eat foods with Selenium
Some of the best sources chunk light tuna, crab, oysters, tilapia, wheat germ, whole-wheat breads and lean beef. High doses of supplemental selenium may be harmful to your health so its best to stick with real foods for this nutrient. Brazil nuts are so rich in selenium that I only recommend one per day.
• Vitamin D
It's unfortunate that many people are walking around with a slight vitamin D deficiency without even knowing it. A simple blood test can determine your vitamin D status.
The body can make this vitamin from exposure to sunlight but during winter months it can be difficult to rely solely on the sun. During the summer it can also be difficult to get enough exposure from responsible sunscreen use. Vitamin D is famous for its role in helping calcium absorb, and recent research is showing it may play a significant role in immune and inflammatory responses too.
Increase your vitamin D intake with salmon, low fat dairy products, fortified grains, and egg yolks (1 yolk per day is a good bet). If you decided to supplement with vitamin D, choose a brand that contains the D3 form- cholecalciferol, which is the most potent form of the vitamin. Aim for a supplement that will give you a daily total of 400-800 IU of vitamin D that also contains 400 milligrams of magnesium. (This is including whatever is in your multivitamin).
• Choose foods with Quercetin
New research suggests that quercetin may boost immune function for athletes, but it also has anti-inflammatory properties. Here are my top picks for foods that offer quercetin- Kale, leeks, onions, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, blueberries, red apples (with skin), red cabbage, peppers (chili, green, yellow), and grapefruit.
• Use a sports beverage
When workouts are less than an hour, it's usually fine to hydrate with water (unless you're working out in extreme heat). When you have a workout scheduled for longer than 60 minutes, bring a sports beverage. Replenishing blood sugar and electrolytes will ward off fatigue and likely reduce your risk of developing a weakened immune system from prolonged training. Per 8oz serving the ideal sports beverage offers 15 grams of carbohydrates, 110-220 milligrams of sodium and around 30 milligrams of potassium. Sip every 10 minutes or so.
• Get Enough Sleep
Getting enough sleep is such an important part of an athlete's training that is all too often overlooked. During deep sleep a number of repairs take place, and you allow your systems to relax and recover so that you can feel energized for your next workout. Getting enough sleep also helps to keep hunger and satiety hormones in check.
• Take a multivitamin
No supplement is a substitute for a healthy diet but a standard multivitamin is a good bet if you're increasing training load and/or dieting at the same time. Choose a brand that contains no more than 100% of the daily-recommended value of vitamins and minerals. High doses from supplements of many vitamins and minerals (iron, zinc, vitamin A, vitamin E) will actually impair immune function.
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This post makes this site cooler.
"Stop smiling you are about to be punched in the face !"
by Warhand on Aug 9, 2011 4:44 PM EDT reply actions 2 recs
Great article
I’d be curious if others have anything to add.
The article assumes an active lifestyle and training, which is another facet of boosting your immune system.
Oatmeal + salmon. I have to try it!
Being overrated is overrated.
Vitamins A & E are also important in immune system function as is the mineral zinc and the carotenoids such as beta carotene. Natural sources are always preferable.
High sugar and/or high saturated fat intake can weaken the immune system.
Don’t eat farm raised salmon, always get wild – farm raised are much higher fat and lower protein, and instead of omega-3 fatty acids they have a high level of inflammation-causing omega-6 fatty acids.
"Life is tough, but it's tougher if you're stupid." -John Wayne
Death before dishonor, drinks before lunch.
Never send sheep to kill a wolf.
by The American Ronin on Aug 9, 2011 4:58 PM EDT up reply actions
As a side note,
if you see any “Atlantic Salmon” it is almost 100% farm raised (which includes open water pens).
"Life is tough, but it's tougher if you're stupid." -John Wayne
Death before dishonor, drinks before lunch.
Never send sheep to kill a wolf.
by The American Ronin on Aug 9, 2011 5:05 PM EDT up reply actions
I'm going to try the salmon + oatmeal + hot sauce, too.
I’m not as active as Jorge but I’d try it as an afternoon snack when I have an evening workout or if I had a light lunch. It sounds maybe almost like fish & grits but with oatmeal instead.
Honey badger don't care.
Good of you to mention NOT taking Selenium supliments
If I remember correctly multiple people died from Selenium supplementation.
Again, as I recall, it all started (why Selenium is even talked about) because of a very remote area in china where there was a vastly inflated incidence of throat cancers or something. Tests were done, and the dietary staple (rice) was grown in the local dirt which had a complete lack of Selenium.
So diet-fad jackasses got ahold of the idea that Selenium can prevent cancer… so obviously we should shoot that shit right into our neck, or at least start supplementing heavily. NOTE THE DISTINCT LACK OF FDA OVERSIGHT. Soon people are dropping dead from Selenium overdose.
Follow this guy’s advice. Get your essential vitamins from your normal foods, eat a varied diet, get plenty of sleep. And IMO, look specifically for a multi-vitamine that does NOT have Selenium.
--When you saw only one set of footprints, it was Herb Dean who carried you.
I take a lot of fish oils
Its really good for you in a number of different ways.
"If I wanted to spend a half hour between two hairy legs I'd go to your mother's house." -Don Frye
by mburtoni on Aug 9, 2011 5:31 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
Hate to be "that guy"
But, this is a good example of people hearing about the mechanisms of certain compounds or hormones, e.g. Quercetin, and assuming dietary supplement will translate to improved results.
Not that I’m gonna whine about everything and write a thesis lol , but I’ll at least pick one of them, Quercetin, and point out a few truths. These are all taken from PubMed, and although you guys can’t see past an abstract if you aren’t in a Uni, most of the abstracts will explain the results as well and you can just google the titles if you think I’m making any of this up.
- Quercetin does not affect rating of perceived exertion in athletes during the Western States endurance run.
- Influence of quercetin supplementation on disease risk factors in community-dwelling adults. (Shows no effects on disease risk factors)
- Effects of six weeks of quercetin supplementation on physical performance in ROTC cadets. (Six weeks of dietary quercetin supplementation in moderately trained individuals conducting military physical training did not improve VO(2peak) or performance on the APFT, BMPU, WAnT, and 36.6-m sprint.)
- The acute effect of ingesting a quercetin-based supplement on exercise-induced inflammation and immune changes in runners. (Study shows that Plasma quercetin levels increase notably from supplement group compared to placebo, but the intended immune signaling molecules are expressed equally in both patient groups. Furthermore, "Acute ingestion of Q-chews 15 min before heavy exertion caused a strong increase in plasma quercetin levels but did not counter postexercise inflammation or immune changes relative to placebo.")
-Effects of 2 adenosine antagonists, quercetin and caffeine, on vigilance and mood. (Shows Quercetin has none of the stimulatory effects on mood or alertness often claimed)
- Beneficial effects of the dietary flavonoid quercetin. (Full article explains that despite being having reductive properties, think anti-oxidant, it’s been shown to function as a carcinogen by Ames test. Although recent studies support its antagonistic effect to genotoxicants, these have been in vitro, not in vivo, and if it’s going to be used for cancer prevention and thus ingested regularly, it should be tested further as it can have opposite effects)
There are a couple of problems with what you wrote, and I have a feeling it’s based off of word of mouth as opposed to actual peer reviewed studies, but Multi-vitamins in general aren’t too pointless to take.
Even Quercetin is a very powerful anti-oxidant, it’s just that the only supporting articles I’ve read for it in terms of immunonutrition, particularly for respiratory tract infections, were in conjunction with a large amount of other supplements, and the effects not always significant. Just wanted to point out not to get too crazy with the supplements as I’ve got enough friends who swear and live by them ,when they’re basically hemmorhaging money over a placebo XD
But hey, it’s not my money and as long as the advice isn’t deleterious to an individual’s health, which this advice would not be considering he warns against exceeding RDA and gives the very very very smart suggestion of looking for foods before supplements, then it’s other people’s perogative. Just take all this advice with a grain of salt :P
by Matty Euripides Castourkas on Aug 9, 2011 6:33 PM EDT reply actions
Btw when I say deleterious advice, which again this is not at all, I mean dumb shit like Detox or Tanning for vD lol
I just hope no one here is ever stupid enough to go on a detox diet lol I pissed off so many people when I first started BJJ, I guess it’s popular among grapplers, by telling everyone how retarded it is to go on a detox diet. I don’t care if a hack doctor suggests it, I’d challenge anyone here to find proper evidence of scientific journals supporting detox diets lol, but that’s a complete tangent since it’s not even mentioned here.
Same with going out into the sun for Vitamin D lol I’d strongly suggest you guys look up what a Vitamin D winter is and see that it is quite independant of actual Winter. It’s hillarious, but depending on where you live, the majority of UV emissions will not be in the right energy range, UV-B, to actually promote D synthesis but if you’re from the US this isn’t much of a problem as for a Canuck like myself.
Just found it ironic to have friend going on about catching rays to prevent cancer while they were doing nothing but accumulating radiation XD
Not that it’s a good idea even during the special UVB period as the downsides drastically outweight the benefits, but supplementing D at low doses is much smarter than the recent trend of people who think chasing the sun is a smart way to fight cancer lol
I will say this though, omegas are the tits, and pro-biotics have a surprisingly strong wealth of research supporting their validity, although europeans are still skeptical.
by Matty Euripides Castourkas on Aug 9, 2011 6:35 PM EDT up reply actions
Nothing like a little dose of mildly ionising radiation to prevent cancer though.
From the heat shock effect.
I too find the detox diets pretty funny, like your body isn’t capable of excreting shit, if only it had some green tea and celery it could purify itself!
Actually one of the luckiest things that has happened to me was that some guy in Ireland with the exact same (and slightly unusual) name as I have, is a ‘Vibrational kinesiologist’ with a huge group of friends that email him shit constantly, and for some reason they send it to his gmail and CC my gmail which are almost identical. So every week I get some crazy alternative medicine shit to read, and it makes detox, homeopathy and acupuncture look hard science. Recently I got this one, for example; water with double helixes cures everything,
http://www.doublehelixwater.com/
I will say this though, omegas are the tits,
True that;
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2006/oct/17/prisonsandprobation.ukcrime
Quercetin is supposed to be in FRS Engery Drinks
does it have any known effects on energy or performance levels?
Say it ain't Cho
by Sean in Vancouver on Aug 9, 2011 7:26 PM EDT up reply actions
One of the articles I linked
Shows that the claimed stimulatory effects on mood and alertness are no different from placebo and nowhere near caffeine, so in short, no lol
Kinda like Ginko Bilboa, not only are the doses contained in nutraceuticals or supplement bars FAR too low too have any effect on cerebral circulation, which high doses CAN improve, even in high doses, the increased circulation has been found to have zero effect on memory or alertness lol
Hell, even multi vitamins have been found to be more or less useless, the only reason D can be helpful in certain situations is some regions of the world have serious UVB deficiencies, e.g. Scotland. But this ain’t fucking industrial England where the smog is giving everyone rickets lol
by Matty Euripides Castourkas on Aug 10, 2011 11:55 AM EDT up reply actions
Love these columns
And love her iphone app where she gives out a ton of her recipes
sure, just rub it in the face of those of us that live in the Northwest
Say it ain't Cho
by Sean in Vancouver on Aug 9, 2011 7:27 PM EDT up reply actions
Hey man I grew up in Tacoma.
I just had the sense to leave.
by Brandon Starr on Aug 9, 2011 7:32 PM EDT up reply actions
I hate to be the killjoy...
… but much of this is pseudo scientific hooey. You cannot “boost” the immune system. It’s not a muscle. It is an incredibly complex system of biochemical processes which has evolved over millions of years. It is a bit silly to think that hyper-nutrition is going to shift the balance.
But I am not a scientist. If anyone is at all interested in reading a more skeptical, science-based critique of the notion of “boosting” the immune system, I would direct them to
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/boost-your-immune-system/
"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."
Mohandas Gandhi
"The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses - behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights."
Muhammad Ali
"If MMA is like dog fighting, those are some pretty fucking smart dogs."
"I don’t want to lick any butt."
GSP
I used to do research in the field of immunology before going back to get my masters in nutrition and applied physiology. Perhaps “boost” was not the best term to use, but then again I am writing for the masses and trying to explain things in simple terms even though the processes are obviously very complex. You are right that the immune system is not like a muscle, but there are a number of things that can be done to support it.
PR Cole MS, RD
www.FueltheFighter.com
Twitter.com/FueltheFighter
www.Facebook.com/FueltheFighter
The stuff I linked are all legit articles,
And even two of those articles which show Quercetin have a stimulatory effect on certain immune cytokines, concluded that this did not translate to any difference in immune resopnse or athletic performance relative to a Placebo.
The only articles I know of supporting Quercetin as an immunobooster – which it can be, jackbox is definitely wrong about that – were in conjunction with a staggering amount of accompanying supplements and even then, only had mild effects on respiratory tract infection.
by Matty Euripides Castourkas on Aug 10, 2011 11:59 AM EDT up reply actions
You sure can;
It’s not a muscle. It is an incredibly complex system of biochemical processes which has evolved over millions of years.
Yeah, and it massively relies on having certain chemicals. Which you can supply it with.
For example, if you have too little iron you can have trouble with bacteria, iron is a key element in the Fenton equation method of creating reactive oxygen species, normally the ‘hot nuclear fuel’ that escapes your nuclear power plant mitochondria and causes havoc with your DNA and proteins, but in the immune system is used to vaporise the bacteria engulfed by phagocytes.
On the other hand, too much iron can fuck your immune system. If you give a dude an infection, and he overcomes it and recovers, a high dose of iron can cause a secondary infection to occur. Iron is the limiting factor in bacterial growth in the body, it’s heavily sequestered by our body but if there is free iron around the bacteria can send out little hunter-drones called siderophores to grab the iron, allowing them to grow.
That’s just one example, but basically for any chemical that is associated with the immune system there are a dozen examples how varying what goes into your body can have huge effects on how you react to disease.
If you want I can show you a couple of articles supporting Immunonutrition
I agree no one here will ever use it in an effective way, and it’s the very problem of articles generalizing or simplifying very specific scientific research that causes silly supplement fads, but your immune system not being a muscle has nothing to do with you being able or unable to affect it.
Hell, not that you would ever use this on people since they’d get fucked up auto immune diseases but what do you think adjuvents or immuno suppresive agents are? It’s quite easy to boost or suppress your immune system, despite it not being a muscle, as you say. It’s just that “Boosting” it, wouldn’t really do what most people think it would do. It would just merc your entire body lol
by Matty Euripides Castourkas on Aug 10, 2011 12:02 PM EDT up reply actions
Fish Oils
I’ve been taking fish oils for a while, but never refrigerated them. Why did you say to make sure to refrigerate them?
I really like this series PR
Did you think about linking you’re previous articles to each new addition? Would really like to be able to look back at some of the other one’s when I read this, or catch something I missed (not likely on that one tho, I’m here too much).
You know what, chris81203? You confuse and infuriate me. - James Brady (Ninjames)
Most of the time I am a rather quiet fellow, who likes to read about Philosophy, Mathematics and History, but like most people I also have a deep appreciation of sex and violence... - John Danaher
I drink Redbull and eat pasta before my 5 mile runs.
It makes my heart really strong and my tummy warm.
Learn JiuJitsu.
Always looking for that new danger.
So, you're this guy?
You know what, chris81203? You confuse and infuriate me. - James Brady (Ninjames)
Most of the time I am a rather quiet fellow, who likes to read about Philosophy, Mathematics and History, but like most people I also have a deep appreciation of sex and violence... - John Danaher
by Chris Hall on Aug 9, 2011 10:58 PM EDT up reply actions 2 recs
More like this guy
My nips are hard…..to keep from bleeding.
Learn JiuJitsu.
Always looking for that new danger.
^^^^ That's a real thing fyi
http://www.elitefeet.com/wp-content/uploads/bloody-nipples.jpg
Learn JiuJitsu.
Always looking for that new danger.
Holy Fucking Ouch!
You know what, chris81203? You confuse and infuriate me. - James Brady (Ninjames)
Most of the time I am a rather quiet fellow, who likes to read about Philosophy, Mathematics and History, but like most people I also have a deep appreciation of sex and violence... - John Danaher
It's a classic
You know what, chris81203? You confuse and infuriate me. - James Brady (Ninjames)
Most of the time I am a rather quiet fellow, who likes to read about Philosophy, Mathematics and History, but like most people I also have a deep appreciation of sex and violence... - John Danaher
LFMF
You know what, chris81203? You confuse and infuriate me. - James Brady (Ninjames)
Most of the time I am a rather quiet fellow, who likes to read about Philosophy, Mathematics and History, but like most people I also have a deep appreciation of sex and violence... - John Danaher
That
is one HELL of a buzz killer…
"Life is tough, but it's tougher if you're stupid." -John Wayne
Death before dishonor, drinks before lunch.
Never send sheep to kill a wolf.
by The American Ronin on Aug 10, 2011 6:47 PM EDT up reply actions
I would add wine or asprin, not even for people training, just for everyone.
A glass of red wine a day is good. Two or three is even better. You have some good shit in that might help out (Resveratrol), and you have alcohol which does help out. A little alcohol a day is a great way to keep your arteries soft, and statistically it’s healthier to be a heavy drinker than to be a non drinker.
Asprin also works for this. Any kind of training causes inflammation, asprin prevents inflammation. Even if your not training you should take an asprin a day after food. The more the mechanics behind ageing get known, the more it seems ‘ageing = inflammation’.
What's really interesting, the huge study you might have heard of that links wine and longevity
Found that any type of alcohol is associated with increased life span lol It was a huge study with thousands of people and found lifespan goes
Faggy sober people < Hard alcohol < Beer < Wine
I think wine at 3-4 glasses a day has also been linked to very interesting cardiovascular benefits, although that likely ignores the ravaging you might eventually get to your liver and GIT.
Point is get hammered
by Matty Euripides Castourkas on Aug 10, 2011 12:04 PM EDT up reply actions
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