Strengthening Immune Function: Avoid Immune-Harming Foods

Some foods can harm your body's ability to fight disease. The worst offenders: foods high in fat, especially saturated fat.

You may already know that saturated fats increase the risk of heart disease. But saturated fats also inflict harm on the immune system. Americans get most of their saturated fat from meat, milk, and other animal products.

Vegetable oils are less likely to raise cholesterol levels, compared to animal fats. But when it comes to the immune system, vegetable oils are no better than animal fats. In experiments, researchers have found that when they infuse soybean oil intravenously into volunteers, their white blood cells no longer work as well.4 Test-tube experiments show similar results.⁵

Likewise, omega-3 fatty acids, which are found in fish oils, green vegetables, and soybean, flax seed, and canola oils, can also compromise immune function.^6-8

The bottom line on fats and oils: Greatly reduce your intake of all of them.