Boosting the Immune System

[Smiledriver]

To the people on the forum that know more about this than me. Despite the vagueness inherent in the claim, is there anything to the idea that you can "...boost the immune system?"

[Rolfe]

Not a lot, in terms of plausible theory or hard evidence. A pet food company had to pull a series of ads for a cat food that made that claim.

You can educate the immune system.

It's called vaccination.

Rolfe.

[Fnord]

"Boosting"? Not quite ... but fatigue, malnourishment, chemical addictions, and medications can all compromise your immune system. Get rest, eat well, use no alcohol or nicotine, and make sure your prescriptions are the right ones and used correctly, and you'll likely not reduce the effectiveness and efficiency of your immune system too much.

Yes, vaccinations do help.

[DRBUZZ0]

Wow that is vague. This sounds a lot like the claims about some sort of alternative health product. Keep something in mind though: Boosting the immune system might not always be a good thing. allergies and some other conditions are caused by the immune system over responding or attacking the body. The immune system is what the HIV virus uses to reproduce

Thus "boosting" it could make a condition worse.

But in general, yeah an active immune system is good. Can you give some more context?