HOW THE IMMUNE SYSTEM LEARNS LESSONS FROM DAMAGE AND WHAT ROLE MICRONUTRIENTS PLAY
What do a child’s immune system and children have in common? Both still have a lot to learn. While children explore the world in a playful way and collect sticks and stones, the child’s defence system explores its microbial environment and earns its battle scars in this way. To ensure that both spring chickens are well prepared for the adventures of life, micronutrients provide important aids to protection.
When the first cool breezes blow over sun-kissed noses, this is a sign that it will soon be time to say goodbye to hot, bright days flooded with light. With the colder temperatures, not only do light summer clothes go to the back of the wardrobe, but the topic of defence comes increasingly to the fore. Parents in particular are not only concerned with their own immune system, but also with that of their children. After all, the child’s defence system is still developing and is challenged not only by the change in seasons, but also by social contacts in schools, kindergartens, etc.
When a baby first sees the light of the world, its immune system is still in its infancy. Although this new mortal has an innate immune response that can detect and destroy unwanted and non-specific intruders, the specific immune defense – a further powerful immune system – must first mature over the course of the first ten years of life. So while children are exploring their environment with curiosity and carrying home a few “trophies” with them, the child’s immune system is collecting fighting experience and learning to differentiate between harmless microorganisms and those that need combatting.
In order to be able to fight a pathogen with specific agents, the immune system must have come into contact with the attacker before. This is the only way it can “learn from damage” – by committing the intruder to memory. If the body police come into contact with the attacker again, certain special units (lymphocytes) are alerted, antibodies are produced and the germ is destroyed quickly and in a targeted manner. Around the 10th year of life, the immune system has survived its toughest phase in its education; it knows the most common microbial threats in its environment and has developed into an elite fighter.
The intestine is an important actor in our immune network from childhood onwards. In order to dispel unwanted guests, it draws on a sophisticated three-layer defence system: the intestinal mucosa, the intestinal flora and the intestinal associated immune system (GALT – gut-associated lymphoid tissue). The latter impresses with unimaginable numbers: For example, 70% of all immune cells are located in the small and large intestines and just under 80% of our immune responses occur here. In addition, our 100 billion strong intestinal flora forms a bulwark against harmful intruders and trains our immune cells for life.
It is therefore all the more important to keep the intestines and its inhabitants healthy during childhood days in particular. This is best achieved with a healthy and varied diet. Our little residents, the intestinal bacteria, enjoy soluble fibre in particular (e.g. from linseed, psyllium seeds, chicory, apples, citrus fruits, etc.).
A well-functioning, powerful protection system is the best defence. In this sense, children are well equipped with the following tips:
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