The role of exercise and nutrition on the functioning of the immune system

In the course of their practice, integrative healthcare practitioners encounter patients who are on an exercise continuum, a continuum that ranges from sedentary adults with good intentions all the way to elite athletes. The rapid expansion of research under the umbrella term ‘sports nutrition’ is relevant not only to the very small percentage of North Americans who might be considered elite athletes, but may also be of use to more ordinary folks .We hypothesize that the same nutritional variables that assist inathletic success, including the Mediterranean diet, plant-based antioxidants such as astaxanthin, cherries and beetjuice, fish oil, branched chain amino acids, and creatine, may be factors with much more broad public health implications in terms of being able to support lifestyle change among the ordinary North American population.

Keywords:

Diet Elements , physical activity , sports nutrition.