A CHILD’S growing years may be a time that brings parents immense joy, but it is also a time that brings fearful anticipation, as a child’s maturing immune system also makes him more vulnerable to infections and other childhood diseases.
As Dr David Philippe, research scientist at Nestlé research centre notes in a press briefing about childhood immunity and innovations in milk, “Childhood is a time of most rapid growth and dramatic changes. A child is experiencing his environment and he is susceptible to diseases.”
That is why a fully functional and well-balanced immune system is important for a child’s health, and efforts should be made to help the child build up his immune system from a young age, he says.
Before looking into ways parents can help their children build up their immune system, let’s look at the way a child’s immune system develops.
How a child's immune system develops
By the time a baby is born, his body is already equipped with a complex collection of tissues and organs that constitutes the immune system: the blood, the lymphatic system, thymus, spleen, skin, and mucosa (mucous membranes).
At this time, non-specific defences (innate immunity) mounted by cells of his immune system will provide some protection against infective agents that manage to get past physical barriers such as skin and mucous membranes.
Meanwhile, antibodies passed on to him via his mother’s breast milk will help ward off infections too.
However, he needs to develop adaptive or acquired immunity, whereby his immune system learns to recognise and remember the “intruders” it experiences throughout his growing years.
This way, his immune system can mount specific responses to kill bacteria, viruses, and parasites once they enter his body in the future.
Dr Philippe explains: “A child’s immune system is very young, so the system has to learn to recognise harmful bacteria, viruses, and parasites.”
So, the aim of helping a child build up his immunity is not to ensure the absence of illnesses, but to minimise the frequency of illness and avoid life-threatening diseases.
As Ho Hau Chieh, a business executive manager in Nestlé describes, “Falling sick is common among children but it should never be considered a childhood rite of passage. All forms of illness are best prevented because they interrupt the child’s daily activities and learning. They can also give rise to serious complications.”
Nuitritious diet
Providing the child with good nutrition is a way to do that so that the child grows up healthily, says Dr Philippe.
“Towards this end, it is crucial for young children to eat a varied and well-balanced diet that has sufficient amounts of ‘immunonutrients’ like vitamins A, C, and E, as well as minerals like iron, zinc, and selenium,” he adds.
Also, there is a role to play by probiotics and prebiotics as well, he says. Through his research, he has found interesting interactions between probiotics and the epithelial cells on the surface of the gut.
This has led him to believe that probiotics can be beneficial in enhancing the body’s immune system and reducing harmful bacteria in the gut.
“When you have harmful bacteria in the gut, they interact with the epithelial cells. This will cause the epithelial cells to induce a lot of danger signals – they are telling the immune system that ‘we have to develop a reaction because we need to remove this bacteria in our body’,” says Dr Philippe.
So, in a similar way, probiotics prime the immune system to be better prepared to mount an immune response against harmful bacteria in the gut.
Even then, he admits that one cannot compare a child who consumes probiotics with another who does not.
“Fifty years ago, we didn’t have probiotics and children were as healthy. I think what we are trying to say is that if you have probiotics in your nutrition, you can help the body be healthier.”
