Maggi (Cnr): “The elderly respond better to the vaccine with the Mediterranean diet”

“A study recently published in Nature shows that the Mediterranean diet improves the response to vaccines with lymphocyte stimulation. They are fundamental evidences when we talk about health promotion. The consumption of fruit and vegetables according to the 5 servings per day increases the antibody response to the anti-pneumococcal vaccine in the elderly, especially in those not already vaccinated previously ”. Thus Stefania Maggi, president of the Mediterranean Diet Foundation and CNR research manager of the Institute of Neuroscience, Padua-Aging section, speaking, this morning in Brindisi, at the event “Successful aging: the role of vaccines and lifestyles” organized by HappyAgeing (Italian Alliance for Active Aging) with the Mediterranean Diet Foundation, thanks to the patronage of the Municipality of Brindisi and Federsanità Anci Puglia and with the non-conditioning contribution of Sanofi. The initiative was an opportunity for discussion to explore the issue of the importance of vaccination personalization in the elderly as the main tool for active aging. The event was also attended by Raffaele Antonelli Incalzi, director of Uoc Gerontology, Campus Bio-Medico University Hospital and former President of Sigg (Italian Society of Geriatrics and Gerontology); Pietro Luigi Lopalco, full professor of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine, University of Salento; Nehludoff Albano, section Promotion of health and well-being, Puglia Region, and Michele Conversano, president of Cts HappyAgeing. “On the impact of nutrition on the flu vaccine – continues Maggi – a meta-analysis on about 2,000 people shows that the use of probiotics and prebiotics, which stimulate the intestinal flora, have a positive impact on the vaccine response. Furthermore, in the immunocompromised elderly, providing probiotic foods in the context of a varied diet, gives better responses than the single supplement “. Knowledge on the molecular and biological mechanisms that associate nutrition and pathologies is broadened. “The diet rich in fiber and fermented foods (yoghurt and aged cheeses), components of the Mediterranean diet – explains the expert – have a positive impact both on the intestinal microbiota and, directly, on the immune system. Fermented foods in particular feed the biodiversity of the microbiota, change the type of intestinal bacteria to the advantage of positives that reduce low-grade inflammation, typical of aging ”, which reduces the immune response (immunoscence). The impact of nutrition on health is also confirmed by studies made with single nutrients: a type of vitamin or just a type of fiber. “It is the combination of foods and the dietary pattern that gives the results on the immune response,” says Maggi. It is also not okay for an elderly person to eat protein in a single meal. The protein intake, for example, “must be distributed with equilibrium and be part of the composition of all meals. Nutrition is a medical intervention – recalls the expert – even in the disease prevention phase, but it must be a global approach to nutrition, not a single component. ”The health of the elderly worsens due to malnutrition. Sarcopenia, that is from the loss of muscle mass, is an indication of deficiencies in proteins and micronutrients. “The lack of minerals, which is fundamental for the proper functioning of the immune system, whose malfunctioning increases the risk of infections and the poor response to the vaccine, is often overlooked – specifies the expert. In turn, infections reduce the absorption of nutrients and the vicious circle starts again. “In all infectious diseases, not only in Covid, there is a lot of interest in identifying the individual factors that increase vulnerability for a reduction in defenses immune. It has long been known that “sedentary lifestyle, Western diet with added sugars, processed foods, stress, intestinal dysbiosis, sleep disorders, have a negative impact not only on the incidence but also on the prognosis, for example, of Covid”, remembers Maggi, underlining that, in addition to nutrition, lifestyle and the environment, in particular exposure to pollutants, also play a role on health. Obesity, “a sure risk factor for the negative prognosis of Covid – he adds – is a cause of chronic cardiovascular and neoplastic metabolic diseases, but also of infectious diseases and decreased response to the vaccine. In the case of tetanus influenza covi hepatitis B: there are solid indications on the biological and molecular mechanisms for the reduced efficacy of the vaccine: chronic inflammation and micronutrient deficiency in the obese ”.