A carnivore's guide to health

As the colder nights loom and our (questionable) summer comes to an end, we’re feeling pretty excited about hot chocolates, open fires, game pie and knitted jumpers (too soon)? As we prepare to enjoy all the wonderfully cosy things that Autumn and Winter will bring, the threat of a winter cold is also, unfortunately, just around the corner.

If we asked you to think of immune-boosting foods you might well think of ginger tea, garlic by the bulb and other plant-based concoctions. But did you know, meat and fish can also provide us with an abundance of essential nutrients important for keeping our immune system healthy?

Red meat & Zinc

Red meats like beef are a brilliant source of zinc, helping to keep our immune system running smoothly. Zinc acts as an antioxidant which helps to keep pesky free-radicals under control (yes, they are actually a thing, not just something conjured up and used to sell shampoo). When we’re ill we tend to produce more of these free-radicals, so having plenty of zinc in the diet can help to combat this.

Weight for weight, pumpkin seeds (one of the best veggie sources) contain more zinc than red meat. There’s around 70% of daily zinc requirements in 100g of pumpkin seeds, however, eating 100g of pumpkin seeds in a single day is a gigantic feat of human achievement. A small portion of venison haunch steak is probably a little bit easier.

Beef liver & Vitamin A

Beef liver is an incredibly rich source of vitamin A. Vitamin A is an important nutrient for our immune system, boosting overall immune function and keeping inflammation at bay. Plant-based sources on the other hand, do not contain vitamin A directly. These veggie sources contain a pre-cursor which our very clever bodies can transform into the active nutrient.

Having said this, equally clever scientists are busy learning all about our genes and how they interact with the foods we eat. We’re learning more and more about genetic variations, including some which make it hard for our body to convert the precursor of vitamin A into the active form. For people affected by this genetic variation, eating exclusively plant-based sources of vitamin A might increase their risk of deficiency.

Whether you’re in this camp of people or not is difficult to say until the science becomes clearer and the genetic testing a tad less expensive, but we’re not sure we fancy taking our chances.

Seafood & Selenium

Next up is selenium. Rich sources of selenium include sardines, salmon, cod and the nutrition powerhouse that is liver. Brazil nuts are a brilliant veggie source, although this does depend on the quality of the soil where the nuts have been grown. Other vegetarian sources (think wholegrains and seeds) do contain decent amounts, but definitely not as much as the brazil nuts, seafood and other animal-based sources we’ve already mentioned.

Like zinc, selenium is a really important nutrient in keeping our antioxidant defence system in tip-top condition, helping to fight off free radicals and battle inflammation.

Sardines, salmon & Vitamin D

Vitamin D has recently become a bit of a buzz-nutrient, seemingly linked to just about anything. As it happens, the immune system is no exception to this and nearly every immune cell in the body responds to vitamin D.

The richest food source of vitamin D is salmon, followed up by sardines, cow’s milk and tuna (in smaller amounts). Fun fact alert: mushrooms can also contain vitamin D, but only if they’ve been left in the sunshine, triggering a chemical process which produces shroom-based vit D.

However, as fun as this mushroom fact is, the bottom line is that we can’t rely on food to get enough vitamin D. In reality, we should be basking in the sunshine to top up on this nutrient (although when the sunshine is limited getting your salmon quota in is no bad idea).

Oily fish & Omega 3

Vitamin D isn’t the only reason to pop a sustainably sourced salmon fillet into your shopping basket. Oily fish (like salmon) is also a brilliant source of the immune-boosting nutrient, omega-3. Omega-3 has been a hot topic in the science community for a number of years now and we know it can impact our immune cells, having a strong anti-inflammatory effect.

Veggie sources of omega-3 include things like flax. Flaxseeds may be delicious in granola but unfortunately, they’re not actually a source of the specific fats associated with immune-boosting benefits. Instead (a bit like vitamin A) these veggie sources contain precursors which need to be converted, requiring lots of helpful nutrients along the way. If you’re low in any of these helper nutrients this can upset the whole process, a bit like dominos.

So, what about the veg?

There are of course, a whole heap of immune-boosting nutrients which are abundant in fruit and veg. Vitamin C, vitamin E and folate are among some of these, while a particular plant chemical in green tea (called EGCG for short) is another!

Here at Field & Flower we’re huge advocates of great quality and ethically sourced meat and fish, nutrient dense and packed with essential vitamins and minerals. All of this helps to support our immune system and keep those pesky winter colds at bay, sort of like a real-food dietary supplement. Combine grass-fed, free-range meat and sustainably sourced fish with plenty of fruit and veg and you’ll almost definitely be hitting your immune-boosting nutrient requirements.

Molly is a Registered Nutritional Therapist.

The nerdy bit:
1. Avery, J., & Hoffmann, P. (2018). ‘Selenium, Selenoproteins, and Immunity’, Nutrients, 10(9).
2. Borel, P. & Desmarchelier, C. (2017). ‘Genetic Variations Associated with Vitamin A Status and Vitamin A Bioavailability’, Nutrients, 9(3).
3. Huang, Z., Liu, Y., Qi, G. et al. (2018). ‘Role of Vitamin A in the Immune System’, Journal of Clinical Medicine, 7(9).
4. Maggini, S., Pierre, A., & Calder, P. (2018). ‘Immune Function and Micronutrient Requirements Change over the Life Course’, Nutrients, 10(10).
5. Wu, D., Lewis, E.D., Pae, M., et al. (2019). ‘Nutritional Modulation of Immune Function: Analysis of Evidence, Mechanisms, and Clinical Relevance’, Frontiers in Immunology, 15(9).