Nutrition, Immune Function, and Infectious Disease.

Consuming a diet meeting energy demands and providing essential nutrients promotes a healthy immune system. Suboptimal nutritional status, resulting from either under- or overnutrition, disrupts immune health and compromises resistance to, and recovery from, infections. Multiple micronutrients contribute to immune health, for example vitamin D, iron, selenium and zinc. Inadequate intake and suboptimal micronutrient status have been observed in military personnel, which potentially increases the risk of acquiring, and recovering from, infectious diseases and may compromise readiness and lethality. This manuscript briefly reviews the relationship between nutrition, immune function, and infectious disease, and provides resources and future research directions.