Mini Mikkipedia - The athlete immune

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Creators & Guests

Host

Mikki Williden

What is Mikkipedia?

Mikkipedia is an exploration in all things health, well being, fitness, food and nutrition. I sit down with scientists, doctors, professors, practitioners and people who have a wealth of experience and have a conversation that takes a deep dive into their area of expertise. I love translating science into a language that people understand, so while some of the conversations will be pretty in-depth, you will come away with some practical tips that can be instigated into your everyday life. I hope you enjoy the show!

00:11
Hey everyone, it's Mikki here. You're listening to Mini Mikkipedia on a Monday and I want to chat about athletes and the immune system and what you can do to protect your training, particularly this time of year, or really any time of year, because of course during winter there's a lot more colds and flus around which can absolutely take you out of the game. However, in summer, if you're listening to this from the Northern Hemisphere,

00:40
Obviously training load can play a big role in terms of your ability to stay healthy on your journey to your event. And look, illness is the bane of any sort of serious athlete because it does force you to either take time off training, modify your training, or you might train through illness and then of course risk exacerbating the illness, therefore taking you out of the game.

01:08
for a lot longer. And these are all decisions you have to make at the time. And we know that in order to be as successful as you can, you do need to train. So anything that means that you're less than consistent is going to impact on your ability to front up on race day or game day, being as fit as you possibly could be.

01:32
So first, just to sort of clarify, obviously training and exercise for most people will actually put them at reduced risk of illness because there are some favorable adaptations to the immune system for people who are fitter than someone who isn't or is sedentary. However, significant physical exertion does transiently reduce the metabolism of immune cells during exercise recovery. In a healthy person,

02:00
These circulating numbers of those immune cells do return to normal within five to six hours post exercise. And so despite this acute exercise induced immunosuppression, individuals who chronically exercise do typically, as I said, get less sick than those sedentary individuals because we are healthier as a result of the regular exercise that we do.

02:26
Elite athletes though performing very high training loads do get sick more often than both recreational competitive athletes, which is potentially the category that most of you fall into, and of course sedentary controls. So there is this J-shaped relationship to suggest that total training load in combination with other factors that might be unique to elite athletes does modify that risk for illness.

02:53
There have been studies looking at this and the lead author being Timka, they've recently observed a ten-fold greater likelihood of illness for endurance athletes compared to power athletes. And in addition to more volume leading to illness, elite athletes might also experience a higher incidence of illness because of their higher competitive pressures.

03:17
Specifically, these pressures may lead to anxiety or depression, more fluctuations in training load, long distance travel, causing disturbed sleep and circadian rhythms, and a potentially a lower energy intake in those endurance athletes who sort of run the knife edge in terms of their power to weight ratios. And of course, anyone who has a lower calorie intake.

03:44
has less of an opportunity to get the nutrients in that they need. So some of these practical recommendations for any athlete to ensure that they go through the season without time off for injury or illness are going to be detailed below. And this comes from a paper that was published in 2018, but it's still clearly really relevant today for any of us who are interested in staying well.

04:14
thinking about your training load and your competition load. And I know so many people, and it's very easy to fall into this, as I do myself sometimes, who wants to sign up to all of the events and all of the races, and then subsequently do the necessary training for that, i.e. for a lot of us, that could potentially be over-training. So you do wanna make sure that you develop a detailed, individualized training and competition plan that also provides you

04:42
sufficient recovery, using obviously sleep, easy training sessions or rest, nutrition, hydration and also psychological strategies. And for those of us who set our own training because we are experienced or we don't want to use a coach or for whatever reason, then my recommendation would be to check your training off with other people around you to see how similar it is because sometimes other people can pick up.

05:12
sessions or weeks in that training program that might almost lead you to over train. So you want to sort of know from the get-go that you've got a really solid training program. I would say there are tons of free, really useful resources out there for setting up a really decent training program. Obviously, I mean I say obviously, it's obvious to me, Garmin is one place where we get a lot of our training programs and you can choose between intermediate,

05:42
advanced beginner and the load is actually really reasonable ensuring of course that you select the correct plan according to your experience and the older that we get so us as middle-aged athletes the more we do potentially have to modify and remove some of these recovery runs and just other runs which might be sort of junk miles. The advanced marathon training program from Pete Fitzinger is an excellent book.

06:11
and it is set out for less than 55 miles, between 55 and 70 miles, and 70 plus miles a week. And if you sort of fit yourself within these categories and follow that type of training program and be honest about how you follow it, when I say honest, I mean, I suppose, follow it the way it's intended to be followed, then you could feel far more confident that you're following something which is appropriate for you.

06:40
Another recommendation by these authors is to use small increments when changing training loads. And they recommend typically less than 10% weekly. So as you're building your base and coming into the season and changing your training, try not to increase that training load by more than 10% because this is where you run the risk of overreaching on your immune system. And also have a think about the number of competitions and events that you're going to be entering.

07:10
I remember hearing that really competitive marathon runners should do no more than sort of two key races a year. And look, I think most of us listening to this could probably do more, not because we are more resilient than an elite athlete, but possibly we don't approach all of our events with the same figure and they're not, they don't mean as much. So probably if you're looking at your yearly calendar, you might have two key events, but then of course you'll have the...

07:39
Amongst them, other races where you are just sort of training through and you're not trying to go balls to the wall on those ones. And do monitor for your early signs and symptoms of overreaching, overtraining and illness. You know, like sometimes it's very easy to fool ourselves into thinking that we feel fine and we just should push through, rather than take our foot off the accelerator. And I know many people have the wearables like the Garmin HR-B.

08:08
They look at their sleep time, they might use an aura ring or a whoop bracelet. And both aura and whoop can give you indications earlier rather than later that you may potentially be overreaching. So you want to make sure that you are aware of that so you don't fall into that overtraining category. And this is a hard one and I think it's hard and I wonder whether many of you will as well.

08:35
To avoid those hard key training sessions, if you are experiencing early signs and symptoms of illness, but I know what it's like to be in the throes of a marathon training program, and then notice that you've got a bit of a sniffle or a bit of a sore throat, yet you otherwise feel fine, that or a head cold. These are actually signs where you should back off, take it easy, take a rest, because if you continue to go hard and fast, you...

09:02
are much more likely to ramp up that immune response and come down with something even worse than you otherwise would. So do back off your training if you are experiencing those early signs. And the other thing of course is sleep. You know, like one day, one night sleep restriction isn't right really here or there and you could still go out and do an awesome training session and recover appropriately from that. However, if you are experiencing more chronic sleep.

09:32
disruption or for whatever reason you might be traveling, you might be jet lagged, you may have a sick child that you're getting up and down for, yet you yourself are not sick, then that can be a good time to sort of ease up on the training, even if you are again in that throes of heavy training for your Ironman, your marathon or trail run.

09:55
And you know, as long as you, I've heard this stat before as well, as long as you can consistently follow a good training program for 80% of the time, and you hit 80% of your sessions, you're not going to be too far off where you would otherwise be. If you don't follow those early signs and symptoms, if you continue to train through chronic sleep deprivation, if you massively ramp up your training load, then you do run the risk of illness and injury. And that's what you ideally would want to avoid.

10:25
Some of these other nutritional strategies, which I think are really important, is of course your overall micronutrient intake. It's so easy to focus on just those macronutrients, so making sure that you've got good protein intake, you've got a balance and an appropriate amount of carbohydrate, and you're not running too low in fats and therefore not getting in those essential fatty acids you need. You do have to think about those micronutrients too.

10:54
And we get micronutrients like vitamins from our fruits and vegetables. So ensuring good variety that you're eating in season or buying frozen so they're still at their freshest. So they're still providing good nutrient content and having an abundance of these things in your diet at each meal is a good way to get in your vitamins and phytochemicals.

11:22
that also are important for our overall immune system. Phytochemicals, as I'm sure you remember, are just little plant chemicals that help increase our body's own resilience against reactive oxidative species, pathogens, and things like that. Of course, you'll also know that micronutrients from your protein sources are really critical as well. So I'm thinking zinc, I'm thinking...

11:50
vitamins such as your B12 and your B complex vitamins. I'm thinking choline, iron, obviously. These are also really important and critical to the immune system. So a good amount of animal protein in the diet, again distributed across the day. You've got a great protein intake in the morning, at least 30 grams if not higher, a good protein intake in the evening time.

12:18
lunch and snacks would make up the rest of the protein that you need. And athletes really should be aiming for, to my mind, around two grams per kg body weight per day, if not higher, as discussed with Dr. Jose Antonio on a recent podcast that we did. It can be really useful to get the nutritional gaps of your diet filled by a Good Greens powder. And you guys know that I'm a huge fan of Good Green Vitality from New Zest, who also sponsored the podcast.

12:46
And that really is a broad spectrum multivitamin. Athletes do have a higher requirement for micronutrients that are not covered by those dietary recommended intake levels. So having something that gives you all of your needs in one hit, alongside additional antioxidants and food compounds that help support your nervous system and immune system is just really good sense to my mind. So.

13:15
You'll hear this in the advertisement anyway, but if you use the code MICAPEDIA, you can save 20% on that good green vitality. I do get asked about the difference between nutrient rescue and something like good green vitality, and that one of the major differences that I'm aware of is the fact that the GGV is like a multivitamin and it contains all of those nutrients. Not in huge amounts, not in amounts that will overdose you, but in amounts to support your immune system and your recovery.

13:45
Other nutrient considerations are to check your iron status, because just to remind you, as a trace mineral, it's important for oxygen transport, energy metabolism, and immune function, since adequate iron supply is required by the host for mounting an effective immune response. And iron deficiency would suggest that there will be an impact on cell-mediated immunity.

14:13
So ensuring adequate iron stores to mitigate any negative effects from issues resulting from a compromised iron status is key. Interestingly, in research, and this is new research, this is from 2004 and 2008, there is an incidence rate of 15 to 20% of female athletes and 3 to 4% of male athletes do have inadequate intakes or inadequate levels.

14:42
of iron and if you are going to get an assessment of iron you want more than just ferritin which is what the doctor often orders and you also want hemoglobin and transferrin saturation and you want to ensure that you get your iron status checked when you've had a couple of days of easy training but you haven't trained on the day because ferritin is an acute phase reactant. If you are unwell

15:09
it will increase in response to inflammation from illness or injury and therefore by itself isn't a great indicator of your overall iron status. So that's why you want these other markers checked. If you are an athlete who has historically had iron issues, then getting your iron checked at least twice a year, if not quarterly, particularly if you've had

15:34
iron deficiency anemia where hemoglobin fell well outside or below that normal reference range, it's important to ensure that you have an adequate understanding of where your iron status is. I will also say that get CRP, C-reactive protein, measured too, so you can assess ferritin alongside markers of inflammation. So if CRP is low and ferritin is adequate, you can be more sure that your...

16:03
ferritin status is where it should be. And despite the fact that the normal reference range for ferritin begins at 20, it's well known that ferritin should be above 50. And if you are going into a heavy training load, if it's a little bit higher, it's almost like banking iron and it almost makes good sense. I would not want your iron status or your ferritin to be 200, 220 plus as that is too high.

16:33
So there really is a bit of a sweet spot with iron. But ensuring that it is in that sweet spot where your ferritin is good and your other iron markers are where they need to be will go a long way to helping you avoid illness across this winter or summer season. On iron, taking an iron supplement if you are low is or you're coming into heavy training could be a really good idea. And having an iron biglycinate is

17:02
a type of supplement which doesn't constipate as much as the Ferragard does that the doctor gives you. And just to remind you, high iron containing foods such as red meat and mussels, and including these daily in your diet where possible is recommended, as well as of course organ meats. Pate does have a higher iron concentration depending on how much of that you're going to eat. And eggs do contain some iron as well.

17:31
And it's recommended that menstruating women have up to about 18 milligrams of iron a day because we don't actually absorb very much, like maybe 20% if you follow an omnivore approach. Whereas for male athletes, the recommended amount is 8 milligrams. Something else to be mindful of is illness and injury that comes from training in the heat. And I thought that I would highlight Currens here, which is another sponsor of the podcast

18:00
and for good reason because it's an excellent product. Most recent research shows that if you are training in a hot environment, taking currants can help reduce that GI distress or gut related damage that can occur from that change in temperature. So any sort of GI distress does rock up the immune system and make you more prone to illness and injury. So currants, in addition to its role in helping with our

18:28
immune system and recovery and performance can help reduce GI distress. So that would be another consideration. So we've got good green vitality. You've got making sure your iron status is where it needs to be and if not supplementing with iron. You've got currants to help support recovery, your immune system and GI related stress in the heat. And also, of course, zinc.

18:54
is an integral part of our immune response. And if you don't have an adequate animal protein intake, you may be lower in zinc also. So a zinc supplement could be a good idea. Of course you could get this checked in the blood, although I would say that it's not necessarily a great indicator of overall zinc status. But if you do get it checked in the blood, you do want your zinc intake to be around 15 and not...

19:24
down sort of near nine or 10. One other word on zinc, if you do choose to take it as a supplement, picolinate is a good type of zinc to take and taking zinc in the evening time and your iron in the morning time is a good way to separate those two. It goes without saying that vitamin D is essential for the immune system and in New Zealand we're very low in vitamin D in our ability to synthesize vitamin D across winter.

19:54
ensuring that you are taking a vitamin D supplement and taking that vitamin D with either a K2 or a little bit of magnesium can help support the role that vitamin D plays in the body. And even if it is sunny outside, remember that the sun doesn't have strong enough UVB rays to help our skin synthesize it. So this is why a supplement can be a really good idea. Two other

20:22
potentially consider, which aren't things that you can measure. One is colostrum, and there is some pretty good research to show that colostrum can help both iron status, reducing oxidative stress and inflammation. And I came across this trial that showed that six months of supplementation with colostrum

20:52
free radicals that exercise produces. So taking colostrum, we know it's really important in immune systems in babies, and also in athletes, it could be something to consider. And for what it's worth, I talked about colostrum back in January when I broke my leg and I was investigating supplements that could be helpful for bone healing, and this was one of them. And so I sourced down one from Nutra NZ.

21:20
N-U-T-R-I-N-Z and took a teaspoon of that a day. So if you ask someone who needs that additional immune support, that could be an option for you also. And finally, black garlic. Like this is definitely something which has a lot of good research behind it. I did a mini review for NutriLife a few years ago, looking at their black garlic supplement and I was super impressed by some of the findings of

21:49
clinical trials showing its effectiveness for supporting immune health. So that would be something else that you could throw in there to help support your overall immune health at this time. And finally, it's important to avoid excessive alcohol intake. Of course, follow stress management techniques that reduce the extraneous load of life hassles and stresses so you're not ramping up your cortisol at every moment outside of training.

22:16
that you develop coping strategies that minimize the internalized impact of negative life events and emotions, and that you periodically monitor psychological stresses using available instruments. So these are all conclusions from the authors of the review paper I was looking at. And it makes sense, right, that when you place additional stress on your body, you're always going to place more demands on your immune system.

22:41
So it doesn't matter if that stress is physical through training or psychological through other measures. It is something that ideally you would manage properly across a day-to-day basis to reduce its impact on your immune system. So hopefully these are just some things which I'm sure all of you are doing, but if not, you may have gotten some other helpful tips from. And let me know what supplements you enjoy taking as part of your winter or summer immune system.

23:11
support toolbox, I'd be super keen to let others know about them as well. I know there are many out there, so what do you swear by? Let me know. You can hit me up on Instagram, threads and Twitter @mikkiwilliden, Facebook @mikkiwillidennutrition or head to my website mikkiwilliden.com and book a one-on-one call with me. All right, team, you have the best week. See you later.