Nutrition, Immunity, and Infection

Both nutrition deficiency and overnutrition can have a significant effect on the risk of infection. Nutrition, Immunity, and Infection focuses on the influence of diet on the immune system and how altering one’s diet helps prevent and treat infections and chronic diseases. This book reviews basic immunology and discusses changes in immune function throughout the life course. It features comprehensive chapters on obesity and the role of immune cells in adipose tissue; undernutrition and malnutrition; infant immune maturation; pre- and probiotics; mechanisms of immune regulation by various vitamins and minerals; nutrition and the aging immune system; nutrition interactions with environmental stress; and immunity in the global health arena.

Nutrition, Immunity, and Infection describes the various roles of nutrients and other food constituents on immune function, host defense, and resistance to infection. It describes the impact of infection on nutritional status through a translational approach. Chapters bring together molecular, cellular, and experimental studies alongside human trials so that readers can assess both the evidence for the effects of the food component being discussed and the mechanisms underlying those effects. The impact of specific conditions including obesity, anorexia nervosa, and HIV infection is also considered.

Chapter authors are experts in nutrition, immunity, and infection from all around the globe, including Europe, Australia, Brazil, India, and the United States. This book is a valuable resource for nutrition scientists, food scientists, dietitians, health practitioners, and students interested in nutrition and immunity.

Philip C. Calder is professor of nutritional immunology within the Human Development and Health Academic Unit of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom. He has a PhD in biochemistry from the University of Auckland (New Zealand) and a DPhil in biochemistry from the University of Oxford (UK). He is a registered nutritionist and a fellow of both the Royal Society of Biology and the Association for Nutrition. He has broad-ranging research interests. Much of his research has focused on the metabolism and functionality of fatty acids with an emphasis on the roles of omega-3 fatty acids in immunity, inflammation, and cardiometabolic disease. He has received several awards for his work including the Sir David Cuthbertson Medal (1995), the Belgian Danone Institute Chair (2004), the Nutricia International Award (2007), the European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism's Cuthbertson Lecture (2008), the Muriel Bell Award (2009), the Louisiana State University Chancellor's Award in Neuroscience and Medicine (2011), the Normann Medal from the German Society for Fat Science (2012), the Ralph Holman Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Oil Chemists' Society (2015), the British Association for Parenteral & Enteral Nutrition's Pennington Lecture (2015), the British Nutrition Foundation Prize (2015), and the Danone International Prize for Nutrition (2016). He has served on many committees of professional societies and was for three years president of the International Society for the Study of Fatty Acids and Lipids (2009-2012). In 2016, he completed a three-year term as chair of the Scientific Committee of the European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism and started a three-year term as president of the Nutrition Society. Dr. Calder was editor-in-chief of the British Journal of Nutrition from 2006 to 2013, and he is currently an associate editor of Clinical Science, Journal of Nutrition, Clinical Nutrition, Lipids, and Nutrition Research. He is a member of the several other editorial boards of journals in the nutrition, clinical science, and lipidology fields. Professor Calder has more than 500 research publications (excluding abstracts), including more than 250 peer-reviewed research papers, and more than 150 review articles in journals. His work has been cited over 22,000 times and he is listed by Thomson Reuters as a Highly Cited Researcher.

Dr. Anil D. Kulkarni received his doctorate degree (faculty of medicine) from the Queen's University of Belfast, N. Ireland. He is currently Professor of Surgery in the Department of Surgery at the University of Texas McGovern Medical School in the world's largest medical center in Houston, Texas. His research specialization is in the role of nutrition in immune system function in health and disease and has extensive in applied, basic, and translational research. He has background in research & development and technology development. He has had two U. S. Patents on nutritional product development for modulation immune system function and nutritional formulations for wound healing. He also teaches medical students and mentors students from high school to graduate and medical students. He has traveled internationally extensively with numerous research collaborations in several countries in Asia, Europe, and Latin America. He is known internationally for his work in immunonutrition and functional foods and has been invited frequently as keynote speaker. He mentors medical students for their global health concentration as a part of their curriculum. He has been on the editorial boards of international journals and serves as peer reviewer. One of his current active interests is in Global Health activities and education. Most of the current academic global health initiatives have largely ignored or not focused on prevention or therapeutic applications to improve global health and education. He also develops international exchange programs for faculty, staff, and students. He has trained several international and domestic graduate and medical students. Recently he is a recipient of two international awards as recognition his contributions of global work- "Hind Rattan Award" at the 33rd International Congress of Association of Indians and "Fulbright- Nehru Scholarship 2014 for Professional and Teaching Excellence ". He is Honorary Professor at the Qingdao Municipal Hospital of the Qingdao University, China. He is also a Member of ARTOI (Associazione Ricerca Terapie Oncologiche Integrate), Italy.