Metals can help improve immunity level
According to a study led by researchers from University Paul Sabatier from Toulouse, cells of our immune system could use Zinc in very low doses to kill bacteria and save patients from diseases such as tuberculosis.Iron is a metal which helps bacteria increase their growth rate at very high levels. One of the ways in which our immune system kills the "bad bacteria" in our organism is by depriving these organisms of iron and in this way stops them from growing.
According to the researchers that conducted the present study, our immune system is also able to mobilize in small amounts other types of metals which helps kill bacteria, such as zinc.
These results of the study appeared after analyzing the bacteria responsible for causing tuberculosis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and the bacteria responsible for E. coli, Escherichia coli.
Tuberculosis is a lethal infectious disease which attacks usually the lungs, but in some cases can also attack other parts of the body. This bacterium is responsible for up to 2 million deaths yearly.
E. coli is a bacterium which can usually be found in the lower intestine of organisms that have blood. In small amounts is harmless, but in larger amounts causes food poisoning and infections of the urinary system.
The researchers of this study have discovered in the patients that had one of these two bacteria ingested, an accumulation of zinc.
They also observed that on the surface of macrophages, the most important cells in our bodies which help the immune system adapt and defend the body, are proteins which help protect the cells from the overexposure to zinc and thus play the role of a pump.
Although zinc is a very toxic metal in large amounts, but as this study concluded, it provides benefits for the immune system since it is being used by the cells for killing bacteria.
Researchers are now debating whether a supplementation of metals in the patients' treatment would be beneficial and are trying to develop antibiotics which could help the microphages produce more zinc.
The study was published in the journal "Cell host and Microbe", September issue.
