Can supplements actually boost your immune system?

Infectious disease doctors, researchers, and supplement experts say there isn't much evidence that these products actually help

- Katie Mogg

While perusing the supplement aisle, you'll likely pass bottles of pills and gummies claiming to boost your immune system.

And if you've ever felt tempted to try them, you're far from alone: Recent research suggests that millions of Americans have used dietary supplements for those supposed benefits.

The new study was published last week in JAMA Network Open and included more than 15,000 participants. It found that about 1 in 9 US residents used supplements to enhance their immune systems between January 2017 and March 2020.

"It comes up all the time," said Dr Michael Ben-Aderet, the associate medical director of hospital epidemiology at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles who wasn't involved with the study. "There's really this sense of people trying to optimise their health." Many people also used the supplements without a doctor's recommendation, the researchers found. But infectious disease doctors, researchers and supplement experts say there isn't much evidence that these products actually help.

What does the science say?

Supplements claiming to support immunity often contain vitamins and minerals necessary for the immune system. So it isn't unreasonable to believe that these products could help you sidestep common viral infections or lessen symptoms once you've become sick.

In fact, some nutrients such as vitamins A, C, D and zinc are needed to protect against germs, and deficiencies in them raise your risk of becoming sick, said Dr Mahtab Jafari, a professor of pharmaceutical sciences at the University of California, Irvine.