Respiratory and gastrointestinal infections limit an athlete's availability to train and compete. To better understand how sick an athlete will become when they have an infection, a paradigm recently adopted from ecological immunology is presented that includes the concepts of immune resistance (the ability to destroy microbes) and immune tolerance (the ability to dampen defence yet control infection at a non-damaging level). This affords a new theoretical perspective on how nutrition may influence athlete immune health; paving the way for focused research efforts on tolerogenic nutritional supplements to reduce the infection burden in athletes. Looking through this new lens clarifies why nutritional supplements targeted at improving immune resistance in athletes show limited benefits: evidence supporting the old paradigm of immune suppression in athletes is lacking. Indeed, there is limited evidence that the dietary practices of athletes suppress immunity, e.g. low-energy availability and train- or sleep-low carbohydrate. It goes without saying, irrespective of the dietary preference (omnivorous, vegetarian), that athletes are recommended to follow a balanced diet to avoid a frank deficiency of a nutrient required for proper immune function. The new theoretical perspective provided sharpens the focus on tolerogenic nutritional supplements shown to reduce the infection burden in athletes, e.g. probiotics, vitamin C and vitamin D. Further research should demonstrate the benefits of candidate tolerogenic supplements to reduce infection in athletes; without blunting training adaptations and without side effects.

中文翻译：

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营养与运动员免疫健康：旧范式的新观点。

呼吸道和胃肠道感染限制了运动员进行训练和比赛的能力。为了更好地了解运动员感染后的病情，最近提出了一种生态免疫学范式，其中包括免疫抗性（破坏微生物的能力）和免疫耐受（减弱防御能力但控制感染的能力）的概念。在无损水平上）。这为营养如何影响运动员的免疫健康提供了新的理论观点。为减少致敏性营养补充剂以减轻运动员的感染负担铺平了道路。透过这种新视角，可以弄清楚为何旨在提高运动员免疫抵抗力的营养补品显示出有限的益处：缺乏支持运动员免疫抑制的旧范式的证据。确实，仅有有限的证据表明运动员的饮食习惯会抑制免疫力，例如低能量供应和训练不足或睡眠不足的碳水化合物。不言而喻，无论饮食习惯（杂食，素食）如何，建议运动员遵循均衡饮食，以免坦白缺乏适当免疫功能所需的营养。新的理论观点使人们更加关注能够降低运动员感染负担的致耐受性营养补品，例如益生菌，维生素C和维生素D。不会削弱训练适应性，也没有副作用。