Learning and the Immune System

The Conversation on the immune System:

• Recent evidence also suggests immune learning is strongly affected by environmental factors, including diet, lifestyle, our surroundings and previous infections.
  
  Immune responses to the yearly flu vaccine, for example, are impacted more by environmental factors than genetic differences. This suggests we can improve our immune responses by altering life experiences.

 Plasticity is a hallmark of any successful species. Top down control is far from optimal for health.