Methods of determining a perceived immune fitness of an individual

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a method of identifying and / or quantifying a perceived immune fitness of an individual. The method comprises identifying a frequency and / or a severity of one or more conditions experienced by an individual. The one or more conditions includes sore throat, headaches, flu, runny nose, coughing, cold sores, boils, mild fever, warts, pneumonia, bronchitis, sinusitis, sudden high fever, ear infection, diarrhea, meningitis, eye infection, sepsis, long healing injuries, shortness of breath, skin problems, muscle and joint pain, and common cold. The method further includes calculating a perceived immune fitness score of the individual based on up to 10 of the one or more conditions with the highest frequency and / or severity.

Description

TITLEMETHODS OF DETERMINING A PERCEIVED IMMUNE FITNESS OF AN INDIVIDUALTECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present disclosure generally relates to methods of identifying and / or quantifying a perceived immune fitness of a healthy individual and methods of improving and / or maintaining an immune fitness in an individual.BACKGROUND

[0002] A healthy immune system is imperative to fighting illness and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Reduced immune functioning may lead to chronic illness and may have a negative impact on the quality of life. Many factors can influence a person’s immune functioning. Therefore, it may be important for an otherwise healthy individual to determine their immune fitness, so that they may improve their immune functioning and / or avoid negative influences.

[0003] Currently, there are ways to assess an individual’s immune fitness. However, some of these methods are very expensive, time-consuming, and require invasive techniques. Further, some techniques involve the use of an immune questionnaire, but these questionnaires are not used in practice and have not been validated with blood immune parameters.SUMMARY

[0004] The present inventors surprisingly determined methods of quantifying a healthy individual’s immune fitness, which can differentiate individuals with optimal and suboptimal fitness, that is cost-effective, non-invasive, and clinically validated. Further, the present inventors surprisingly found that steps taken dependent on an individual’s immune fitness score can maintain or improve immune fitness. Accordingly, in a general embodiments, the present disclosure provides a method of identifying and / or quantifying a perceived immune fitness of an individual, the method comprising: identifying a frequency and / or a severity of one or more conditions experienced by an individual, wherein the one or more conditions is selected from the group consisting of: sore throat, headaches, flu, runny nose, coughing, cold sores, boils, mild fever, warts, pneumonia, bronchitis, sinusitis, sudden high fever, ear infection, diarrhea, meningitis, eye infection, sepsis, long healing injuries, shortness of breath, skin problems,muscle and joint pain, and common cold; and calculating a perceived immune fitness score of the individual based on up to 10 of the one or more conditions with the highest frequency and / or severity.

[0005] In some embodiments, the calculating of the perceived immune fitness score of the individual is further based on a sex of the individual and / or based on an age of the individual. In some embodiments, the perceived immune fitness score of the individual is determined one or more times at discrete intervals.

[0006] In some embodiment, the method further comprises assigning a value to each of the one or more conditions experienced by the individual, the value representative of the frequency and / or the severity of the corresponding condition, and the value of each of the one or more conditions is on a scale of 1 to 5. In some embodiments, the method further comprises validating the perceived immune fitness score by measuring one or more blood immune biomarkers of the individual. In some embodiments, the method is computer implemented.

[0007] In another aspect, the present disclosure provides a method of improving and / or maintaining an immune fitness in an individual, the method comprising: identifying and / or quantifying a perceived immune fitness of an individual, wherein the identifying and / or quantifying the perceived immune fitness of the individual comprises: identifying a frequency and / or severity of one or more conditions experienced by an individual, wherein the one or more conditions is selected from the group consisting of: sore throat, headaches, flu, runny nose, coughing, cold sores, boils, mild fever, warts, pneumonia, bronchitis, sinusitis, sudden high fever, ear infection, diarrhea, meningitis, eye infection, sepsis, long healing injuries, shortness of breath, skin problems, muscle and joint pain, and common cold, and calculating a perceived immune fitness score of the individual based on up to 10 of the one or more conditions with the highest frequency and / or severity. The method further comprises providing a dietary recommendation and / or nutritional solution to the individual, wherein the dietary recommendation and / or nutritional solution is based on the perceived immune fitness score of the individual and is effective to improve and / or maintain the immune fitness in the individual.

[0008] In some embodiments, the method further comprises administering to the individual a nutritional intervention based on the dietary recommendation and / or nutritional solution. The nutritional intervention may comprise at least one food product selected from the group consisting of a beverage product, a food supplement, an oral nutritional supplement (ONS), a medical food, and any combination thereof.

[0009] In another aspect, the present disclosure provides a method of determining an immune fitness of a healthy individual, the method comprising: identifying a frequency and / or a severity of one or more conditions experienced by the healthy individual, wherein the one or more conditions is selected from the group consisting of: sore throat, headaches, flu, runny nose, coughing, cold sores, boils, mild fever, warts, pneumonia, bronchitis, sinusitis, sudden high fever, ear infection, diarrhea, meningitis, eye infection, sepsis, long healing injuries, shortness of breath, skin problems, muscle and joint pain, and common cold, and calculating a perceived immune fitness score of the individual based on up to 10 of the one or more conditions with the highest frequency and / or severity; determining if the perceived immune fitness score is above or below a specific threshold, wherein a suboptimal immune fitness comprises a fitness score above the specific threshold and an optimal immune fitness comprises a fitness score below the specific threshold.

[0010] One advantage of the one or more embodiments provided by the present disclosure is to provide an individual with a clinically relevant perceived immune fitness score so that they can take steps necessary to improve and / or maintain their immune fitness.

[0011] Still another advantage of the present disclosure is to provide a tool that presents an individual, recommendations such as dietary and lifestyle recommendations, for improving or maintaining their immune fitness.

[0012] Yet another advantage of one or more embodiments is to differentiate between suboptimal and optimal immune fitness groups using the perceived immune fitness score for use in clinical studies.

[0013] Additional features and advantages are described herein and will be apparent from the following Figures and Detailed Description.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0014] For a more complete understanding of the present invention, reference is now made to the following descriptions taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0015] FIG. 1 illustrates a graphic summarizing a study used to validate the immune fitness score disclosed herein.

[0016] FIG. 2 shows a distribution of healthy adult participants based on their perceived immune fitness scores, split into “optimal” and “suboptimal” immune fitness.

[0017] FIG. 3 shows association of cytokine response (IL- 10) of healthy individuals with their perceived immune fitness score (Optimal vs Suboptimal). Cytokine responses measured following PBMC stimulation with LPS for 24 hours.

[0018] FIG. 4 shows the diet of individuals from the study having “Suboptimal” and “Optimal “Perceived Immune fitness.

[0019] FIG. 5 shows the fruits and vegetables consumed by individuals from the study having “Suboptimal” and “Optimal “Perceived Immune fitness.

[0020] FIG. 6 shows the frequency of physical activity of individuals from the study having ’’Suboptimal” and “Optimal” perceived Immune fitness.

[0021] DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0022] A biomarker is a characteristic measured as an indicator of normal biological processes, pathogenic processes or responses to an exposure or intervention. It includes proteins, cytokines, chemokines, immune cells and subsets of immune cells.

[0023] Some definitions are provided hereafter. Nevertheless, definitions may be located in the “Embodiments” section below, and the above header “Definitions” does not mean that such disclosures in the “Embodiments” section are not definitions.

[0024] All percentages expressed herein are by weight of the total weight of the composition unless expressed otherwise. As used herein, “about,” “approximately” and “substantially” are understood to refer to numbers in a range of numerals, for example the range of -10% to +10% of the referenced number, preferably -5% to +5% of the referenced number, more preferably -1% to +1% of the referenced number, most preferably -0.1% to +0.1% of the referenced number. All numerical ranges herein should be understood to include all integers, whole or fractions, within the range. Moreover, these numerical ranges should be construed as providing support for a claim directed to any number or subset of numbers in that range. For example, a disclosure of from 1 to 10 should be construed as supporting a range of from 1 to 8, from 3 to 7, from 1 to 9, from 3.6 to 4.6, from 3.5 to 9.9, and so forth.

[0025] As used in this disclosure and the appended claims, the singular forms “a,” “an” and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Thus, for example, reference to “a condition” or “the condition” includes two or more conditions.

[0026] The words “comprise,” “comprises” and “comprising” are to be interpreted inclusively rather than exclusively. Likewise, the terms “include,” “including” and “or” should all be construed to be inclusive, unless such a construction is clearly prohibited from the context. Nevertheless, the systems and methods disclosed herein may lack any element that is not specifically disclosed herein. Thus, a disclosure of an embodiment using the term “comprising” includes a disclosure of embodiments “consisting essentially of’ and “consisting of’ the components or steps identified.

[0027] The terms “at least one of’ and “and / or” used respectively in the context of “at least one of X and Y” and “X and / or Y” should be interpreted as “X without Y,” or “Y without X,” or “both X and Y ” Where used herein, the terms “example” and “such as,” particularly when followed by a listing of terms, are merely exemplary and illustrative and should not be deemed to be exclusive or comprehensive.

[0028] As used herein, “related to,” “associated with” and “linked with” mean occurring concurrently, preferably mean caused by the same underlying condition, more preferably mean that one of the identified conditions is at least indirectly caused by the other identified condition, and most preferably mean that one of the identified conditions is directly caused by the other identified condition.

[0029] The terms “food”, “food supplement”, “food product” and “food composition” mean a product or composition that is intended for ingestion by an individual such as a human and provides at least one nutrient to the individual. The compositions of the present disclosure, including the many embodiments described herein, can comprise, consist of, or consist essentially of the elements disclosed herein, as well as any additional or optional ingredients, components, or elements described herein or otherwise useful in a diet supplement.

[0030] “Prevention” includes reduction of risk, incidence and / or severity of a condition or disorder. The terms “treatment” and “treat” include both prophylactic or preventive treatment (that prevent and / or slow the development of a targeted pathologic condition or disorder) and curative, therapeutic or disease-modifying treatment, including therapeutic measures that cure, slow down, lessen symptoms of, and / or halt progression of a diagnosed pathologic condition or disorder; and treatment of patients at risk of contracting a disease or suspected to have contracted a disease, as well as patients who are ill or have been diagnosed as suffering from a disease or medical condition. The terms “treatment” and “treat” do not necessarily imply that a subject is treated until total recovery. The terms “treatment” and “treat” also refer to the maintenance and / or promotion of health in an individual not suffering from a disease but who may be susceptible to the development of an unhealthy condition. The terms “treatment” and “treat” are also intended to include the potentiation or otherwise enhancement of one or more primary prophylactic or therapeutic measures. As nonlimiting examples, a treatment can be performed by a patient, a caregiver, a doctor, a nurse, or another healthcare professional.

[0031] As used herein, a prophylactically or therapeutically “effective amount” is an amount that prevents a deficiency, treats a disease or medical condition in an individual, or,more generally, reduces symptoms, manages progression of the disease, or provides a nutritional, physiological, or medical benefit to the individual.

[0032] The relative terms, “maintain,” “promote,” “improve,” “increase,” “enhance” and like terms refer to the immune fitness of an individual after providing a dietary recommendation and / or a nutritional solution to the individual relative to the immune fitness of an individual without providing a dietary recommendation and / or a nutritional solution to the individual. In some embodiments, the relative terms “maintain,” “promote,” “improve,” “increase,” “enhance” and like terms refer to an individual obtaining the same or lower perceived immune fitness score than a previous perceived immune fitness score.

[0033] The term “composition” or “nutritional intervention” may mean a food, beverage, dietary supplement, complete nutrition or oral nutritional supplement (ONS) or medical food composition, or mixture thereof.

[0034] The term “immune fitness” refers to the ability of the body’s immune system to respond appropriately to health challenges.

[0035] The term “perceived immune fitness” refers to an individual’s own perception of the immune fitness preferably a healthy adult. Higher values of the perceived immune fitness score refers to individuals with a suboptimal perceived immune fitness and lower values refers to individuals with an optimal perceived immune fitness.

[0036] The terms “optimal perceived immune fitness” means a healthy individual having a score of less or equal to 0.625 while the terms “suboptimal perceived immune fitness” means a healthy individual having a score greater or equal to 0.750. These limits were obtained by analyzing the distribution of perceived immune fitness scores in healthy subjects. The 33% with lowest scores (first tertile) scored lower or equal to 0.625 (optimal fitness), while the 33% with highest scores (third tertile) scored higher or equal to 0.750.

[0037] The term “healthy individual” shall refer to an individual with a functional immune system and without any life threatening or chronic illnesses. In some embodiments, a healthy individual has no clinical manifestations of disease or being unwell.

[0038] Embodiments

[0039] In an aspect of the present disclosure, a method of identifying and / or quantifying a perceived immune fitness score in an individual, such as a healthy individual, is provided. The method may include identifying a frequency and / or severity of one or more conditions experienced by an individual. In some embodiments, the conditions comprise one or more of sore throat, headaches, flu, runny nose, coughing, cold sores, boils, mild fever, warts, pneumonia, bronchitis, sinusitis, sudden high fever, ear infection, diarrhea, meningitis,eye infection, sepsis, long healing injuries, shortness of breath, skin problems, muscle and joint pain, and / or common cold. In some embodiments, the method may include identifying an individual’s perceived immune fitness at that time, identifying the individual’s sex and / or age, and / or identifying the individual’s dietary, smoking, and / or sleeping habits.

[0040] The identifying may include receiving from the individual, on a scale, the frequency and / or severity of the one or more conditions experienced by the individual. In some embodiments, each condition may be rated by the individual on a numbered scale, such as 1 to 3, 1 to 4, 1 to 5, 1 to 10, 1 to 15, 1 to 20, etc. The lower number may be associated with a low frequency or severity, while a higher number may be associated with a high frequency or severity. Additionally or alternatively, each condition may be rated by the individual based on frequency of the condition (such as “Never”, “Occasional”, or “Frequent”). The method may further include assigning a value to each of the one or more conditions depending on the rating by the user. The value rated by the individual may be assigned to that particular condition and used to calculate the perceived immune fitness score.

[0041] In some embodiments, the method includes receiving a frequency and / or severity of up to 13 conditions, up to 14 conditions, up to 15 conditions, up to 16 conditions, up to 17 conditions, or up to 18 conditions. In a preferred embodiment, a frequency and / or severity of up to 13 conditions are received.

[0042] The method may further include calculating a perceived immune fitness score based on the frequency and / or severity of the one or more conditions. In some embodiments, the perceived immune fitness score may be calculated using one or more conditions with the highest frequency and / or severity. For example, the perceived immune fitness score may be calculated only using the one or more conditions assigned the highest values. In some embodiments, the top five, the top six, the top seven, the top eight, the top nine, or the top ten conditions with the highest values are used to calculate the perceived immune fitness score. In a preferred embodiment, the top eight conditions with the highest assigned scores are used to calculate the perceived immune fitness score. The top values are averaged to obtain the perceived immune fitness score. Depending on the ratings by the individual, different individuals may have a perceived immune fitness score using values associated with different conditions. In some embodiments, the age and / or sex of the individual is taken into account when calculating the perceived immune fitness score.

[0043] In an aspect of the present disclosure, a method of determining an immune fitness of a healthy individual is provided. Based on the perceived immune fitness score of the healthy individual, the method may include determining if the individual has a suboptimalimmune fitness or an optimal immune fitness, which allows an otherwise healthy populated to be stratified into optimal and suboptimal immune fitness. In some embodiments, individuals with a score of less or equal to 0.625 are categorized as optimal perceived fit whereas those with a score greater or equal to 0.75 as suboptimal perceived fit.

[0044] The method may include determining the immune fitness one or more times at discrete intervals. In some embodiments, the discrete intervals include about a day, about a week, about one month, about two months, about three months, or about four months.

[0045] In an aspect of the present invention, a method of improving and / or maintaining an immune fitness in an individual is provided. The method may include calculating a perceived immune fitness score as disclosed herein. Based on the perceived immune fitness score, the method may include providing the individual with a dietary recommendation and / or nutritional solution effective to improve and / or maintain the immune fitness of the individual.

[0046] In some embodiments, the specific dietary recommendations and / or nutritional solutions comprise diet recommendations, menu recommendations, and / or recipe recommendations. Specifically, the dietary recommendations may comprise recommendations related to one or more of the following: nutrients, and / or foods and beverages, and / or dietary supplements, and / or combinations of foods and beverages as menu recommendations and / or recipe recommendations.

[0047] In some embodiments, the present disclosure may include menu suggestions or recipes that incorporate foods, beverages and / or dietary supplements to improve and / or maintain the immune fitness of the individual. These foods, beverages, and / or dietary supplements as well as the menus and recipes that use them can be recommended for consumption on a daily basis, a weekly basis, or a monthly basis.

[0048] In some embodiments, providing comprises administering a nutritional intervention to the individual. In some embodiments, the nutritional intervention comprises at least one of a food product, beverage product, a dietary supplement, complete nutrition or oral nutritional supplement (ONS) or medical food composition, or combinations thereof.

[0049] In a further aspect, the invention provides kits suitable for improving and / or maintaining an immune fitness in an individual. In some embodiments, the kit comprises an immune fitness questionnaire used to rate the frequency and / or severity of the one or more conditions experienced by the individual. The kit may further include instructions for improving and / or maintaining the immune fitness in an individual.

[0050] In some embodiments, the kit comprises in separate containers in a single package or in separate containers in a virtual package, as appropriate for the kit component, the nutritional intervention and one or more of (1) one or more ingredients suitable for consumption by the individual; (2) instructions for how to combine nutritional interventions and other kit components to produce a composition useful for improving and / or maintaining an immune fitness; (3) a device for preparing or combining the kit components to produce a composition suitable for administration to the individual; and (4) a device for administering the combined or prepared kit components to the individual. In one embodiment, the kit comprises the nutritional intervention and one or more ingredients suitable for consumption by an individual. In another embodiment, the kit comprises instructions for how to combine the nutritional interventions and the ingredients to produce a composition useful for improving and / or maintaining an immune fitness in an individual.

[0051] When the kit comprises a virtual package, the kit is limited to instructions in a virtual environment in combination with one or more physical kit components. The kit may contain the immune fitness questionnaire and / or the nutritional intervention and other components in amounts sufficient for improving and / or maintaining an immune fitness in an individual. The kits may contain the kit components in any of various combinations and / or mixtures. In preferred embodiments, the kits comprise the nutritional intervention and one or more other ingredients suitable for consumption by the individual. Preferably such kits comprise instructions describing how to combine the nutritional intervention with the other ingredients to form a food composition for improving and / or maintaining an immune fitness in an individual.EXAMPLESExample 1: Validation of Immune Fitness Score

[0052] Figure 1 displays a graphic summarizing a study conducted to validate the perceived immune fitness score according to the present disclosure. As can be seen in Figure 1, 95 participants completed the Perceived Immune Fitness Score Questionnaire asking participants to rate the severity and / or frequency of 18 conditions.

[0053] The immune fitness score of 95 healthy adults was calculated. Each bar represents the frequency of individuals based on their perceived immune fitness score with trend line demonstrating the overall distribution of the response. Participants with the lowestperceived immune fitness score (optimal immune fitness) and highest perceived fitness score (suboptimal immune fitness) were selected for further follow up with blood sampling to associate perceived immune fitness score with blood immune markers.

[0054] Based on the 95 participants, it was determined that 5 conditions were non- discriminatory in the final perceived immune fitness score. Specifically, pneumonia, meningitis, chronic disorder, other infectious diseases, and fever blisters were found to be non- discriminatory in the final perceived immune fitness score. Therefore, the Perceived Immune Fitness Questionnaire could then be reduced to 13 conditions.

[0055] The perceived fitness score was then calculated using the conditions with the highest frequency and / or severity. To determine the number of conditions that produced the most discriminatory result, the perceived fitness score was calculated by averaging the frequency and / or severity of n conditions, where n ranged from n=l to n=18. It was determined that the average of 8 highest frequency and / or severity of conditions leads to the most discriminating score between optimal and suboptimal perceived fit subjects.

[0056] A distribution of the perceived immune fitness scores split into “optimal” and “suboptimal” perceived immune fitness is shown in Figure 2. With N=95 the "optimal" and "suboptimal" feature both more than 30 subjects, which allows for robust statistical observational inference.

[0057] A blood sample from each participant (either with an optimal or suboptimal immune fitness score) was obtained. The perceived immune fitness score was compared to immune biomarkers determined from the blood sample. As an example, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were isolated from whole blood of 39 selected healthy individuals. Five hundred thousand PBMCs were stimulated with bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) for 24 hours after which cell culture supernatants were collected for cytokine measurements including IL-10. Each dot represents an adult donor with fold increase in cytokine response (over unstimulated) being shown. Line shows the trendline of the differential cytokine responses in relation to the perceived immune fitness score of healthy individuals.

[0058] Positive associations between immune blood markers and perceived immune score were found. Further, as can be seen in Figure 3, healthy populations when segregated between suboptimal and optimal perceived immune score responded differently to immune stimulations, such as bacteria and fungi. In particular, individuals with suboptimal perceived immune score expressed less IL- 10 following ex vivo PBMC stimulation with bacterial lipopolysaccharide. IL-10 is required for control for immune regulation and dampening ofinflammatory responses which supports recovery from infection (Belo et al. Cell Tissue Res2021, Saadane et al. JACI 2005)Example 2: Association between Diet and Immune Fitness Score

[0059] In the study of Example 1, the following questions were further considered in addition to the Perceived Immune Fitness Questionnaire: (i) Diet (Unhealthy, Healthy, Very Healthy) (ii) Fruits and Vegetable (0-2 / day, 3-5 / day 6+ / day), and (iii) physical activity (>3h / week, 2-3 h / week, <2h / week). The results for the 33% least fit and 33% most fit are shown in Figs. 4-6. More healthy diets, more fruits, and a higher frequency of physical exercise were observed in the 33% of subjects with a lowest perceived immune score (most fit).Example 3: Association between Gender and Age in Immune Fitness Score

[0060] An analysis was performed to determine whether gender and age had an impact on the response to the questions on the Perceived Immune Fitness Questionnaire. Gender was split between Male and Female and age was split between <48 years old and > 48 years old. The question “Today Immune System” from the fitness questionnaire was significantly impacted by the interaction of gender and age with the highest mean in the immune fitness score observed in young females (0.86), the lowest mean in the immune fitness score observed in older females (0.08), and male being in-between (0.25 for younger and 0.40 for older).

[0061] Further, the participants of the study were asked their smoking habits and sleeping habits in addition to the Perceived Immune Fitness Questionnaire. The question about smoking habits was significantly impacted by age (subjects who never smoked were 82% in older and 53% in younger). The question about sleep was significantly impacted by gender (good =0.36 in male and regular=0.86 in female).

[0062] All of the disclosed methods and procedures described in this disclosure can be implemented using one or more computer programs or components. These components may be provided as a series of computer instructions on any conventional computer readable medium or machine readable medium, including volatile and non-volatile memory, such as RAM, ROM, flash memory, magnetic or optical disks, optical memory, or other storage media. The instructions may be provided as software or firmware, and may be implemented in whole or in part in hardware components such as ASICs, FPGAs, DSPs, or any other similar devices. The instructions may be configured to be executed by one or more processors, which whenexecuting the series of computer instructions, performs or facilitates the performance of all or part of the disclosed methods and procedures.

[0063] It should be understood that various changes and modifications to the examples described here will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present subject matter and without diminishing its intended advantages. It is therefore intended that such changes and modifications be covered by the appended claims.

Claims

CLAIMS1. A method of identifying and / or quantifying a perceived immune fitness of an individual, the method comprising: identifying a frequency and / or a severity of one or more conditions experienced by an individual, wherein the one or more conditions is selected from the group consisting of: sore throat, headaches, flu, runny nose, coughing, cold sores, boils, mild fever, warts, pneumonia, bronchitis, sinusitis, sudden high fever, ear infection, diarrhea, meningitis, eye infection, sepsis, long healing injuries, shortness of breath, skin problems, muscle and joint pain, and common cold; and calculating a perceived immune fitness score of the individual based on up to 10 of the one or more conditions with the highest frequency and / or severity.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the calculating of the perceived immune fitness score of the individual is further based on a sex of the individual.

3. The method of any one of claims 1 and 2, wherein the calculating of the perceived immune fitness score of the individual is further based on an age of the individual.

4. The method of any one of claims 1-3, wherein the perceived immune fitness score of the individual is determined one or more times at discrete intervals.

5. The method of any one of claims 1-4, the method comprising assigning a value to each of the one or more conditions experienced by the individual, the value representative of the frequency and / or the severity of the corresponding condition, and the value of each of the one or more conditions is on a scale of 1 to 5.

6. The method of any one of claims 1-5, wherein the method is computer implemented.

7. The method of any one of claims 1-6, the method further comprising validating the perceived immune fitness score by measuring one or more blood immune biomarkers of the individual.

8. The method of any one of claim 1-7, wherein the individual is a healthy individual.

9. A method of improving and / or maintaining an immune fitness in an individual, the method comprising:(i) identifying and / or quantifying a perceived immune fitness of an individual, wherein the identifying and / or quantifying the perceived immune fitness of the individual comprises: identifying a frequency and / or severity of one or more conditions experienced by an individual, wherein the one or more conditions is selected from the group consisting of: sore throat, headaches, flu, runny nose, coughing, cold sores, boils, mild fever, warts, pneumonia, bronchitis, sinusitis, sudden high fever, ear infection, diarrhea, meningitis, eye infection, sepsis, long healing injuries, shortness of breath, skin problems, muscle and joint pain, and common cold, and calculating a perceived immune fitness score of the individual based on up to 10 of the one or more conditions with the highest frequency and / or severity; and(ii) providing a dietary recommendation and / or nutritional solution to the individual, wherein the dietary recommendation and / or nutritional solution is based on the perceived immune fitness score of the individual and is effective to improve and / or maintain the immune fitness in the individual.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the method further comprises administering to the individual a nutritional intervention based on the dietary recommendation and / or nutritional solution.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the nutritional intervention comprises at least one food product selected from the group consisting of a beverage product, a food supplement, an oral nutritional supplement (ONS), a medical food, and any combination thereof.

12. The method of any one of claims 9-11, wherein the calculating of the perceived immune fitness score of the individual is further based on a sex of the individual.

13. The method of any one of claims 9-12, wherein the calculating of the perceived immune fitness score of the individual is further based on an age of the individual.

14. The method of any one of claims 9-13, wherein the perceived immune fitness score of the individual is determined one or more times at discrete intervals.

15. The method of any one of claims 9-14, the method comprising assigning a value to each of the one or more conditions experienced by the individual, the value representative of the frequency and / or the severity of the corresponding condition, and the value of each of the one or more conditions is on a scale of 1 to 5.

16. The method of any one of claims 9-15, wherein the identifying and / or the quantifying of the perceived immune fitness of the individual is computer implemented.

17. The method of any one of claims 9-16, the method further comprising validating the perceived immune fitness score by measuring one or more blood immune biomarkers of the individual.

18. A method of any one of claims 9-17, wherein the individual is a healthy individual.

19. A method of determining an immune fitness of a healthy individual, the method comprising: identifying a frequency and / or a severity of one or more conditions experienced by the healthy individual, wherein the one or more conditions is selected from the group consisting of: sore throat, headaches, flu, runny nose, coughing, cold sores, boils, mild fever, warts, pneumonia, bronchitis, sinusitis, sudden high fever, ear infection, diarrhea, meningitis, eye infection, sepsis, long healing injuries, shortness of breath, skin problems, muscle and joint pain, and common cold, and calculating a perceived immune fitness score of the healthy individual based on up to 10 of the one or more conditions with the highest frequency and / or severity; determining if the perceived immune fitness score is above or below a specific threshold, wherein a suboptimal immune fitness comprises a fitness score above the specific threshold and an optimal immune fitness comprises a fitness score below the specific threshold.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein calculating the perceived immune fitness score of the healthy individual is further based on a sex of the healthy individual.

21. The method of any one of claims 19 and 20, wherein the calculating of the perceived immune fitness score of the healthy individual is further based on an age of the healthy individual.

22. The method of any one of claims 19-21, wherein the method is computer implemented.

23. A kit for improving and / or maintaining an immune fitness in a healthy individual, the kit comprising: an immune fitness questionnaire comprising: a series of ratings for a frequency and / or severity of one or more conditions experienced by an individual, wherein the one or more conditions is selected from the group consisting of: sore throat, headaches, flu, runny nose, coughing, cold sores, boils, mild fever, warts, pneumonia, bronchitis, sinusitis, sudden high fever, ear infection, diarrhea, meningitis, eye infection, sepsis, long healing injuries, shortness of breath, skin problems, muscle and joint pain, and common cold; and one or more instructions for improving and / or maintaining an immune fitness of an individual based on the immune fitness questionnaire.

24. The kit of claim 23, further comprising one or more nutritional interventions for improving and / or maintaining an immune fitness in an individual.

Images