The NutrImmune study: Can you help us understand how we can optimise our immune response to the flu vaccine?

The new NutrImmune study at King’s College London is investigating the impact of snack foods on the immune response to the flu vaccine. You may be eligible to take part if you are a healthy adult, aged between 40-64 years old, and you consume 2+ snacks per day.

Who can participate?

You may be eligible if you can answer “yes” to the following statements:

• I am aged between 40-64 years.
• My body mass index (BMI) is between 18.5-29.99 kg/m².
• I consume 2 or more snacks between meals each day.
• My fibre intake is below 30 g/day (the national recommendation for fibre intake).
• I have not received any flu vaccination in the past 6 months.
• I am willing to avoid receiving any vaccination (except for COVID-19 vaccination) from one month prior to the baseline visit until completion of the 8-week intervention period.
• I am willing to avoid receiving any COVID-19 vaccination/booster between week 2 and week 8 of the intervention period.
• I am willing to discontinue use of prebiotic and probiotic products during the trial.
• I am willing to follow the study protocol and provide consent.

What are the benefits of participating?

• £150 reimbursement for your time.
• Free flu vaccine.
• Free study specific snacks for 8-weeks.
• Personalised body composition measurements.
• You help us to understand how we can optimise our immune response to the flu vaccine. 

What does the study involve?

• Four visits to King’s College London (Waterloo Campus).
• Replacing your usual snacks with study snack foods that we believe may have benefits to immune function for 8 weeks.
• Flu vaccination at week 4.
• Providing blood and stool samples on three occasions.
• Completing records of your food intake, bowel habits and gut symptoms and filling out questionnaires.
• Two follow-up phone calls to assess flu symptoms you may have experienced after completion of the intervention.

We will be recruiting to the study until February 2024. If you, or someone you know, are interested in participating please contact Alice Van Der Schoot by emailing NutrImmune@kcl.ac.uk or calling +44 (0) 20 7848 4552.