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White Blood Cell Count

Total white blood cell count is measured commonly in toxicology testing, and some supplements that are known to support the immune system may also act via increasing levels of immune cells.


Human Effect Matrix

The Human Effect Matrix looks at human studies (it excludes animal and in vitro studies) to tell you what supplements affect white blood cell count
Grade Level of Evidence
Robust research conducted with repeated double-blind clinical trials
Multiple studies where at least two are double-blind and placebo controlled
Single double-blind study or multiple cohort studies
Uncontrolled or observational studies only
Level of Evidence
? The amount of high quality evidence. The more evidence, the more we can trust the results.
Outcome Magnitude of effect
? The direction and size of the supplement's impact on each outcome. Some supplements can have an increasing effect, others have a decreasing effect, and others have no effect.
Consistency of research results
? Scientific research does not always agree. HIGH or VERY HIGH means that most of the scientific research agrees.
Notes
grade-b Garlic - Very High See all 3 studies
While there are signficant modifications in the subpopulations of white blood cells (ie. which immune cells you have) the overall quantity does not appear significantly affected.
grade-b Vitamin E - Very High See all 6 studies
Supplementation of vitamin E does not appear to alter overall content of white blood cells relative to placebo.
grade-c Saffron Minor Moderate See 2 studies
A decrease in white blood cell count has been noted with supplementation of saffron at 60mg for over eight weeks.
grade-c Spirulina  
grade-c Anethum graveolens  
grade-c Astaxanthin  
grade-c Colostrum  
grade-c Glutamine  
grade-c Green Coffee Extract  
grade-c Hesperidin  
grade-c Lactobacillus reuteri  
grade-d Nigella sativa  
grade-d Uncaria tomentosa  
grade-d Ashwagandha  
grade-d Lactobacillus casei  
grade-d Moringa oleifera  
grade-d Stephania tetrandra  
grade-d Tetradecyl Thioacetic Acid  

All comparative evidence is now gathered in our ​A-to-Z Supplement Reference.

The evidence for each separate supplement is still freely available ​here.

This page is regularly updated, to include the most recently available clinical trial evidence.

Each member of our research team is required to have no conflicts of interest, including with supplement manufacturers, food companies, and industry funders. The team includes nutrition researchers, registered dietitians, physicians, and pharmacists. We have a strict editorial process.

This page features 0 references. All factual claims are followed by specifically-applicable references. Click here to see the full set of references for this page.

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