Winter is coming and bringing along with it flu season. Of course, with all that is going on right now with Covid-19, most people can ill afford to catch the flu. Luckily, there are a few simple things you can do to give your body a fighting chance should a virus come knocking at the door.
Keeping your immune system healthy year-round is key to preventing infection and disease. Making healthy lifestyle choices by consuming nutritious foods and getting enough sleep and exercise are the most important ways to bolster your immune system, but you can also boost the effects of all that good work with vitamin supplements to ensure your body is getting everything it needs to fight off infections. While it’s important to note that no supplement will cure or prevent disease, research has shown that supplementing with certain vitamins and minerals can help to improve immune response and potentially protect against illness.
Here are 5 vitamin supplements that are known for their immune-boosting potential:
Vitamin D
This fat-soluble nutrient is essential to the health and functioning of your immune system. Many people are deficient in this important vitamin, which may negatively affect immune function. Low vitamin D levels are associated with an increased risk of upper respiratory tract infections, including influenza and allergic asthma.
Depending on blood levels, anywhere between 25–100 mg of vitamin D per day is sufficient for most people, to help boost their immune function.
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B complex vitamins
B complex vitamins are important for a healthy immune response. Yet, many adults are deficient in them, which may negatively affect immune health. Your body does not store these water-soluble vitamins, making it necessary for your diet or supplements to supply them each day. If you’re struggling to get all the B vitamins you need through your diet then a B-complex vitamin supplement, which usually packs all eight B vitamins into one pill, may be necessary.
From playing an essential role in metabolism by helping convert nutrients into energy (B1/thiamine) and acting as an antioxidant (B2/riboflavin) to DNA production and repair (B3/niacin) and red blood cell production (B6/pyridoxine), B vitamins are essential to maintaining a healthy functioning immune system.
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Selenium
Selenium is an essential mineral, meaning it must be obtained through your diet or supplements. Research shows that Selenium plays an important role in the health of your immune system. It acts as a powerful antioxidant, to help prevent oxidative stress and damage to healthy cells and may even enhance antiviral defense against influenza strains
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Zinc
Zinc is another mineral that is considered to be essential for immune system function. Commonly added to supplements and other healthcare products like lozenges, Zinc plays an important role in inflammatory response. A deficiency in this nutrient significantly affects your immune system’s ability to function properly, resulting in an increased risk of infection and disease, including pneumonia.
Numerous studies reveal that zinc supplements may protect against respiratory tract infections like the common cold. Even more interesting is some findings suggest that supplementing with zinc may even be beneficial for those who are already sick and has been shown to help reduce the duration of the common cold.
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Vitamin C
This one may seem quite obvious, but it’s always good to revisit tried and true recipes for staving off infections. Vitamin C is perhaps the most popular supplement taken to protect against infection due to its important role in immune health.
Not only does vitamin C function as a powerful antioxidant, but it is also known to support the function of various immune cells and enhances their ability to protect against infection as well. It’s also necessary for cellular death, which helps keep your immune system healthy by clearing out old cells and replacing them with new ones. Supplementing with vitamin C has been shown to reduce the duration and severity of upper respiratory tract infections, including the common cold.
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