Are you feeling under the weather? Worried about catching a bug the next time one begins to make its way through your family and friends? Education can be the first defence, which is why our team looks for all courses to educate you on what to do and boost your immunity; we have come up with five common vitamins you may not know are sufficient to boost your immune system sufficiently.
Post-pandemic, many people realise that their immune system could do with a boost. One of the key ways to maintain immune health is by supplementing with immune-boosting vitamins and nutrients. Our immune system is our first line of defence against the viruses and bacteria we encounter daily, so it pays to ensure that yours is fighting fit.
Approximately 30% of the United States population is at risk for at least one vitamin deficiency,[1] meaning that our bodies lack the essential nutrients needed to keep our immune system strong. However, we can give our immune system a helping hand by adopting a supplement routine designed to strengthen it — and the good news is that there are five easy-to-find vitamins perfect for the job.
Vitamin C isn’t just to prevent scurvy; it is also essential for a healthy immune system.
Vitamin C
Vitamin C is a water-soluble vitamin with many benefits, but one of its primary functions is supporting a healthy immune system. Our bodies cannot make vitamin C on their own, so it’s necessary to obtain it through diet or supplements.
As an antioxidant, vitamin C fights illness and disease and helps grow and repair tissue. It’s also vital for healing wounds and maintaining healthy bones, teeth, and skin. It’s involved in many of the body’s most essential functions, so it’s no surprise that it also performs an important task in immune health.
Vitamin C supports the immune system by protecting against pathogens and bacteria and helps white blood cells function more efficiently, allowing the skin to form a more substantial barrier against the big nasties of the outside world. It’s also been shown to reduce the typical cold severity sufficiently.
Vitamin B6 is essential for immune health. You can get it from supplements or food, such as beef liver, poultry, salmon, chickpeas, bananas, and dark leafy greens.
Vitamin B6
As one of the eight B vitamins, vitamin B6 is essential for cell metabolism and the continued function of your red blood cells. But it also helps your body maintain a healthy immune system. Vitamin B6 levels are low in older adults with poor immune response, and it’s no surprise — vitamin B6 assists more than 100 enzymes in the body to perform essential functions.
Research suggests that supplementing vitamin B6 can strengthen the immune system, but that’s not all: this little vitamin comes with plenty of other health benefits. Along with boosting your immune system, vitamin B6 can fight depression, help with premenstrual syndrome, and fight cognitive decline. Vitamin E is reportedly very effective at boosting your immune system.
Vitamin E
Vitamin E’s star has grown in recent years as research discovers more about the benefits of this fat-soluble nutrient. Vitamin E is a powerful antioxidant essential for keeping the immune system strong and healthy. Vitamin E has been called one of the most effective nutrients when it comes to boosting the immune system. Along with boosting the immune system, vitamin E keeps skin and eyes healthy and has potent antioxidant qualities. As an antioxidant, vitamin E fights free radicals — unstable atoms that can damage cells, causing illness and premature aging. With free radicals contributing to many chronic health problems, including cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes, it’s well worth adding vitamin E to your diet to fight them off.
But vitamin E’s primary function is supporting the growth of T cells — one of two primary types of cells in the body that fight infection. Vitamin E has been shown to increase the amount of T cells in the body, creating an overall more robust immune system and lowering the risk of infection.
Zinc
Zinc isn’t technically a vitamin. It is a trace mineral. However, it is a vital nutrient that strenghtens our immune system. Zinc is one of the most helpful trace minerals in your bathroom cabinet, fulfilling many different purposes. Zinc improves eyesight, helps the body process nutrients, and helps wounds heal faster, but one of its key benefits is strengthening and boosting the immune system. Our bodies do not naturally produce zinc, which means that we must obtain it through diet or supplements — but once received, zinc is the best friend your immune system will ever have.
Zinc is essential for the development and function of immune cells, as well as boosting the activity of T cells to protect the body from infection. Zinc also helps fight infection: In fact, a review of seven different studies found that zinc can reduce the length of the common cold by up to 33%
Vitamin D is crucial for immune health. If you don’t get enough sunshine, you must maintain your vitamin D levels through supplements or a diet.
Vitamin D
Our bodies produce vitamin D naturally when we enjoy the sunshine. Still, for night owls and people living in less sunny countries, vitamin D supplements are an easier way to get enough of this helpful vitamin into the bloodstream. Either way, vitamin D is essential for growth and development, resistance to illness, and, most critically, for helping the immune system function the way it should. Low vitamin D levels have been linked to an increased risk of infection and disease, particularly diseases like arthritis, type 1 diabetes, and inflammatory bowel disease. Studies have also shown that vitamin D may reduce the risk of infection from flu and Covid-19. Along with boosting the immune system, vitamin D potentially helps decrease the risk of depression and anxiety. If you have ever felt like your mood gets worse during winter, a lack of vitamin D from exposure to the sun could be why — but it’s easily fixed with supplements.
Each vitamin on this list comes with a host of benefits besides immune health, promising healthier skin and hair, faster wound healing, improved cognitive health, and more — but their immune-strengthening qualities make them worthy of attention.
Our immune system protects us daily, performing mostly unseen work to keep us safe from infections, illnesses, and viruses. Every immune system is different, but with a large body of research showing that vitamins provide essential nutrients to keep our immune systems functioning properly, adding immune-boosting supplements to our diet is one of the best defenses against illness.
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