With flu season looming, now is the perfect time to start boosting your immunity through a nutrient-rich diet. While getting an annual flu shot is one of the best ways to protect yourself, fortifying your body’s natural defenses with immune-boosting foods and vitamins can provide an extra layer of protection against the influenza virus and other infections. Load up on these immunity powerhouses.
Best immune-boosting foods & vitamins
Vitamin C
Load up on vitamin C by eating citrus fruits like oranges, grapefruits, lemons, and limes. Vitamin C is one of the most effective nutrients that protect against immune system deficiencies. It helps encourage the production of white blood cells which can help fight harmful infection. It can also help wounds heal faster and strengthen your skin’s defense system.
Quercetin
Quercetin, a plant nutrient commonly found in fruits and vegetables, including apples, onions, teas, berries and as well as red wine, is particularly good at helping you fight off the flu. Numerous experiments have shown that quercetin exerts antiproliferative, antioxidative, antibacterial, anticancer and antiviral effects.
Quercetin helps prevent flu infection by making it difficult for the flu virus to enter cells. There is also evidence that vitamin C and quercetin co-administration exerts a synergistic antiviral action due to overlapping antiviral and immunomodulatory properties and the capacity of ascorbate to recycle quercetin, increasing its efficacy.
Zinc
This essential mineral affects multiple aspects of immune function. Low levels of zinc can increase your risk of pneumonia and other infections. In addition to ginger, get zinc from protein sources like lean meats, seafood, eggs, legumes, seeds, and nuts.
Vitamin D
Vitamin D is essential for immune health. It helps regulate both innate and adaptive immunity, the body’s two natural defense systems. Many people are deficient in vitamin D, so take a supplement if you’re unable to get enough from food sources like fatty fish, egg yolks, and fortified milk.
Probiotic
The gut is home to trillions of bacteria that make up the microbiome. Maintaining a healthy gut helps keep your immune response ready. Eat probiotic-rich foods like yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, miso, kimchi, and kombucha to populate your gut with good bacteria.
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