Can Supplements Help Support My Immune System
Your immune system is a wonderful thing, made up of a strong team of cells, tissues and organs. Vitamins and your immune system are total BFFs a perfect partnership that work together to keep you up and running.
Looking to give your immune system a helping hand? Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome vitamins A, C and D. The terrific trio that can all help support the normal function of the immune system.**
How Your Immune System Works
Your immune system works to recognize and identify an infection or injury in the body. This causes an immune response, with the goal of restoring normal function.
Dr. Cassel says many people think that when they get sick, their symptoms are a sign that they have a virus or an infection.
However, your symptoms are actually a sign that your body is fighting back against the infection or virus, triggering an immune response.
“When you have a cold, you feel run down, your nose is runny, you feel congestedthese are the symptoms people complain about,” Dr. Cassel says. “People think ‘I’m so sick, this is terrible. Why doesn’t my immune system work?’ But with every one of these cold symptoms, that is your immune system at work.”
Read: Is It a Cold or the Flu?
Maintain A Healthy Diet
As with most things in your body, a healthy diet is key to a strong immune system. This means making sure you eat plenty of vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains, lean protein and healthy fats.
In addition to providing your immune system the energy it needs, a healthy diet can help ensure you’re getting sufficient amounts of the micronutrients that play a role in maintaining your immune system, including:
- Vitamin B6, found in chicken, salmon, tuna, bananas, green vegetables and potatoes
- Vitamin C, found in citrus fruit, including oranges and strawberries, as well as tomatoes, broccoli and spinach
- Vitamin E, found in almonds, sunflower and safflower oil, sunflower seeds, peanut butter and spinach
Since experts believe that your body absorbs vitamins more efficiently from dietary sources, rather than supplements, the best way to support your immune system is to eat a well-balanced diet.
Also Check: What Vitamins Are Good For Your Heart
Enhancing Your Immune System Through Food
Nutrition is a critical component of your immune response. Just like poor nutrition can deteriorate your immune system, quality nutrition can be the foundation for strength, says Charlotte Hunter, a registered dietitian at the LiVe Well Center in Salt Lake City.Balanced nutrition, can enhance your ability to resist infections and remain healthy.” Modest amounts of a combination of these 5 essential vitamins and minerals will keep your body healthy.
- Vitamin C has antibodies which help fight against bacteria and infections. Try consuming more oranges, grapefruit, broccoli, strawberries, red bell peppers and tomato juice to get your fill of Vitamin C.
- Vitamin D is used to fight off infections as well as works to maintain strong bones. Find Vitamin D in salmon, mushrooms, fortified milk, cereals and breads.
- Vitamin A helps to regulate the immune system and protects against infections by keeping your tissues and skin healthy. Vitamin A can be found in foods such as sweet potatoes, carrots, apricots and spinach.
- Vitamin E is another essential antioxidant whose job is to fight cell damage. Plant based foods such as nuts and peanut butter are filled with vitamin E.
- Zinc works as an antioxidant and boosts the metabolism along with helping to heal wounds. Meat, shellfish, beans/legumes and nuts/seeds are high zinc foods.
Cansupplements Help Your Immunity
While vitamins andsupplements can help fill in the gaps in your diet, the best way to load up onessential nutrients is to get them straight from food.
Your body absorbs and usesvitamins and nutrients better when they come from a dietarysource. When its a vitamin or supplement, its often questionablehow much youre actually getting. Because supplements are regulated asfoods, not as drugs, the Food and Drug Administration doesnt evaluate thequality of supplements or assess their effects on the body.
Some supplements may have side effects, especially if taken before surgery or with other medicines. Supplements can also cause problems if you have certain health conditions. And the effects of many supplements havent been tested in children, pregnant women and other groups.
Its especially important to avoid taking vitamin E supplements. Not only is there little clinical research showing that vitamin E supplements benefit your health, but they may also be harmful in some situations.
For these reasons, expertssay its best to get vitamins through food rather than supplements.
Talk with yourhealthcare provider if youre thinking about taking dietary supplements,Zumpano says.
Recommended Reading: How To Check Vitamin D Levels At Home
Reduce Stress To Boost Your Immune System
Nobody likes being stressed, but sometimes its just a fact of life. That can be especially true when things get hectic at work, at home, or in the world at large.
But thats when its more important than ever to use effective coping skills to reduce stress. When youre stressed, your immune system becomes less capable of fighting off antigens, and you can become more susceptible to infections.
Additionally, some unhealthy stress coping mechanisms can leave you more vulnerable to illness. Stress has been shown to be linked to headaches, infectious illnesses like the flu, and cardiovascular disease, among others.
What Foods Support The Immune System
Fruits and vegetables can help to support the normal functioning of the immune system, thanks to their vitamin content.
Citrus fruits such as grapefruits and oranges are high in vitamin C, and broccoli is packed full of vitamins and minerals, as well as containing vitamins A, C and E, fibre and antioxidants.
You May Like: How Much Vitamin C Per Day For Adults
Effects On Adaptive Immune
Vitamin A metabolites can also affect some aspects of the adaptive immune response . Retinoic acid enhances cytotoxicity and T-cell proliferation, the latter probably mediated, at least in part, by enhancing IL-2 secretion and signalling in T cells. Consistent with an in vivo role for vitamin A in T-cell function, vitamin A-deficient mice have defects in TH-cell activity. A possible mechanism for this observation is that in the setting of vitamin A deficiency, retinoic acid does not compete with 1,252VD3 for their common nuclear binding partner RXR and, therefore, the inhibitory effects of 1,252VD3 on T-cell function are not offset by retinoic acid.
Effects of vitamin A metabolites on gut mucosal immunity
Retinoic acid can inhibit B-cell proliferation,, although it has also been found to enhance B-cell activation under some conditions,. In addition, retinoic acid inhibits B-cell apoptosis. These effects are mediated through binding of vitamin A metabolites to RAR receptors.
What Are The Key Benefits Of Vitamin B12 For Your Body
Vitamin B12 plays a fundamental role in the bodys production of red blood cells. Without adequate levels of the vitamin in your body, the production of red blood cells can be impacted and can affect the transportation of oxygen to vital organs, causing weakness and fatigue.
In addition, inadequate levels of vitamin B12 can reduce bone mineral density, causing bones to become fragile over time.
Vitamin B12 works alongside a range of B vitamins to help support your bodys functions. Vitamin B complex helps to support a healthy immune system by supporting cell health, red blood cells, energy levels and cardiovascular health, among other functions. This means its important to make sure you not only get enough vitamin B12, but vitamin B as a whole.
You May Like: How Important Is Vitamin D To The Body
What Vitamins Can Help Prevent Covid
Because COVID-19 comes with cold and flu-like symptoms, Vitamins B, C and D, as well as zinc may be helpful in boosting your immune system and fighting the illness in the same way they can help you get over a cold or flu.
Vitamin C
Generally, vitamin C can help you fight a cold faster or ease your cold symptoms if you were taking it prior to getting sick. As an antioxidant, vitamin C can help reduce inflammationand lung inflammation is a severe symptom of COVID-19, which can lead to respiratory distress or even death. So if youre still healthy, it doesnt hurt to start taking vitamin C now.
Vitamin D
The primary function of vitamin D is to help your body maintain optimal blood levels of calcium and phosphorous, which you can get through exposure to the suns ultraviolet rays, or through supplements and the foods you eat.
Getting enough vitamin D can also protect you from respiratory infection. Vitamin D supplementation significantly decreases the chance of respiratory tract infections, based on clinical studies published in the Journal of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapeutics.
B Complex vitamins
Vitamin B6 is essential to keeping your immune system in top condition. Be sure to get enough vitamin B as a supplement, as part of your daily diet or in a multivitamin.
Zinc
Zinc has also been found to help produce and activate T-cells , which trigger the body to respond to infections, according to the NIH.
Sign Up For Your Covid
All individuals age 5 and older are currently eligible to receive a Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.
If you’re 16 and older and it has been 6 months since your initial Pfizer series, you’re eligible for a booster dose. If you’re 18 and older and it has been 6 months since your initial Moderna series or 2 months since your J& J shot, you are eligible to receive a booster dose.
Also Check: What Foods Contain Vitamin B6
Immune System Limitations Against Covid
Its important to know that a strong immune system will not prevent you from contracting COVID-19.
SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is a novel pathogen, meaning those who contract it have no existing antibodies to mount a defense. For that reason, it remains imperative to continue practicing social distancing, good hand hygiene, and cough etiquette.
However, developing a strong immune system while youre healthy can sustain your body as it familiarizes itself with the new virus in the event you get sick. Taking steps now to boost your immune health can also help you fight other common bugs such as cold or flu viruses.
More research is necessary, but its believed that quality exercise and activity, nutrition, emotional and psychological wellbeing, and lifestyle choices can benefit your immune system. Here are tips, tricks, and myth busting facts to help you feel as healthy as possible.
How Can I Best Strengthen My Immune System
You can support your immune system by ensuring that you are getting the right nutrients, through both your diet and by taking supplements.
You can take a vitamin-specific supplement if there is one you feel that you are deficient in, or else, an all-round immune support supplement.
Starpowa Triple Immune Support Vitamin Summer Fruits Flavoured Gummies contains a special formula featuring vitamin C, vitamin D3 and zinc which all help to support the normal functioning of the immune system.
Don’t Miss: What Vitamins Should A 30 Year Old Woman Take Daily
Boost The Immune System
With the novel coronavirus infecting many, people are seeking to boost their immune systems. We definitely need our bodies’ defenses to be as strong as possible. How can this be done?
Like the Army, the immune system is an intricate network of units that act together to combat invaders, in this case bacteria, viruses and other “enemies.”
Since it is a system of many parts, not a single unit, it cannot technically be boosted. However, it can be strengthened to run efficiently in order to fight off diseases. Keep your body’s soldiers fit and ready by living a healthy lifestyle.
The Importance Of Vitamins For Our Health
We tend to underestimate the importance that vitamins have in our health. The biggest danger here is eating always the same thing and forgetting about variety in our diets. This greatly limits our vitamin intake, thus leaving us defenseless against virus and infections.
In order to be protected against the flu and other infections, the key is having a strong and resistant immune system. For most people, this means keeping an eye on variety and having a diet high in all of the aforementioned foods. Do you already take vitamins to boost your immune system?
From now on, try to include foods into your diet that have vitamins A, B, C, and E. You will start noticing youre less likely to bet infected. As time goes by, you will see that you dont get sick that often!
It might interest you…
Also Check: Which Vitamin B Do I Need
How Vitamin B Builds Up Your Immune Response
Healthy immune systems dont happen by accident. Everyday dietary habits directly affect how protected the body is against infections and toxins. Unfortunately, not everyone gets enough fresh vegetables and fruit to maintain a healthy immune response. In these cases, specific supplements such as vitamin B can help.
How Vitamin B12 Supports The Immune System
Vitamin B12 and folic acid are both vital for immune function. Both are necessary for producing a sufficient number of red blood cells to carry oxygen around the body. If you have a folate deficiency and/or vitamin B12 deficiency, your immune system may start to falter, and your body will struggle to ward off pathogens. Red blood cells are crucial immune cells which are part of your bodys immune response so its important to ensure theyre able to form and function correctly.
A lack of vitamin B12 in your diet or through supplements can lead to pernicious anaemia. Pernicious anaemia is an autoimmune disorder that causes the immune system to attack stomach cells, thus inhibiting the bodys ability to absorb vitamin B12. Although the cause of this condition is unknown, supplements can help with the symptoms of pernicious anaemia.
As you can see, vitamin B12 is a key vitamin for helping to maintain a healthy immune system and maintaining levels of both vitamin B12 and folic acid will help to prevent conditions such as pernicious anaemia and folate deficiency.
Read Also: What’s The Best Way To Get Vitamin D
How Does Vitamin C Boost Your Immunity And Improve Your Health
Vitamin C is an essential nutrient that assists in the formation and maintenance of bones, blood vessels, and skin while strengthening your immunity. This nutrient is found naturally in several foods, especially in fruits and vegetables. Additionally, vitamin C supplements are also available.
As one could expect, COVID-19 has forced people to focus more on protecting themselves from illnesses and infections by strengthening their immunity. This article reviews the impact vitamin C has on your immunity and health.
Vitamin C An Essential Nutrient
Vitamin C or L-ascorbic acid is a water-soluble nutrient and antioxidant that can neutralize unstable compounds and help prevent or reverse cellular damage in our bodies. It is also involved in various biochemical processes related to immune health.
Major benefits of Vitamin C include:
The Impact of Vitamin C on Immunity
Vitamin C is a critical micronutrient. It contributes to your immune defense system by supporting multiple cellular functions of your bodys adaptive immune systems. Being an antioxidant, it can also fight free radicals in the body, thereby decreasing inflammation and boosting immunity. It can keep your skin healthy and enable it to act as a barrier against toxic compounds entering your body.
Vitamin Metabolites And Lymphocyte Homing
Roles of retinoic acid and 1,252VD3 in tissue-specific lymphocyte homing
Although vitamin A deficiency decreases the number of T and B cells in the small bowel lamina propria,,,, it does not affect lymphocyte migration to the colon. Analogously, GALT-resident DCs imprint T and B cells with homing capacity for the small bowel, but they do not induce colon-homing T cells. Therefore, retinoic acid is neither necessary nor sufficient to imprint colon-homing lymphocytes. The molecular signals that are responsible for lymphocyte homing to the colon and the reasons why T-cell migration to this compartment is controlled differently from homing to the small bowel are still to be determined.
Regarding the migration of ASCs, it has been proposed that CCR10 might have a role in the homing of IgA+ ASCs to the colon, mammary glands and probably to other mucosal compartments . However, it is currently unclear how CCR10 expression is induced by ASCs. Recent reports indicate that IgA+ ASCs might acquire CCR10 expression in colonic patches or in iliac lymph nodes following rectal immunization and that the expression of this receptor can also be induced by 1,252VD3 in human ASCs. However, 1,252VD3 does not induce CCR10 expression in murine ASCs in vitro and VDR-deficient mice have normal numbers of CCR10+ IgA+ ASCs, which indicates that 1,252VD3 might not be necessary for the induction of CCR10 expression by B cells in vivo, at least in mice.
Don’t Miss: Is Fish Oil Vitamins Good For You
Your Money Might Be Better Spent On Something Else
During the winter months, you’ve likely seen ads for products that claim to give your immune system a boost to help you ward off colds and the flu. But can something in a bottle, whether a vitamin formulation or probiotic, really rev up your immune system to help you stay healthy?
“Unfortunately, the reality is that those kinds of products aren’t really offering you any benefit,” says Michael Starnbach, a professor of microbiology at Harvard Medical School. “There’s no evidence that they help in fighting disease.”
To understand why, you need to know a little about how the immune system works. The very idea of boosting the immune system is flawed.
“The immune system is very finely tuned,” says Starnbach. There is a balance between an immune system that is effective at limiting the ability of bacteria, viruses, and parasites to cause infection, and a hyperactive immune system that can cause such problems as allergies, diabetes, and other types of autoinflammatory and autoimmune disorders.
“If there were a wholesale boost to the immune system, it could trigger autoimmunity and other problems,” he says.
