A healthy body requires a strong immune system. To keep your immune system strong, feeding your body with certain food items can really help.
Our immune system consists of organ cells, tissues, proteins and etc. These all organs all together fight against pathogens like bacteria’s, viruses, and any other foreign bodies that are capable of causing infection to the human body.
When a human body comes in contact with a pathogen, the immune response is triggered. Antibodies are produced by the immune system, which gets attached to the antigens present on the pathogens and thus kills the pathogens. This way, the immune system protects our body from strong and dangerous infections as well.
So, keeping ones’ immune system strong is a must and that can be easily done by incorporating the specific foods in the diet. Let us know how you can manage your diet to boost up the immunity power in ourselves.
What are the foods that boost up the immunity system?
A healthy diet helps to maintain a strong immune system. Here are the foods that can help to boost up the immune system:
- Citrus fruits: Citrus fruit are highly enriched with Vitamin C. With Vitamin C, one can easily increase the production of white blood cells. The white blood cells that fight against the infections are increased high in number. Generally, people look for Citrus fruits when they get a cold or cough infection. The most common citrus fruits are:
- Grapes
- Oranges
- Clementine
- Tangerines
- Lemons
- Limes
The human body is not able to either store or produce Vitamin C. It is thus therefore required that someone needs daily Vitamin C for continued health. Here is the complete prescription:
- 75 mg vitamin C for females
- 90 Mg of vitamin C for male
Vitamin C helps your body to recover from the cold quicker. With no evidence yet, it is also believed that Vitamin C is effective against the new Corona Virus, SARS-CoV-2.
- Red bell pepper: Not only the oranges but bell pepper is also a great source of Vitamin C. With red bell pepper, you can also try to avoid sugar in your diet. One ounce of bell pepper contains approximately 3 times as Vitamin C just as the Florida Oranges.
Along with Vitamin C, they are a rich source of Beta carotene.
Red bell pepper boosts up the immune system and keeps up the healthy skin. With beta carotene, which gets converted into Vitamin A in the human body, it keeps the eyes and skin healthy.
- Broccoli: Broccoli is the superfood that is supercharged with Minerals and Vitamins. Broccoli contains a lot of sorts of Vitamin A, C, and E as well as the fiber. Along with all this, the broccoli is also a great source of antioxidants. This is one of the healthiest vegetables that one can include in their diets. Either deep fry them or roast them, it is always a still nutrient-rich vegetable. But steaming is the best way as per the research to get more nutrients in the food.
- Spinach: Spinach is highly packed with anti-oxidants and beta carotene. Thus, they increase the infection fighting capability as well to enhance the immune systems. It also contains the nutrients and antioxidants like:
- Flavonoids
- Carotenoids
- Vitamin C
- Vitamin E
These can support the immune system and indicates that they can easily prevent the common cold and other infections in the human body.
Spices that can boost up the immunity
Not only the vegetables, but there are also other food items as well, that can easily boost up the immunity. The spices and the other commonly used cooking ingredients can take your immunity to the next level. Let us have a look at them:
- Garlic: Garlic is one of the most found and used vegetable items in every cuisine in the world. Along with the taste that it adds to the food, it keeps the body healthy.
Since ancient times, garlic is considered to be a great option for fighting infections. Garlic is a well-known remedy that can prevent colds and other kinds of illnesses. Garlic is a rich source of allicin-sulfur containing compounds, that reduces the risk of getting cold. Also, it is believed that it helps to lower the blood pressure and slow down the hardening of the arteries.
- Ginger: This another more important ingredient that helps you keep healthy. This helps to treat nausea well and is known to decrease the inflammation. Sore throat and inflammatory illness and other health problems can be easily cured with the ginger. Ginger helps to decrease chronic pain and even lowers down the cholesterol level of the body.
- Turmeric: One of the most used spices in Indian foods, it has been known for the antiallergenic properties from ancient times. Along with that, turmeric is used as alternative medicine. For the years, it is used as an anti-inflammatory substance that can be used for osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.
It is known to decrease exercise-induced muscle damage. It contains curcumin as the major compound that is the immune booster. It is having antiviral properties and a great source for the immunity-boosting.
Enhance the immunity with flavonoids and vitamin E
Strong immunity is a must for a healthy body. Flavonoids are known to increase the immunity of the human body greatly. Along with the immunity boosting capabilities, it makes your body storing internally and helps to fight against the infections. Here are the other natural items that are consumed for increasing the germ fighting capabilities:
- Sunflower seeds: Sunflower seeds are nutrient-rich and contain phosphorous, magnesium, etc. It is also enriched with Vitamin B 6 and Vitamin E. Vitamin E is a great source of maintaining immune system function. They are high in selenium and thus they can combat the highly contagious viral infections like the swine Flu.
- Green tea: Green tea is highly enriched with flavonoids that are a great antioxidant. It also contains EGCG, yet another powerful antioxidant that is known to enhance the immune system. Green tea is not fermented so that the EGCG is also preserved.
In addition to this, it is also a great source of amino acids, L- theanine that increases the production of germ-fighting compounds in the T cells. Flavonoids can decrease the risks of the cold.
In this article, we have coPallvered the food items that boost up the immune system and improve the fighting ability.
Author By: Pallavi Sara
