Good nutrition is essential. All the natural processes that take place inside us require some type of fuel, including our immune system, which will be essential to fight against the cold and coronavirus
The immune system is a set of tissues, cells and chemical reactions that defend our body from invasive pathogens, including viruses, bacteria, toxins or parasites. To carry out its task correctly, our immune system needs certain nutrients. Providing them is critical to being able to fight all these invading organisms.
It is necessary to make it clear, on the other hand, that no supplement is able to cure or prevent diseases on its own. They’re not here for this, but to make sure our defenses have everything they need.
Similarly, and with the one that is falling on us with the global crisis of coronavirus, it is necessary to take into account that, to this day, it is not known whether any particular food is especially beneficial for the treatment of covid-19. What the scientific community is sure of is that the proper functioning of our defenses is essential to dealing with this pathogen that is putting modern society in check as we know it.
Vitamin D
It is a water-soluble fat that is essential for the immune system. As explained in this study by researchers from the Institute of Biomedicine in Seville, the University of Seville, vitamin D improves the ability to fight against the pathogens of monocytes and macrophages. In addition, it decreases inflammation of tissues, which improves the speed of immune system response.
Unfortunately, it is one of the most scarce nutrients in the organisms of the general population. This is of vital importance, because, as explained in this scientific work, the lack of this micronutrient is associated with a higher prevalence of infections in our respiratory system.
In fact, another study published in 2019 found that, with a study group comprised of 11,321 people, dietary supplementation with vitamin D significantly reduced the number of respiratory infections people suffered.
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Zinc
It is shiny silver-colored metal and is also one of the rarest in the earth’s crust. Despite this, it is completely necessary for the essential chemical processes that take place inside our body. As an example of this, in 2017, Dr H. Hemilä, from the University of Helsinki, published a study in which he showed that consuming 80 to 92 mg of zinc daily could reduce the duration of the common cold by up to by 33%.
On the other hand, another study from Aachen University, in Germany, concluded that zinc supplements reduced the risk of suffering infections and promoted the immune response in elderly individuals.
Vitamin C
We’ve associated it all our lives with cold prevention. This has been in question on several occasions (the fact that it is capable of preventing disease on its own). Despite this, it is the most widely consumed nutritional supplement.
Its immune effectiveness resides in the fact that it is essential for the functioning of various cells that have this task. In addition (and curiously) it is essential for cell death (natural and programmed) which is essential to eliminate those cells that are too old to carry out their mission and leave their place to the younger ones that are capable of defending ourselves from external invaders.
Selenium
It is a mineral with important functions as far as our immune system is concerned. In fact, various studies have proven that supplementation with this nutrient improves our body’s antiviral response to the flu virus.
Garlic
It is not a micronutrient, but one of the healthiest (and most delicious) foods that we can put in our mouths in our lives. There is no shortage of scientific research that has been carried out on the health effects of this plant. Thanks to them, garlic has been shown to have important antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties.
In a scientific work published by researchers from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, it was shown to improve immune health by stimulating the functioning of macrophages and NK cells (‘natural killers’, also known as killer cells).
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Group B
Although the amount of research on the effects of this vitamin complex on antiviral prevention and control is scarce, B12 and B6 are essential micronutrients for the proper functioning of our immune system, as explained in this study carried out by researchers Bingjun Qian, Shanqi Shen, Jianhua Zhang and Pu Jing, of the Vocational Institute of Health Sciences (YIHS), Jiangsu, China.