15 Foods to Boosts Your Immune System

Foods to Boosts Your Immune System: A strong immune system lets a person remain healthy. Could certain foods help improve the immune system?

The immune system is made up of muscles, tissues, cells, and proteins. Together, they conduct body functions that fight off infections, which are the viruses, fungi, and foreign bodies that inflict inflammation or disease.

The introduction of specific foods into the diet can strengthen an individual's immune response. Choosing a healthy lifestyle should be your first line of defense.

Prepare your meals to provide these 15 strong boosters for your immune system.

1. Citrus Fruits

Grapefruit, oranges, lemons, sweet lime, tangerines are rich in Vitamin C and help to boost immunity. Vitamin C is believed to improve white blood cell development and is essential to battling infections.

Citrus fruits are mostly high in vitamin C. With such a choice to choose from, adding a squeeze of the vitamin to every meal is simple.

Vitamin C is not stored or produced in our body, due to which you need to consume on a daily basis. Recommended daily amount for:

• Women: 75 mg
• Men: 90 mg

Prefer taking natural vitamin C over supplements but, if you still take supplements, avoid taking more than 2,000 mg/day.

While Vitamin C helps you recover for flue or cold, it’s not proven scientifically that it's effective against SARS or new coronavirus.

2. Dark Chocolate

Theobromine is the antioxidant present in dark chocolate that helps to boosts the immune system by protecting the body’s cells from free radicals.

Free radicals are molecules formed by the body when breaking down food or when it encounters contaminants. Free radicals can damage the cells of the body and can contribute to illness.

Despite its potential benefits, dark chocolate is high in calories and saturated fat so consuming it in moderation is necessary.

3. Turmeric

Turmeric is a yellow spice that is used in cooking by many people. It also occurs in some alternative medicines. Eating turmeric can enhance the immune response of an organism. This is because of the curcumin properties, a compound in turmeric.

Curcumin is showing antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties according to a 2017 study.

4. Broccoli

Broccoli is filled with calcium and vitamins. Packed with vitamins A, C, and E as well as sugar and potent antioxidants, such as sulforaphane. One of the healthiest vegetables you can put on your plate is broccoli.

The key to maintaining its power intact is cooking it as little as possible - or better yet, not at all. For these reasons, it’s a great vegetable to eat regularly in order to support your immune system.

5. Spinach

It contains many essential nutrients and antioxidants such as flavonoids, carotenoids, vitamin C, and vitamin E.

Vitamins C and E can help in supporting the immune system. Results also suggest that flavonoids in otherwise healthy people can help avoid the common cold.

6. Garlic

Garlic is a common home remedy used to avoid colds and other diseases. In the fight against infections, early civilizations recognized its value. Garlic may also slow down artery hardening.

Research showed whether consuming garlic supplements containing allicin decreases the risk of getting a cold.

The group of placebo-taking patients had more than twice the amount of colds amongst them than those taking the garlic supplements. However, the researchers concluded that more research is needed to determine if garlic can help prevent colds or not.

7. Ginger

Ginger has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties and is likely to provide health benefits, according to a review.

It can aid in reducing sore throat, inflammatory diseases, and nausea.

The ginger packs some heat in the form of gingerol, a relative of capsaicin, though it is used in many sweet desserts.

Ginger can even alleviate chronic pain and may also have cholesterol-lowering effects. However, more research is needed to confirm if the illness can be effectively prevented or not.

8. Red Bell Peppers

Red bell peppers are an excellent alternative source of vitamin C for people trying to avoid the sugar in fruit.

They are a rich source of beta carotene and have almost three times as much vitamin C (127 mg) as Florida orange (45 mg). Vitamin C can help you preserve healthy skin, in addition to strengthening the immune system. Beta carotene, which the body turns into vitamin A, helps preserve healthy eyes and skin.

According to a study related to the cooking method, it is suggested to stir-fry or roast to preserve the nutrient content of red bell pepper than steaming or boiling.

9. Almonds

Vitamin E appears to take a backseat to vitamin C when it comes to avoiding and treating colds. This strong antioxidant, however, is important for a stable immune system.

It's a fat-soluble vitamin, indicating that proper absorption of fat is necessary. Nuts, like almonds, are filled with the antioxidant and have good fats too. It also contains manganese, fiber, and magnesium.

Adults need only around 15 mg of vitamin E every day.

10. Sunflower Seeds

Sunflower seeds are nutrient-filled, including phosphorus, magnesium, vitamins B-6, and E.

Vitamin E is essential for the control and maintenance of the functioning of the immune system. Many high-vitamin E foods include avocados and dark leafy greens. It improves immune function by fighting off free radicals, which can damage cells.

The sunflower seeds also have an extremely high selenium content. Just 1 ounce contains almost half the daily selenium the average adult needs. A number of researches, mainly carried out on rodents, have investigated its ability for combating viral infections such as swine flu (H1N1)

11. Green Tea

Green tea can be considered as an alternative to black tea or coffee as it contains less amount of caffeine. Drinking it may also strengthen the immune system.

As with blueberries, green tea has flavonoids, which may decrease the risk of a cold.

Green tea is a strong source of L-theanine amino acid, as well. L-theanine may help generate germ-fighting compounds in your T cells.

12. Papaya

Papaya is yet another vitamin C-loaded fruit. The recommended daily amount of vitamin C can be doubled in a single medium fruit. Papayas also have a digestive enzyme that has anti-inflammatory effects, called papain.

Papayas have good potassium, magnesium, and folate levels, both of which support your overall health.

13. Kiwi

Kiwis are naturally, like papayas, filled with a ton of essential nutrients, including folate, potassium, vitamin K, and vitamin C.

Vitamin C boosts white blood cells to fight infection, while the other nutrients of kiwi keep the rest of your body working properly.

14. Oily Fish

A rich source of omega-3 fatty acids is the salmon, tuna, pilchards and other oily fish.

The long-term intake of omega-3 fatty acids could reduce the risk of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), according to a 2014 report.

RA is a chronic autoimmune disease that occurs when a stable portion of the body is wrongly targeted by the immune system.

15. Poultry

It's more than just the placebo influence that makes you feel better when you're sick and you look for chicken broth. The soup will help to reduce inflammation, which may improve cold symptoms.

The poultry is high in vitamin B-6, such as chicken and turkey. About 3 ounces of light turkey or chicken meat contains almost one-third of your recommended daily B-6 amount.

Vitamin B-6 is an important contributor to many of the chemical reactions that occur in the body. It is essential to producing fresh and stable red blood cells as well.

Stock or broth made from boiling chicken bones contains gelatin, chondroitin, and other nutrients that are important for intestinal healing and immunity.

Some other ways to boosts the immune system

The following lifestyle changes will help to improve a person's immune system:

•  avoiding smoking
•  exercising regularly
• maintaining a healthy weight
• avoiding alcohol or drinking in moderation
• getting enough sleep
• minimizing stress
• practicing correct hand-washing and oral hygiene