Food and Immunity January 27, 2022 General While it may not sound surprising to hear that having a diet rich in nutrients are good for our health, it is important to highlight why. What we eat can greatly influence our immune system. Adding foods rich in vitamins, minerals, and fiber can indeed help us stay healthy and get sick less often. Let’s talk about a few of the key nutrients that help our immunity and where we can find them. The role of antioxidant vitamins Our body’s cells are prone to damage from what are known as free radicals. Free radicals can be formed from our body turning our food into energy, can form after exercise, exposure to cigarette smoke, air pollution and sunlight. Antioxidants are plant chemicals that help protect our cells from damage. If our cells are protected, our body will be healthy to fight disease. There are many substances in plants that act as antioxidants, some of the most familiar ones include vitamin C, vitamin E, and vitamin A in the form of beta-carotene along with the mineral's selenium and manganese. Eating foods rich in these antioxidants can help support our immune system. However, the use of antioxidant supplements has not been shown to have the same protective effect. The reason behind this is that antioxidants tend to work best in combination with other nutrients, plant chemicals, and even other antioxidants that are found together in whole foods, rather than in a single isolated supplement pill. Food Sources Vitamin A (in beta carotene form) rich foods: apricots, asparagus, beets, broccoli, cantaloupe, carrots, bell peppers, kale, mangos, sweet potato, tomatoes, tangerines, watermelon Vitamin C rich foods: broccoli, brussels sprouts, cantaloupe, cauliflower, grapefruit, leafy greens, kiwi, lemon, orange, papaya, snow peas, strawberries, sweet potato, tomatoes, and bell peppers (all colors) Vitamin E rich foods: Almonds, avocado, Swiss chard, leafy greens, peanuts, red peppers, spinach, sunflower seeds. In conclusion Eating a balanced diet that has a variety of vitamin rich foods, colorful and high fiber will help keep our immune system strong. WIC supports you and your family by providing foods that contain a high nutrient content to help you stay healthy. It is also important to point out that the food we eat is only one component that helps our immune system. Other lifestyle factors such as adequate sleep, and exercise and low stress are equally important for our bodies to be strong enough to fight infection and disease. Sources: https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/antioxidants/ https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/nutrition-and-immunity/ Comments are closed.