Every day, updates on the number of coronavirus cases in the world are published for everyone to see. While some people survive and are discharged to go home, some lose their lives to the virus, and others show no symptoms at all.
One thing we’ve noticed over time is that there is no pattern to the deaths.
We’ve seen old people, teenagers, and middle-aged people lose their lives, and we’ve also seen many of them survive.
However, we know one thing for sure:
Immuno-compromised people are more liable to fall sick from the virus than very healthy people.
So, in this article, we’ll be showing you how to boost your immune system against covid-19
COVID-19 comes with cold-like symptoms, son the best vitamins to use in preventing this include vitamins B, C, D, and E.
You can find these vitamins in foods and also take them in supplement form.
Let’s take a look.
Vitamins That Can Help Increase Your Resistance Against COVID-19 Infection
Vitamin C
Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is a water-soluble vitamin well-known for its immune-boosting functions. This vitamin isn’t produced or stored by the body, so you must take it daily.
Here are the functions of vitamin C that makes it strong enough to boost your immune system:
- It maintains healthy bones and speeds up wound recovery.
- It has antioxidant properties that prevent inflammation and cell damage caused by free radicals in the body. So, it protects you or delays diseases like cancer.
- Vitamin C has been observed to reduce the risk of cartilage loss in patients with osteoarthritis.
- May decrease the period of cold symptoms if you fall sick and take it in high doses. However, you shouldn’t take more than the required daily intake (2000mg)
So, now that you know how powerful this vitamin is, how can you make sure your body has enough of it daily?
Stock up on citrus fruits like oranges, and other foods like tomatoes, vegetables, strawberries, green and red bell peppers, and broccoli.
Most of these foods require you to eat them in a near-raw form to preserve all the nutrients present in them (especially the vegetables like broccoli).
Vitamin B6
Of all the vitamin B, B6 is most responsible for keeping your immune system in check. It also helps you make new red blood cells and pass oxygen around your body, keeping you healthy.
Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) also works by producing white blood cells and T cells which help in the regulation of the body’s immune response. With this vitamin, your body also produces the protein interleukin-2 which helps direct white blood cell activity.
Where can you get vitamin B6 from?
You can get this vitamin by eating foods rich in pyridoxine such as chickpeas, salmon, leafy greens, chicken, and tuna.
Vitamin B12
Vitamin B12 is another vitamin in the B-complex that may support your immune system.
Although this vitamin is known to boost your mood and energy, there are also things it can do for your immune system.
One of these is contributing to the red blood cell development process and DNA maintenance, so your body stays in its best form.
It also plays an important role in white blood cell production. White blood cells are an essential part of the body’s defense system.
So, you can see that if you don’t get enough vitamin B12, you risk lowering your immunity and also suffering some immune system disorders such as Graves’ disease – an autoimmune condition that causes hyperthyroidism. Hyperthyroidism, in turn, could lead to developing pernicious anemia, and one could end up with a deficiency.
Let’s see foods high in vitamin B12:
You’ll find vitamin B12 in foods like eggs, low-fat milk, yogurt, cheese, fish and shellfish, beef, chicken, and fortified breakfast cereal.
Vitamin D
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that plays a major role in your body’s immune system health.
Many people have even wondered if vitamin D will even help them stay completely free from COVID-19.
Well, it won’t cure COVID-19 – there’s no cure for that yet.
However, consuming high levels of vitamin D will help keep your immune system healthy to protect you against most respiratory illnesses.
So, how does this work?
Vitamin D has both immunoregulatory and anti-inflammatory properties. With these properties, you can be sure that your body fights infections harder. So, it blocks certain foreign substances in the body that causes inflammation, and then reduces swelling, redness, and pain if present.
Vitamin D also improves the function of T-cells and macrophages, which are immune cells that protect your body against diseases.
Several times, the increase in susceptibility to infection has been attributed to low levels of vitamin D.
Some respiratory diseases associated with low levels of vitamin D include asthma, tuberculosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) among others.
To show you how powerful this vitamin is, it was observed to reduce mortality in older adults who have the highest risk of developing illnesses like COVID-19.
While you can obtain vitamin D from supplements and sunlight, you can also get it from foods like salmon, tuna, mushrooms, mackerel, beef liver, cheese, and egg yolks.
Vitamin E
The immune-boosting properties of vitamin E were not observed as early as the other vitamins. But it sure helps with your immune system function.
How?
Vitamin E is a powerful antioxidant. It helps fight against free radicals and protects you from cell damage which could lead to severe diseases including cancer.
A study conducted in animals showed that taking vitamin E daily at supplemental levels enhanced both cell-mediated and humoral immune responses in different animal species.
It also increases the body’s production of lymphocytes, raises immunoglobulin levels, antibody responses, interleukins, and natural killer cells. These are immune-boosting white blood cells that can help you stand strong in the face of respiratory infections like COVID-19.
So, in what foods will you find Vitamin E?
Vitamin E is present in green leafy vegetables like broccoli and spinach, sunflower seeds, almonds, peanuts, and hazelnuts.
If you can’t get the recommended daily intake through food, you can also take vitamin E supplements.
The Editorial Team at Healthcare Business Today is made up of skilled healthcare writers and experts, led by our managing editor, Daniel Casciato, who has over 25 years of experience in healthcare writing. Since 1998, we have produced compelling and informative content for numerous publications, establishing ourselves as a trusted resource for health and wellness information. We offer readers access to fresh health, medicine, science, and technology developments and the latest in patient news, emphasizing how these developments affect our lives.