Immune Boosting Nutrients From A to Z
Food is powerful—it can heal, boost, and transform your immune system. So what happens when you feed your body the nutrients it needs to refuel? Here are valuable vitamins, their superfood counterparts, and how they nourish your immune system.
Vitamin A: strengthens your immune system. Look for it in carrots, pumpkin, cantaloupe, squash, sweet potatoes, and other brightly colored fruits and vegetables.
Vitamin B6: helps your immune system function. Bananas, fish, chickpeas, baked potatoes, and lean chicken all offer this beneficial health punch.
Vitamin C: boosts your immune system. Found in a variety of leafy green vegetables like spinach and kale, along with fruits like strawberries and papaya.
Vitamin D: keeps your bones and teeth healthy. Found in fatty fish like salmon and tuna or in milk and orange juice.
Vitamin E: helps fight infection. Try almonds, peanuts, sunflower seeds, spinach, and broccoli for your daily dose.
Folic Acid: helps protect and create cells in your body. Look for it in beans, peas, or leafy green vegetables.
Iron: helps your body distribute oxygen to cells. Chicken, turkey, seafood, beans, broccoli, and kale are all great ways to get this vitamin.
Selenium: slows your body’s reaction to cancer. Look for it in garlic, broccoli, tuna, or barley.
Zinc: helps decrease inflammation. Crab, poultry, lean meats, baked beans, oysters, chickpeas, and yogurt are a few foods you can absorb it from.