The Best Vitamins and Minerals to Boost Immunity

Vitamin A

Best for: maintaining your body’s defenses

Find it in: eggs, meat, milk, cheese, cream, liver, kidney, cod

Found in dairy and meat products, Vitamin A plays a role keeping your body in tip-top condition. In terms of your immune system, Vitamin A is like a solider, strengthening your body’s defenses. Our eyes, gut and lungs have mucus barriers that trap bacteria and other infectious agents. Vitamin A is the building block of these barriers and helps produce white blood cells that capture and destroy invaders from within your blood stream.

Vitamin C

Best for: scavenging free radicals

Find it in: citrus fruits, onions, tomatoes, potatoes, strawberries, green and red bell peppers, broccoli

Found in orange juice, our good friend Vitamin C is the cheery vitamin we were encouraged to have as kids. Unlike animals, humans cannot synthesize this micronutrient and we must consume it in our diet. A potent antioxidant, Vitamin C fights free radicals that may be running wild. This can help delay or prevent illnesses like cancer or heart disease. Vitamin C is a go-to remedy for the common cold and is actively transported to the skin, where its antioxidant properties help strengthen the skin’s barriers.

Vitamin D

Best for: all-round good health

Find it in: sunshine, oily fish

Consider Vitamin D the rockstar nutrient. Its benefits are almost endless. It regulates the absorption of calcium and phosphorus, thus facilitating brilliant immune system function.  One study showed that COVID-19 sufferers lacking Vitamin D are twice as likely to experience major complications. Furthermore, Vitamin D has been shown to prevent Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, lower blood pressure and strengthen bones and muscles. It really is one of the best vitamins to boost your immune system.

Iron

Best for: promoting blood health

Find it in: beans, dried nuts, red meat

Our bodies need iron to make haemoglobin to carry oxygen from the lungs to all parts of the body, and myoglobin, to carry oxygen to muscles. A lack of it means our bodies cannot function at optimum level, at times resulting in anemia and less oxygen flow throughout the body. In terms of the immune system, it’s hemoglobin that provides oxygen to damaged cells, tissues and organs so the body can to fight diseases and infections.

Selenium

Best for: preventing infections

Find it in: Brazil nuts, meat, fish and eggs

Like Vitamin C, selenium is an antioxidant so will reduce oxidative stress across your body. But where it really comes into its own is battling off any potential threats like bacteria, viruses and parasites.

Some studies have shown that elevated blood levels of selenium enhance immune response, conversely, deficiency harms immune cell function and may lead to a slower immune response.

Zinc

Best for: supporting your immune cells

Find it in: shellfish, red meat, poultry, kale, mushrooms

Cells we rely on to keep us alive depend on zinc. If they do not have it, they can’t do their job. Zinc is key for normal development and function of cells mediating innate immunity, neutrophils, NK cells and macrophages. Weakened immune cell signalling means a poor immune response when our body senses we’re under attack.

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