One great thing to come from this whole pandemic is the amazing change in the awareness of one's own health, how to maintain it and how important it is in our day to day life! Nutrition and feeding our body what it needs, not to just sustain life but to maintain a healthy immune system to protect it, is so important. I'm proud to see this change in self care that I have been trying to promote and follow for so many years. My hope is that this change does not wane in the coming months and years. Don't Let Your Guard Down!
Maintaining a strong immune system is a day in and day out job. Developing a healthy eating program and recognizing when you need to supplement, because of not being able to stick with it, is key.
Getting the essential water soluble vitamins on a daily basis is so important. Water soluble vitamins are the ones that your body does not store. It uses what it needs and excretes the rest. The water solubles vitamins are C and all the Bs (Thiamine, Riboflavin, Niacin, Pantothenate, Pyridoxine, Biotin, Folate, Cobalamin) The other vitamins (A,D, E,K) are fat soluble and the body can store them and draw from that resource when deficient. When taking fat soluble vitamin supplements it's best to take with healthy fat foods like nuts, avocado, egg etc. to help with absorption.
Vitamins and the immune system have been in the news a great deal lately. We will present what they do and what foods contain them. If you aren't able to eat a healthy diet daily then you might have to supplement. It's best to get your vitamins from food but if your schedule or lifestyle make it difficult to do so supplement with Mountain Rescue Nutrients' organic plant-sourced non-synthetic multiple vitamins. Only 2% of the vitamins on the market are plant-sourced non-synthetic.
Below is a chart of the vitamins and minerals that support the immune system, what they do to support the immune system and what foods they are in. All of these vitamins are involved with many other important functions in our bodies but I have listed just their importance to the immune system :
Vitamin A
Supports the immune system by activating white blood cells, production of antibody isotypes and regulation of the immune response
In What Foods: Organic Orange and yellow fruits and vegetables, dark leafy greens, beef liver, egg yolks, pistachio nuts, cheese
Vitamin B-6 Pyridoxine
Involved is the production of antibodies, communicative actions between immune system cells and T-cell activity (important with immune system memory and killing and removing cells already infected)
In What Foods: Organic oats, banana, wheatgerm, chicken, turkey, pork, soy beans, milk, salmon, rice, tuna, peanuts
Vitamin B-9 Folate
Supports immune system T cells and NK (natural killer) cells that attack a virus and kills and removes cells that have been infected with a virus. These important cells are part of the memory of your immune system and recognize a pathogen from the past and triggers production of antibodies to attack the pathogen
In What Foods: Broccoli, brussel sprouts, spinach, cabbage, kale, peas, chickpeas, shellfish, salmon, tuna, asparagus, citrus fruits, cantaloupes
VitaminB-12 Cobalamin
Supports immune response and balance. Is involved with the production of Nucleic acid supporting immune system communication
In What Foods: Red meat, fish, chicken, turkey, mushrooms, green and purple laver algae. Shiitake mushrooms are the source of MrNutrients' B-12 in our multiples
Vitamin C
by increasing immune activity such as phagocytosis (phagocyte cells engulf antigens), lymphocyte proliferation (lymphocyte are white blood cells including B cells, T cells and NK cells, that attack pathogens) and supporting chemotaxis (the movement of the correct (immune) cells to the right place, at the right time)
In What Foods: Chili Peppers, Guavas, Sweet Yellow Peppers, Thyme, Parsley, Kale, Kiwis, Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts, Papaya, Strawberries, citrus fruit. MrNutrients uses Amla berry concentrate
Vitamin D
Helps activate immune response to pathogens that enter the body. It supports the innate and more importantly the adaptive immune system. The adaptive kicks in to help an overwhelmed innate immune system destroy pathogens (viruses,bacteria). The adaptive immune system has a memory and activates the cells needed to fight a recurring virus
In What Foods: The Sun, Salmon, Mackerel, sardines, cod liver oil and shiitake mushrooms (Shiitake mushrooms are MrNutrients' source of vitamin D and B-12
There are many vitamins that help the immune system and these have been mentioned frequently during the COVID. It is so important to maintain your health and support your immune system everyday. Healthy diet, exercise, plenty of water and supplementation with a good non-synthetic multiple vitamin are all crucial to the maintenance of your immune system and overall health.
Mountain Rescue Nutrients are organic plant-sourced, non-synthetic vitamin and mineral multiples. Our multiple vitamins include enzymes and phytonutrients including polyphenols, carotenoids, flavonoids and tocotrienols found in the plants we use. These nutrients are also so important to the support of our immune system and add to the benefits of the vitamins and minerals in our multis.
Don't Risk Your Health to the Uncertainty of Synthetic Vitamins! From the Land Not the Lab! MrNutrients.com
Cheers
Oly
Founder Mountain Rescue Nutrients
Certified Nutrition Coach
Sources:
Muhammad Farhan Aslam, Saad Majeed, Sidra Aslam and Jazib Ali Irfan "Vitamins: Key Role Players in Boosting Up Immune Response-A Mini Review" Vitamins & Minerals March 31, 2017, 6:1
J. Rodrigo Mora, Makoto Iwata and Ulrich H. von Andrian "Vitamin effects on immune system: vitamins D and A take centre stage" https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2906... July 20, 2010
Allison L Bayer, Christopher A Fraker "The Folate Cycle As a Cause of Natural Killer Cell Dysfunction & Viral Etiology in Type 1 Diabetes" Frontiers in Endocrinology November 23, 2017
Caroline Hill "20 Foods that are High in Vitamin C" 6/5/18 healthline.com/nutrition/vitamin-c-foods
Lawrence C. Brody, Ph.D "Nucleic Acid" https://www.genome.gov/genetics-glossary/Nucleic-...
"Overview Vitamins and minerals" https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vitamins-and-minera...
Joana Cavaco Silva "What are lymphocytes and what are healthy levels to have" 1/13/20 medicalnewstoday.com/articles/320987#roles-and-functions
Rene Crevel "Lymphocyte Proliferation" Encyclopedic Reference of Immunotoxicology 2005 Edition
Barbara Prietl, Gerlies Treiber, Pieber, Amrein "Vitamin D and Immune Function" July 5, 2013 Nutrients 2013
Kubala "Can Vitamin D Lower Risk of COVID-19?" 10/12/20 healthline.com/nutrition/vitamin-d-coronavirus
Krista Scott-Dixon, John Berardi, Brian St. Pierre, Helen Kollias, Camille DePutter The Essentials of Nutrition and Coaching, Unit 2 The Science of Nutrition Fourth Edition 2019