Dr. Rommel Tickoo, Director of Internal Medicine at Max Superspeciality Hospital, Saket (New Delhi, India) points out 3 important vitamins and minerals that help prevent viral infections during every flu season:
Vitamin B12
Vitamin B12 can help balance the body's immune response to fight viral infections.
Vitamin B12 also helps the body make DNA, the main building block of cells. Since the body cannot make vitamin B12 on its own, you need to rely on food sources rich in this vitamin, namely meat, milk and eggs.
Adults need about 2.4 micrograms (mcg) of vitamin B12 per day, and people recovering from illness, children, and pregnant or breastfeeding women will need more.
Milk and dairy products have the highest amount of B12, so people who do not get enough vitamin B12 must rely on alternative food sources or fortified foods. That is why supplements are needed.
Some patients report that they are fine as long as they continue taking the supplements, but their deficiency returns after finishing the course.
This type of persistent deficiency occurs in people with absorption problems. When their vitamin B12 levels are deficient, their blood counts drop and they develop a condition called pernicious anemia.
People who have had gastric bypass surgery (weight loss surgery) may have difficulty absorbing vitamin B12.
Vitamin D is essential for calcium absorption, bone health, and keeping your heart pumping. It also plays an important role in your immune system.
The easiest way to get vitamin D is to spend about 15 minutes in the early morning sun.
Vitamin D helps fight infections by regulating the activity of immune cells and inducing antiviral responses.
It stimulates the production of peptides with antiviral properties, which help protect the body against foreign pathogens.
Many studies have shown that vitamin D plays a role in activating cells, helping them fight infections and inhibiting immune responses in cases of excessive inflammation.
Iron deficiency anemia makes you more susceptible to disease. Because iron deficiency directly affects the production of neutrophils (T-Lymphocytes).
Meanwhile, this cell is an essential component of the human immune system.
A weakened immune system makes the body's protective barrier easily "punctured" by bacteria, viruses and harmful agents, causing the spread of many diseases, including those caused by the flu virus.
Foods such as spinach, shellfish (oysters, clams, mussels), animal organs, pumpkin seeds, and dark chocolate are all rich sources of iron.
