With your daily food you can easily and cheaply strengthen your immune system and build up your defenses. These 6 foods will help you!
6 Foods That Will Make Your Immune-System Stronger
Red pepper
Red peppers are very high in vitamin C, which improves our immune system. Vitamin C also has an antiviral and antibacterial effect. It helps flush harmful substances out of the body. It is water soluble and cannot be stored in our body. That means we need to constantly consume vitamin C through our food. 100 g of raw red peppers contain around 120 mg of vitamin C. This puts the pepper far ahead of the vitamin C content of a lemon, which only has around 53 mg per 100 g. According to the DGE, the average daily requirement of an adult for vitamin C is around 110 mg for men and around 95 mg for women.
Salmon
Salmon not only contains healthy fats, but also a lot of vitamin D. Vitamin D has a special role among vitamins. Our body can produce it itself with the help of sunlight. However, this may not be sufficient, especially in the winter months. We can cover a small part of our vitamin D requirement with our food. Without enough vitamin D, we become susceptible to infections because it divides and matures the immune cells. Fresh salmon contains about 16 µg of vitamin D per 100 g. The German Society for Nutrition estimates that we need about 20 µg. Since salmon also contains fat, we can easily process the fat-soluble vitamin D.
Nuts
A few nuts are the perfect snack for in between, because they fill you up quickly and also strengthen the immune system! Many nuts contain the fat-soluble vitamin E, which in turn consists of a whole group of substances. Vitamin E improves the reaction of the immune system and has an anti-inflammatory effect. On average, a healthy man needs about 14 mg of vitamin E per day, women need 12 mg of vitamin E per day. 100 g hazelnuts contain up to 24 mg of the vitamin E complex. 100 g of almonds almost 26 mg. Brazil nuts contain a particularly large amount of selenium. The trace element also supports the immune system.
Lenses
You should not only have lentils in your diet in winter. Because they contain the trace elements zinc and especially iron and copper, which are important for our immune system. Zinc affects the activity of the immune system. When we lack copper, our immune system is more vulnerable – so it’s important to think about this trace element as well. Iron deficiency also means that we get sick more quickly. All three are now gathered in lenses. In 100 g of dried lentils there are about 3 mg of zinc, which covers 40% of our daily needs, 8 mg of iron, which is about 64% of our daily needs, and 0.8 mg of copper, which is 61% of our daily needs.
Ginger
Why is ginger so hot? The sharpness comes from gingerols. These are essential oils that have anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties. When we eat the hot root, we support our body’s defenses.
Broccoli
Who would have thought it: There are also many valuable substances in broccoli. Broccoli contains a lot of vitamin C and provitamin A. Broccoli also contains secondary plant substances. The so-called glucosinolates even protect against cancer! Although broccoli contains less vitamin C than red peppers, this still exceeds the average daily requirement for an adult at around 115 mg per 100 g.
