Best Foods for Boosting Your Immune System

Discover the Best Foods for Boosting Your Immune System

No one likes to get sick, and most people know certain foods strengthen immune system health and help prevent and heal chronic diseases and acute infections.

Increasingly, clinical trials and scientific studies validate that some foods deliver more nutrition than others to boost immune function by increasing white blood cells and providing antioxidants that protect us from a wide range of health problems. [1]

But which foods have the best track record for keeping your immune system functioning at its highest level?

This article from the Havard Universitiy T.H. Chan (School of Public Health) gives you detailed information about the best immune system-boosting foods to keep you healthy or help you overcome existing health problems. In addition, you’ll find numerous links to the scientific research supporting the benefits of these foods, inclusing the NIH (National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences).

Even though there isn’t one food above all the others for its immune-boosting effects, there are two groups of foods that research supports as essential for a healthy immune system. Later in this article, we’ll tell you what they are.

1. The Best Foods for Immune Support

Eating a balanced diet of fruits and vegetables, high-quality protein, healthy fats, and healthy carbs is the optimum way of attaining the nutrition your immune system needs to function at its best. However, some foods provide more of the essential nutrients required by the human immune system than other foods. Also the BBC or the World Health Organization (WHO) analyze how important diet is for a healthy immune system.

Healthy eating habits that help prevent disease include an adequate intake of proteins, healthy fats, and immune-boosting vitamins and minerals, including:

• Linoleic acid
• Folic acid
• Zinc
• Vitamin E
• Vitamin C
• Vitamin D
• Iron
• Selenium
• Vitamins B6 and B12

3. Fresh Ginger

Ginger root is related to turmeric, another powerful healing herb discussed later in this article. Ginger has a long tradition in Ayurvedic and other traditional healing practices for many health conditions.

Ginger contains a variety of substances called gingerols that give this herb its spicy flavor and provide antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, and anti-viral effects that support the immune system’s response to a wide range of illnesses. [4]

Ginger is a versatile herb you can use in all these ways:

• Stir fry
• Steeped in hot water for tea
• Used in a glaze for chicken or fish
• Added to deserts and hot chocolate

5. Sweet Potato, Carrots, Apricots, and Tomatoes

These foods all share the characteristic of having yellow or red-colored flesh, indicating they contain high amounts of vitamin A and beta carotene.

Vitamin A and beta carotene have antioxidant effects crucial for human health, and vitamin A is also essential for healthy eyes and vision. [7]

Apricots and tomatoes also contain significant amounts of vitamin C, and sweet potato is an excellent source of fiber that aids with elimination.

7. Pomegranate and Pomegranate Extract

Recent research into the benefits of pomegranate juice and extracts shows that this fruit is loaded with antiviral substances that aid the immune system in resisting viral infections. Pomegranates also contain a hefty dose of vitamin C. [9]

Other research shows that compounds in pomegranates inhibit the growth of many types of bacteria, including Listeria, Staphylococcus aureus, and E coli. [9] Pomegranates might also assist immunity as prebiotics that support the growth of beneficial bacteria in the gut. [10]

9. Mushrooms

Mushrooms are a delicious and versatile food. They also boost immune response because they contain high levels of vitamin D and selenium, a trace mineral needed by the immune system for optimum functioning. [12]

Certain types of mushrooms are an excellent source of vitamin D, including shitake, oyster mushrooms, and button mushrooms. Vitamin D is an essential nutrient used by the immune system, and many people have sub-optimum levels of this vitamin. [13]

You can increase the amount of vitamin D in some types of mushrooms by exposing them to sunlight before eating them. [14]

13. Green Tea

Green tea contains substantial amounts of multiple antioxidants, flavonoids, and L-theanine, an amino acid that supports the body’s T cells. T cells are a vital cellular component that fights off invading viruses. [18]

Black tea contains smaller amounts of these beneficial compounds. However, the fermentation process of making black tea destroys some of the beneficial compounds, making green tea a more effective beverage for supporting immune health. Green tea also has substantially less caffeine than black tea.

15. Dark Chocolate

Dark chocolate is a delicious treat, and it’s also a food with substantial amounts of beneficial nutrients that support optimum health, including trace minerals like selenium, zinc, iron, copper, and magnesium. [21]

The most healthful chocolates are those with a high percentage of cocoa because they contain less sugar and more of the beneficial nutrients needed by the immune system.

17. Probiotic and Prebiotic Foods

While you cannot achieve optimum immune response by eating a single food, research over the last decades repeatedly validates these two food groups are a core component necessary for good immune functioning. [24]

Probiotics are Beneficial Bacteria

Probiotics are foods that contain active cultures of gut-healthy beneficial bacteria that are the starting point of healthy digestion and getting the most nutrition out of all foods you eat.

Probiotics help the body access the nutrients in all the foods we eat, making these nutrients more available for absorption by the digestive tract.

In addition, healthy probiotic bacteria also appear to boost immune function in multiple ways that we are just beginning to understand. [25]

Probiotic foods include:

• Live and active culture yogurt and kefir
• Fermented foods like natural sauerkraut and kimchi
• Tempeh
• Miso
• Kombucha tea
• Naturally fermented pickles
• Natto

Cooking methods matter when it comes to the preparation of probiotic foods. Heat can destroy the good bacteria, so lightly cook or eat these foods without cooking them for the most benefit.

Prebiotics Feed Healthy Bacteria

Prebiotic foods are especially beneficial for feeding probiotic bacteria and helping them to thrive.

Prebiotic foods include:

• Garlic, onions, and leeks
• Leafy greens, especially dandelion greens
• Seaweed
• Slightly green bananas
• Asparagus
• Jerusalem artichokes

The fiber in these foods nourishes the probiotic bacteria, and cooking prebiotic foods does not decrease their effectiveness. Regularly eating probiotic and prebiotic foods is one important step you can take to optimize your gut health and get the most benefit from all the foods you consume. [26]

19. Conclusions about Foods that Strengthen Immune System Health

The best ways to boost your immune function are by eating healthy foods that are right for your body, getting sufficient high-quality sleep, and living a healthy lifestyle. In addition, supplements can fill in the gap if you have health conditions or deficiencies that increase your need for certain nutrients. Alcat blood testing can help determine if certain foods and other substances interfere with your optimum health.

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The immune system is a complex network of immune cells such as white blood cells, T cells, organs, tissues, healthy gut bacteria, and metabolic processes. In the last few decades, researchers have begun unraveling how our immune systems work and what foods and healthy lifestyle practices are most central for preventing acute and chronic illness.

So far, scientific research backs-up the idea that some foods benefit immune system health more than others because of the nutrients they contain. In addition, the beneficial role of probiotic and prebiotic foods for getting the most nutrition out of what you eat is now evident.

However, not all foods are suitable for all people, and the Alcat Test can help you understand which foods are the best choices for you to boost your immune system function for optimum health.

German version of this article: Immunssystem stärken mit gesunder Ernährung