Immunity boosting foods

There is no magic food in this world that can "quickly improve immunity after eating it once." All foods that can help immunity essentially provide necessary nutrients for the synthesis of immune cells and the normal operation of immune responses, and their effectiveness must be based on regular work and rest and moderate exercise. To supplement immunity by eating something alone is essentially paying an IQ tax.

Don’t believe it, I helped my best friend who is an Internet operator to adjust her diet. Last winter, in order to avoid the flu, she took 30 yuan a piece of VC effervescent tablets 3 cups a day, and drank Ganoderma spore powder worth 1,000 yuan per kilogram. As a result, she still had influenza A fever for 3 days last month. She went to the nutrition department of the hospital for a checkup and found that the serum VC concentration was twice the standard, which inhibited the phagocytic activity of neutrophils. She is allergic to dust mites, and the crude polysaccharide of the spore powder actually increased the immune load. The more supplements, the more chaotic it becomes.

At present, the nutrition community has clear clinical evidence to support the foods that can effectively support immunity. In fact, they are ordinary ingredients that you can easily buy in the vegetable market. For example, high-quality proteins such as milk, eggs, lean livestock and poultry, fish, shrimp, and soy products are core raw materials for the synthesis of immunoglobulins and antibodies. Research data from the 2022 Dietary Guidelines of the Chinese Nutrition Society shows that healthy adults whose daily high-quality protein intake meets the standard have an upper respiratory tract infection rate that is about 23% lower than that of people who do not consume enough. There are also folic acid in dark green vegetables, heme iron in red meat, and zinc in shellnuts. They are all trace elements necessary for the differentiation and maturation of immune cells. When I was doing community science popularization, I met a 62-year-old aunt. She used to catch colds all the time, and her immunoglobulin IgG was always below the critical level. Yes, she used to be reluctant to eat eggs and milk, and only drank porridge and pickles every day. Later, she was adjusted to one egg a day, 300ml pure milk, steamed seabass twice a week, and 1 pound of green leafy vegetables every day. After 3 months, the IgG returned to the normal range, and she had not caught a cold in half a year.

Of course, some people must ask, are the sea cucumbers, cordyceps, and lactoferrin that are so popular on the market really useless? This really cannot be generalized. For example, sea cucumbers. The sea cucumber saponins and active polysaccharides promoted by merchants do have the effect of regulating immunity. However, a 2021 study by the Ocean University of China showed that in order for these active ingredients to reach the effective dose in the human body, one must eat at least 3 kilograms of fresh sea cucumbers every day. When an ordinary family eats 1 stick a day, the protein supplement is not as good as an egg plus a 250ml box of milk, and the price/performance ratio is ridiculously low. There is also lactoferrin. The current consensus in the pediatric field is that additional supplementation for infants and young children who are premature and have low innate immunity can indeed reduce the risk of infection. However, if they are healthy adults, drinking lactoferrin-added milk powder and ordinary whole milk powder, there is no significant difference in immune indicators after 3 months. There is no need to spend extra money.

Speaking of which, there may be some people who are talking about the dietary supplements of traditional Chinese medicine, saying that drinking astragalus water and eating yam is really not easy to catch a cold? I’m not going to make any excuses. Beijing University of Chinese Medicine conducted a clinical controlled experiment in 2023. For 120 people with qi deficiency who are prone to sweating, are afraid of cold, and have diarrhea after eating something cold, the group who drank astragalus and yam porridge three times a week for 8 consecutive weeks, all The number of colds per year is 40% less than that of the control group who does not drink it, but the premise is that you have the corresponding constitution. If you have a damp-heat constitution that usually has a heavy breath, is prone to constipation, and loves acne, drinking astragalus water every day will cause internal heat, disrupt your own immune balance, and the more you take it, the worse it will be.

I have met many young people who buy tons of vitamins and immune health supplements after staying up late for a few nights. In fact, at this time, no matter how many supplements you take, it is better to sleep for 8 hours first. For example, immunity is like your company's security team. The nutrients in various foods are the uniforms and batons issued to the security team. If you make the security team work 24 hours a day without rest, no matter how complete the equipment is, they will not have the strength to work.

To be honest, there is really no need to pay attention to the "immunity-boosting" label and buy expensive Internet celebrity foods. If you eat enough staple foods every day, eat enough eggs, milk, meat and beans, one pound of vegetables and half a pound of fruits, it is much more useful than spending tens of thousands of yuan on supplements. If you are really prone to getting sick all year round and your immunity is low, go to a doctor or a registered dietitian first to find out what the problem is. Don’t blindly look for dietary supplements on your own. If you don’t take the right supplements, you’ll get into trouble.