Are mask and sanitizer enough?
If there arises a question about whether or not we can protect our body from COVID in addition to covering the face with marks and keeping hands wet with the sanitizers. Then the answer will be “yes”. Yes, there are a couple of other ways that can help increase the tendency of the immune system. By shifting to a vitamin-rich diet, your body will be equipped with the tools to fight back viruses and germs.
Role of protein-enriched diet:
Our immune system is made up of a complex system that consists of a large number of cells and chemicals that prepare our body to fight against viruses, bacteria, and toxins. Tweaking your lifestyle further enhances our immune system to work more efficiently. For example, changing your sleep hours, exercise, and nutritious food will keep our body always geared up to fight viruses. The chances of our body fighting against the virus and bacteria of COVID will be twofold.
However, some supplements are good for some bodies and have a low influence on other bodies. The difference among different bodies is due to certain health conditions that may present in some of the bodies. Therefore, it is advisable to stay aware of your possible health conditions and then take further approaches to make your body familiarize with the dietary supplements.
Supplements to boost the immune system:
The supplements which can play a crucial role to enhance your body’s reactive power against COVID are vitamin D, C, E, and zinc, selenium, and proteins.
Vitamin D
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble nutrient and it can play a big role to support your immune system. It is most likely to deal with your white blood cells and help your body pull a victorious fight with the pathogens. Since a lot of people face the issue of deficiency of this vitamin, there is a possible chance of low fighting response of their body against viruses and bacteria. Hence, to prepare your body with a blood level between 1000 and 4000 IU this vitamin is vital for the intake.
The sources of Vitamin D include intaking seafood, mushrooms, etc. In addition to that, sitting under sunlight and using a UV lamp are a few of the easiest ways to consume vitamin D.
Vitamin C
It is considered the most important vitamin to protect your body against the COVID. It helps stimulate the formation of antibodies and supports our immune system to function better. In addition to that, being a powerful antioxidant protects the body from free radicals.
The sources through which vitamin C can be procured through fruits are citrus, strawberries, red bell pepper, and kiwi.
Vitamin E
Vitamin E is one of the essential elements which works in our body to break the blood clots and in the process, it helps to increase the functioning of the immune system. It plays its role in our body to generate T cells, which are the fighters of our body against viruses. Hence, when our body’s immune system is under the radar of low competency, T cells act as the next best option to fight against viruses.
Sources that can provide enrich vitamin E are vegetable oils, nuts, seeds, and avocado.
Zinc
Zinc is a healthcare supplement, taken to boost the immune system thus its deficiency reduces the effectiveness of the immune system increasing chances of infection and diseases like pneumonia. It enhances the inflammatory response. Its deficiency affects 2 million people around the world and 30% of adults are said to be zinc deficient. According to some studies it can protect humans from diseases like the common cold (Kubala, 2020).
Sources for Zinc are beans, seeds, nuts, meat, poultry, and seafood.
Protein
The acids present in amino acids, called Amino acids, are rather important in making the T cells. The T cells further trigger the body to fund pathogens and fight against it.
It also plays a major role in making and breaking the tissues present in our body. It also cures high blood pressure (which happens when a person is infected with COVID), heart diseases skin health, etc.
Source: Meats, poultry, seafood, eggs, beans, nuts, and seeds.
Selenium:
it is one of the most powerful antioxidants which improves our immune system by lowering the stress levels of oxidation in our body. Which further plays a non-replaceable part to decrease the inflammation. Pieces of evidence show that when your blood levels are increased due to selenium then there is a higher tendency of the immune system to fight against the viruses.
it also tends to shield our body from chronic conditions, such as heart disease and cancer.
Sources to intake selenium are Nuts, like Brazil nuts and walnuts, many fresh and saltwater fish, like tuna, cod and red snapper, beef and poultry, grains.
Takeaway:
In conclusion, to protect yourself from COVID, there should be other ways in addition to wearing a mask and using sanitizer, which can help our body internally as well to fight against the virus. Hence, to prepare our body internally we need to make sure that we are intaking nutritious food with a better sleep schedule and exercise routine.
Written by: Dr Arooj Fatima Gillani
MBBS
MSC Public Health Nutrition (England)
Preventive Medicine Specialists
Professional Global Development
Postgraduate Diploma
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