When you get sick, that means you will either miss school, work or worse or try to do that while feeling ill. Protect your health and improve your immune system by regularly taking vitamin supplements. Although all vitamins provide some benefit to your wellness and health, not all supplements and vitamins are the same. Antioxidants such as a vitamin C and a vitamin A supplement help the body fight free radicals while B vitamins also help boost the immune system’s function.
Vitamins to Boost Immunity:
1. Vitamin C – You’ve probably been told that taking vitamin C can help reduce the length of colds. Vitamin C is an antioxidant so it does play a role in helping improve the immune system’s ability to function. Vitamin C helps repair damage caused by free radicals. Free radicals cause damage to the arteries and also interfere with your immune system. Taking a vitamin C supplement also strengthens the cells in the immune system.
2. Vitamin E – Like Vitamin C, Vitamin E is also an antioxidant which helps to repair damage caused by free radicals. The vitamin also produces a protein that the immune system needs to attack bacteria and viruses. By taking vitamin E, patients found it improved the antibody response after taking Hepatitis B and tetanus vaccinations.
3. Vitamin A – Vitamin A contains carotene that improves the function of the cells of the immune system. Similar to vitamins E and C, it is an antioxidant as well. People who have a deficiency of vitamin A are more likely to have a poorly functioning immune system and are more likely to get sick.
4. B Vitamins – B vitamins, including folate, B2, and B6 play a number of roles in supporting and improving the immune system. You need folate to make new cells in your body, particularly the cells of the immune system. Riboflavin, or B2, boosts the cells of the immune system and helps the body to fight infections. B6 is needed to produce white blood cells.
Getting the Vitamins You Need To Boost Your Immune System
Even though you can get a lot of the vitamins you need from eating a healthy diet, it’s hard to get all you need without taking vitamin supplements. A vitamin A supplement, for example, gives you more than the recommended daily value of the vitamin, so you know that you are getting enough. If you feel you’re not getting enough of one vitamin but are getting enough of others, you can take a single vitamin supplement or you can take a multi-vitamin to ensure you’re getting enough of everything.