The Best Supplements to Strengthen Your Immune System
There are a lot of claims made about your immune system and what you can do it strengthen it. The truth is that supplements have a more supportive role than a strengthening one. The better your diet is, the smaller the chances of you having a compromised immune system. Supplements can help with that, but they need to be part of an overall better lifestyle.
In other words, a multivitamin can help to support your immune system, but not alone. Combining your multivitamin with a healthier diet and regular exercise is by far the best approach for a strengthened immune system.
In this article, we are going to take a look at some of the best supplements to strengthen your immune system and give our reasons as to why they should be part of your daily routine.
Greens Powders
We all know that we should be eating more vegetables, particularly green leafy vegetables. They offer many benefits; a supported immune system is one of them. The problem? Most people do not enjoy preparing, cooking, or consuming a variety of green leafy vegetables day-in day-out.
Greens powders are not a perfect replacement for green leafy vegetables. But considering the fact that most people get zero green leafy vegetables in their diet, the greens powder is a fantastic alternative.
Greens powders are high in vitamin C, which is fantastic for supporting the immune system, they can also contain ginseng which has long been associated with improved health and immunity. They are also incredibly convenient and taste great. Well worth considering.
Multivitamin
If you already have a healthy diet, then a multivitamin may not make much difference to your immunity. However, as we have established, many people do not have a great diet. A multivitamin is a fantastic source of all the vitamins and minerals you require to keep on top of your health.
Thanks to high levels of vitamin C, vitamin D, and minerals such as zinc (all of which have been shown to improve immunity), a multivitamin can make a big difference to your health.
Vitamin C
If you have a cold there is some evidence that taking high levels of vitamin C can actually help you to recover slightly faster [1]. Whether taking vitamin C makes enough of a difference for it to be worth taking is still up for debate.
However, what is not up for debate is the importance of vitamin C for maintaining a healthy immune system. Which is why taking a supplement that contains vitamin C can be beneficial. If you are deficient, you should consider topping up your vitamin C levels.
You can either do this through a greens supplement, a multivitamin, or a supplement that focuses on vitamin C.
Zinc
Zinc is a great supplement ingredient, because zinc deficiency is fairly common. It also has a crucial role in the immune system, helping to support and manage it. Topping up your zinc levels could well lead to a strengthened immune system.
You can find zinc in multivitamins, or in supplements such as ZMA. Supplements that contain zinc and vitamin C together are great for supporting your immune system.
Echinacea
Many athletes take echinacea to ward off colds, this is particularly relevant as exercise has been shown to cause exercise-induced immunosuppression. It’s a bit like the infamous “Fresher’s flu” but for people who exercise a lot rather than drink!
There appears to be some clinical evidence of this [2] but it is mostly anecdotal evidence. Worth taking, but not guaranteed.
Whey Protein
Yes, that is right. Whey protein may actually help to improve your “innate immunity by enhancing neutrophil function” (examine.com) [3]. Potentially strengthening the ability of your body to ward off viruses [4].
This is not such a crazy idea; human breast milk helps to improve the immune system of children. Whey is made from cow milk. You may have heard scare stories about drinking cow’s milk, but there is a lot of evidence that cow’s milk can actually help to reduce the incidence of certain respiratory tract infections [5].
Final Thoughts
If you are looking for ways to improve your immune system you can’t go much better than improving your diet and exercising more. Supplementation can be one link in the chain, but it can’t be the only one.
The supplements we have mentioned complement exercise and diet fantastically, and if you can get all three factors in line you should see an improvement in your immune system.
Even if it is not noticeably improved, you should be much healthier and in better shape, so it’s kind of a win-win.
References
[1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23440782/
[2] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17436202/
[3] https://examine.com/supplements/whey-protein/research/#immunology-and-the-immune-system
[4] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19106313/
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