Page 15 - EatingWell Special Edition Superfoods 2019

THE MIGHTY

ANTIOXIDANT

How eating the right superfoods can strengthen your immune system
and bolster your defenses against colds, flu and even diseases.

BY HOLLY PEVZNER

A ntioxidants are do all know that immune system simply won’t function properly.”
like
immunity
We
Essentially, antioxidants are the kryptonite that
superheroes.
here
bat-
the immune system needs to quash the bad guys.

to
good,
to
they’re
tle unknown villains in our bod-
ies, to bolster our health and to The Dynamic Duo

help stave off illness. But like myriad masked and The immune system is in charge of defending us
caped crusaders in comic books, antioxidants and against sickness and disease, but it can’t do it alone.
their disease-battling ways are shrouded in mys- First, we’ve got our immune cells hiding in various
tery. What exactly are antioxidants, anyway? Are hubs throughout the body, like inside the lymph

they just amped-up vitamins? And do they really nodes on either side of the neck. When healthy,
keep colds, flu and even colossal villains like dia- those immune cells lie in wait, ready to ward off

betes and cancer at bay? It’s a riddle worth solv- any enemies. “When an invader, like a virus, bacte-
ing. “Antioxidants are critical for all aspects of our ria or toxin, comes in, those immune cells start to
health,” says Susan Blum, M.D., an assistant clini- battle it out,” says Blum. (All the clashing, if you will,
cal professor of preventive medicine at the Icahn is why glands swell when we’ve got a sore throat.)
School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the author But those immune cells don’t amount to much with-
of The Immune System Recovery Plan. “Without out antioxidants.
adequate nutrients, including antioxidants, the More or less, an antioxidant is a chemical

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