Page 23 - EatingWell Special Edition Superfoods 2019
P. 23
took daily vitamin D
supplements (1,200 IU)
were 40% less likely to
get a common flu virus
than kids who took a
placebo. Laboratory
studies indicate that
the nutrient may help
immune cells identify
and destroy bacteria
and viruses that make
us sick, says Adit Ginde,
M.D., M.P.H., a public-
health researcher at the
University of Colorado
School of Medicine in
Denver. Since the major-
ity of Americans don’t
get enough vitamin D,
some experts recom-
mend a D supplement.
You can also get it (in
small doses) from fatty
fish, such as salmon, and
fortified milk—and your
body makes vitamin D
from the sun.
SOLUBLE FIBER
Mice that ate a diet rich
in soluble fiber for six
weeks recovered from
a bacterial infection in
half the time it took mice
that chowed on meals
containing mixed fiber,
GREEN TEA CHICKEN SOUP according to a recent
IMMUNITY- Polyphenols, potent It turns out there is study in the journal
BOOSTING plant antioxidants, are something to chicken Brain, Behavior and
what’s believed to give
Immunity. Soluble fiber,
soup after all. Although
FOODS & green tea its immune- soup won’t stop you which is abundant in cit-
NUTRIENTS boosting effects. One from getting a cold, rus fruits, apples, carrots,
laboratory study sug- it could help ease beans and oats, helps
If the much-dreaded cold
gested that a particular symptoms faster. One fight inflammation, says
and flu season is upon type of polyphenols study found that eat- lead author Christina
you, here’s how you can
called catechins may ing chicken soup has a Sherry, Ph.D., R.D., of the
bolster your defenses
kill influenza viruses. To mild anti-inflammatory University of Michigan,
against the germs maximize benefits and effect that impacts Ann Arbor. Insoluble
lurking in the common
minimize bitterness, use white blood cells to fiber—found in wheat,
areas in your office, the
just-below-boiling water relieve cold symptoms whole grains, nuts and
mall where you do your and steep green tea no more quickly, as well as green leafy vegetables—
holiday shopping and the
more than a minute or helps keep colds from is still important for
rest stops you encounter two. A little lemon and developing into upper overall health, but it
in your holiday travels. honey can also help respiratory infections. doesn’t seem to have
Include these immunity
blunt the bitterness. the same impact on
boosters in your diet, But don’t add milk, VITAMIN D immunity. Strive for 25 to
plus make sure to wash
since the proteins will In a study published 38 grams of total fiber a
your hands and try to get
bind to the polyphenols, recently in the American day, Sherry says, paying
enough sleep too.
making them less able Journal of Clinical extra attention to get-
BY EMILY SOHN to be absorbed. Nutrition, children who ting the soluble kind.
19
