Nutrition | What Foods Help You Stay Away From Virus' Harm?

When the coronavirus is spreading, you may find that it's difficult to get a bottle of vitamin C pills and there is nothing in the orange juice area at the supermarket. While you are loading up vitamin C, you had better think of probiotic and garlic as well if what you really want is “prevention”.

Take probiotics & eat vegetables

You have probably heard that probiotics foster good bacteria in the gut and support immune defense. There is actually science behind what you heard. A randomized controlled trial of 152 subjects infected with rhinovirus showed those who took probiotic supplement for 28 days had a better immune response and lower virus levels in the nasal mucus.

A 2017 animal study publish on Science reminded that, with help from good bacteria in the gut, plant flavonoids could be converted to a substance called DAT, which can activate antiviral response to significantly help mice reduce the incidence of flu.

Researchers therefore suggest that it is a great immune support plan to get more plant flavonoids from vegetables, berries, tea and chocolates, and also eat cheese, yogurt, miso, sauerkraut and kimchee or take probiotic supplements to foster good bacteria in the gut.

Garlic

Garlic is one of members in the allium family. Nutrition experts usually suggest should eat every member of this family, including onions and leeks, to help build up immunity in order to fight off common cold during fall and winter. A trial randomly assigned 146 participants to either a garlic supplement (with 180 mg of allicin) or a placebo for 12 weeks. The trial reported 24 occurrences of common cold in the garlic intervention group compared with 65 in the placebo group.

Other nutritional solutions

There are scientific researches on vitamin C, zinc and echinacea as well. The only thing is their results usually showed benefits of reducing symptoms of upper respiratory infections and shortening the duration of colds, instead of prevention.

To make the duration of colds shorter, nutrition experts also recommend chicken soup. It is good for avoiding dehydration. In addition, its amino acids is essential for supporting immune system. When you cook chicken soup, it is absolutely a good idea to add mushroom, carrot and celery.