Vitamins and minerals are the fuel for your immune system. Health and resilience start with well-nourished cells. While a diet composed of primarily whole, minimally processed foods is the foundation, these nine vitamins and minerals are particularly important for immune system health.
Vitamin C for optimal immune health
What it does: Your white blood cells and antibodies need Vitamin C to do their part in your immune system. Vitamin C is required to produce collagen, which strengthens the barriers in your gut and skin that are important shields against external threats. It’s also a powerful antioxidant that fights the oxidative stress that can suppress your immune system.
How to get it: Vitamin C is heavily concentrated in many fruits and vegetables, including bell peppers, broccoli, guava, strawberries, kiwis, papaya, and oranges. It’s a popular supplement, but hard for your body to absorb (and put to use in your immune system!) in most forms like pills, powders, and gummies. Liposomal Vitamin C supplements can enhance absorption.
Vitamin D deficiency is linked to poor immune system health
What it does: Among its duties in the immune system, Vitamin D helps to make certain immune cells and regulate antimicrobial proteins.
How to get it: You body makes Vitamin D by exposure to the sun. Unfortunately, the times of year when you need immune system support most tend to be those times with the least sunlight. You can find Vitamin D in significant amounts in cod liver oil, sardines, salmon, mackerel, eggs, and tuna and in small amounts in mushrooms. Many milks and milk products are fortified with Vitamin D, and it’s widely available as a supplement.
Vitamin A supports immune system cells
What it does: Vitamin A is critical to make cells that line the outer and inner surfaces of our body, the front lines of the immune system.
How to get it: Vitamin A is found in just about everything, including carrots, mangos, butter, cheese, beef liver, salmon, and eggs.
Antioxidant Vitamin E supports white blood cells
What it does: Vitamin E is a critical fat-soluble antioxidant. While Vitamin C fights free radicals in water-based tissue, Vitamin E works in fat-based regions of the body to prevent oxidative stress and the damage it causes. Several studies indicate Vitamin E supports certain types of white blood cells as well as cells that act as messengers in the immune system.
How to get it: Vitamin E occurs in high levels in vegetable oils, nuts, and seeds. You can also find it in fruits like avocado, mango, and kiwi, and vegetables including red bell peppers, butternut squash, and broccoli.
Vitamin B6 helps make antibodies
What it does: This B vitamin supports production of antibodies that protect your health. Deficiency compromises antibody growth and some white blood cell activity. You also need B6 to absorb immune system supporting vitamin B12.<
How to get it: The most B6-dense whole foods include salmon, chicken, pork chops, beef, sweet potatoes, bananas, avocados and pistachios. Because so many medications deplete Vitamin B6, some people may benefit from supplementation.
Folate supports immune response
What it does: Researchers have found that folate deficiency can impair immune system responses. You also need folate to regulate levels of homocysteine, a product of protein metabolism that can become dangerous and cause oxidative stress that suppresses the immune system.
How to get it: Folate is found in many plant foods, including edamame, lentils, asparagus, spinach, broccoli, avocados, mangos, lettuce, sweet corn, and oranges. It’s also included in just about every pre-natal supplement and is part of the fortification in grains. The factors that cause depletion and malabsorption may make food sources fall short, and supplementation could be necessary. Most popular are B complex supplements — since folate depletion is often accompanied by low levels of B12 and other B vitamins — that include a methylated folate.
B12 helps keep immune system cells active
What it does: In addition to its work in tandem with folate to control homocysteine levels, studies show that B12 deficiency leads to fewer and less active immune cells.
How to get it: B12 is only found naturally in large amounts in animal products, like fish, meat, eggs, shellfish, dairy, and organ meats. Many cereals, plant-based milks, and nutritional yeast varieties are fortified wtih B12. It is widely available as a supplement in B complexes and on its own.
Zinc supports white blood cells
What it does: While low zinc levels impair certain types of white blood cells and bacteria-fighting cells, too much zinc can also suppress the immune system. The mineral functions as an antioxidant, and clinical research shows that supplementation decreases the biomarkers of oxidative stress.
How to get it: The best food sources of zinc are those that make the mineral bioavailable, and do not include the phytates that bind to zinc and impair absorption. Oysters have by far the highest concentration of zinc. More practical sources include shellfish, red meat, chicken, pork chops, lentils, hemp seeds, and chickpeas. You may need more of plant-based sources to make up for the phytate interference. Zinc is found in numerous immune supporting supplements, as well as multivitamins and complexes like our liposomal B Complex Plus.
Selenium supports immune response
What it does: Some of the most important white blood cells in the immune system need selenium to proliferate in response to threats.
How to get it: Brazil nuts, eggs, sunflower seeds, beef liver, tuna, chicken, salmon, chia seeds, and mushrooms are solid sources of selenium and eating moderate portions of these foods should cover your selenium needs.
Vitamins and Minerals for immune system health
A diet that includes a variety of whole foods from both animal and plant sources, along with smart supplementation, should cover your immune system vitamin and mineral needs.
