COVID-19 falls un­der a fam­i­ly of virus­es known as Coro­n­avirus­es (CoV) that ‘cause ill­ness rang­ing from the com­mon cold to more se­vere dis­eases’ ac­cord­ing to the World Health Or­ga­ni­za­tion. Com­mon signs of in­fec­tion in­clude, but are not lim­it­ed to res­pi­ra­to­ry symp­toms, fever, cough, short­ness of breath and breath­ing dif­fi­cul­ties.

En­ter the im­mune sys­tem, but what does it have to do with a virus? The ques­tion is, what doesn’t it?! The im­mune sys­tem is one of de­fense in the body that pro­tects a bi­o­log­i­cal or­gan­ism against dis­ease. Its main func­tions are to elim­i­nate any in­vad­ing virus or for­eign mi­cro-or­gan­ism (like a flu) and de­stroy any neo­plasms (like can­cer) in the body. This makes the sys­tem one that is very com­plex and in healthy per­sons its de­fault mode is that of sur­veil­lance. All im­mune cells start off in the bone mar­row, but ma­ture in dif­fer­ent parts of the body. Im­mune cells that stem from the bone mar­row are im­por­tant first re­spon­ders for the body against in­fec­tion. When a pathogen (bac­te­ria that can cause dis­ease) is dis­cov­ered, im­mune cells mi­grate through the blood and lymph sys­tem to try to elim­i­nate it.

Re­cent re­search has iden­ti­fied four spe­cif­ic cells that fight against COVID-19, sim­i­lar to the way in­fluen­za is fought which leads to re­cov­ery in a healthy per­son. The ad­van­tage of this is that the re­cov­ery pe­ri­od can be tracked so that ex­pect­ed re­sponse time can fur­ther be ex­am­ined. The most ide­al sit­u­a­tion with re­gards to COVID-19 would be not to con­tract it, but the sec­ond best op­tion, and the one more in our con­trol is to en­sure our im­mune sys­tem is as strong as it can be. There are a host of foods that can help with this.

Gin­ger. Rich in phy­to­chem­i­cal and an­timi­cro­bial po­ten­tial, an­cient cul­tures have used it to pro­mote the im­mune sys­tem of the body. Hav­ing a cup of gin­ger tea is a great way to con­sume it.

Gar­lic. With an­ti-in­flam­ma­to­ry ef­fects it has in­flu­enced health for cen­turies. Sea­son your meals with gar­lic for op­ti­mum ben­e­fit.

Cit­rus. Flavonoids in cit­rus fruits fight in­flam­ma­tion, re­duce blood pres­sure, pro­tect cells and pro­mote pro­duc­tion of im­mune cells. Fresh is best so start your morn­ing off with a cup of fresh­ly squeezed or­ange juice.

Yo­gurt. A study in the Jour­nal for Clin­i­cal Nu­tri­tion shows that gut health is more im­por­tant than pre­vi­ous­ly cred­it­ed. Plain yo­gurt is a great source of pro­tein which im­proves the im­mune sys­tem, es­pe­cial­ly in the el­der­ly whose im­mune re­sponse de­creas­es with age. A great way to in­clude it in your di­et is to snack on it with fruit and spice top­pings of your choice.

Al­monds. Vi­t­a­min E can be ob­tained from this grain and is cru­cial for main­tain­ing the im­mune sys­tem, es­pe­cial­ly among old­er per­sons. A hand­ful of al­monds or al­mond but­ter spread is an easy way to make it part of your di­et.

Spinach Both Vi­t­a­min A and D are present in dark green leafy veg­eta­bles to help the body fight off bac­te­ria when con­sumed. Get it in at break­fast time with your eggs or even in a green smooth­ie.

Na­tion­al In­sti­tutes of Health (NIH) says even mild­ly low lev­els of zinc can great­ly im­pact the im­mune sys­tem since it is a trace el­e­ment. Nev­er have this on an emp­ty stom­ach though! If you are tak­ing a sup­ple­ment it should be used at least an hour af­ter your meal.

While the most im­por­tant things dur­ing this time is to prac­tice so­cial dis­tanc­ing and good hy­giene (al­ways), hav­ing a stronger im­mune sys­tem helps you fare bet­ter if you do in­deed end up ill. You are more like­ly to re­cov­er soon­er as well.

Stay safe, eat well and wash your hands!