Top 5 Immune Boosting Supplements

It's the question that is on everyone's mind right now: What can I do to avoid getting sick? Most people have done a great job at improving the basics: washing hands more frequently, wearing masks and gloves, sleeping more, eating more fruits and vegetables, lowering stress. Then there's the next step: supplementing with additional vitamins, minerals, and herbs that can help prepare your body to defend itself.

Here are our top 5 picks for boosting immune system and staying healthy through this crazy time!

1. Zinc: Zinc is one of the most studied supplements in relation to the corona virus specifically. It has been show to get into an infected individual's cells and help destroy the virus. It has been show in studies with other viruses to prevent virus replication, meaning if someone is taking zinc preventatively on a daily basis, it could help your body to rid itself of the virus before it has spread.

2. Vitamin D3: Vitamin D3 is an important player, specifically against respiratory viruses, for a few reasons. It has both anti-inflammatory and immune regulating properties. Deficiency in vitamin D3 is extremely common among Americans, especially in cooler months where we are not exposed to as much sun, and a deficiency in vitamin D is associated with increased risk for infection and for decreased lung function. 

3. Vitamin C: Some hospitals in New York City have used vitamin C as a part of treating covid-19. While there has not yet been enough information to say whether it is an effective treatment yet, vitamin C does have many positive immune properties, including decreasing inflammation and helping your body produce more antibodies. It has also been shown in studies to reduce the duration of other viruses.

4. Elderberry: The way that elderberry works is a bit unique; it can bind to the spikes on viruses that are used to invade healthy cells and destroys them so that the virus can no longer attack. 

5. Mushrooms: Medicinal mushrooms have been used for thousands of years to treat infection. There are hundreds of types of mushrooms with immune boosting properties, and one of the best options is Host Defense My Community, the number 1 best-selling mushroom blend in the US. It contains 17 different mushrooms that help support and strengthen immune response. Some of these mushrooms are specifically great for the lungs, like Cordyceps.  

There are tons of other great immune boosting supplements out there, and options that circulate back to improving general health (like probiotics and multivitamins)! We are not medical doctors but these are products that have been clinically studied and appear to be the most promising for the current situation at hand. 

Let us know if you have any questions, and stay healthy, friends! We will get through this together, and hopefully we will be even stronger for it.