COVID-19: How to Enhance the Immune System With Supplements?
What is COVID-19 and why is the new pandemic so scary?
This is a dangerous infectious disease, also called SARS-CoV-2, caused by a small virus from the Coronaviridae family. SARS is an abbreviation for the severe acute respiratory syndrome, which explains how this infectious disease works. Scientists named it “Corona” because its structure resembles “spikes”, or petal-shaped surface projections. This viral family is well known to scientists and medical workers, however, the new virus and the caused symptoms can variate: some people have no severe issues with COVID-19 and think that they just caught a cold, while others may become very sick and need medical help to survive.
One trap that the new virus has made for us is the lack of symptoms. For example, if you have the flu, there is a high chance that you will experience unpleasant symptoms, and you are likely to stay home, avoiding contact with others and thus not spreading the virus to other people. COVID-19 can infect an individual without showing symptoms. When this happens, people continue to go to work, school, and other regular activities, which can spread the disease at work, home, and weekend outings with friends.
The other effect, which makes SARS-CoV-2 so powerful and dangerous, is an aggressive cytokine storm. This condition, also known as hypercytokinemia, occurs when a compromised immune system is damaged by the virus, causing immune cells to produce many chemical factors of inflammation, so, the organism becomes damaged by this “storm”.
Immunity and viruses: evolution of weapons and protection
It’s necessary to boost the immune system as you never know when the virus may attack, and if your immune system is not stable, the damage may be great. Why do some people stay relatively healthy, except for a cough and fever, yet other end up in the hospital with severe or deadly symptoms? The answer lies in the biomechanics of immunity.
Our immune system protects us from viruses. The first step is to recognize the virus. The antigen-presenting cell transforms viral parts into a useful structure, to “teach” the next fighter, the natural killer cell, that contacts an antigen-presenting cell. At the same time, some cells “remember” the intruder’s antigens, and help us to be ready for the next invasion. Another way to fight is by making special substances – antibodies, which are stored in our blood and help to stop the multiplication of viruses and contamination of cells. A problem arises when the level of antibodies is high for only two to three months, and after this time you are almost as unprotected as before disease. That is the reason why a new virus is so hard to treat and, also, the reason to make our immune system as strong as possible, to take advantage of every weapon we have.
How to build and support a healthy immune system?
In our world with its globalization and acceleration of all processes, life is very stressful. Stress has an extremely negative impact on our immunity, destroying it and making our antiviral protection weaker. So, stress surfing strategies can already bring some changes to the immune system.
Build Immune System
Our immune system is “the best warrior” trained in many battles with different infectious diseases during times when humans lived without antibiotics. However, progress has changed our way of life. So, how can we boost the immune system?
First, to build a healthy immune system you must get enough sleep. Even if you think that 6-hours sleep is good, and you wake up fresh, do not be so sure. Of course, if you did not sleep well for one or two days, it would not cause a lot of damage, but chronic lack of sleep is very dangerous and can leave you without normal antiviral protection.
Another investment in your immunity is a balanced healthy diet. If food is nutritionally balanced, it gives you great micro-and macro- elemental support. For example, if your diet contains too much sugar, it will suppress your immunity by changing your hormonal balance. The lack of proteins can become the reason for immune insufficiency, because proteins are necessary for building materials for immune cells. Moreover, a healthy diet helps to contain only healthy bacterial flora in your stomach and intestines, which is beneficial, as the gastrointestinal tract plays a large role in forming all immunity.
The third factor that will make you stronger (now not only stronger in a fight with infections, but also physically) is sport. Scientists know that training boosts your metabolism and helps your body fight stress. These are some even more important than having big muscles reasons to participate in sports. It can keep your body fit and your heart healthy.
Can supplements help your immunity and how?
To live a healthy life, you should try to avoid stress, and not to underestimate the power of supplements, especially in situations like the Coronavirus pandemic. Even if we eat healthy food, sometimes we still need additional vitamins and microelements. Of course, they cannot solve all your problems, but they are a necessary part of a great immune system, the same as physical activity, enough nutrients, and healthy deep sleep.
Immune system: physical activity, enough nutrients, and healthy sleep.
Supplements have something called the “window of usage”, meaning that our main reason to take supplements is to prevent disease, or, if we begin supplementing during the disease, it will help our immunity in a fight. As you remember, we said that immunity is a “warrior”, and supplements are the weapon, an instrument that our body can use to fight infection. They boost our immune system, but they are not a “magic pill”.
What benefits can dietary supplements give you?
There are many substances that we can call “supplements”. Some of them are very simple, such as mineral supplements that can help with a lack of sodium or iodine, for example. Others can be more complex, like vitamins, which are one of the most effective supplements, because of two main reasons. Firstly, our body may not produce them and, secondly, we may eat not enough nutritionally sound meals. These are the two reasons to take supplements that can boost the immune system.
The use of vitamins can help your immunity by making your entire organism stronger. For example, vitamin A can make your airways more protected from infection agents, viral or bacterial. Vitamin E, one of the best boosters of immunity itself, speeds up the creation of antibodies that kill bacteria, and vitamin C is its partner, which also boosts the immune system by making more interferon – the main actor of an antiviral shield. Vitamin D not only helps your immunity, but also improves the effectiveness of bio metabolism in general, and the effect of other vitamins, particularly vitamin E and C. Vitamin B2, also known as riboflavin, is very useful in the process of antiviral protection because it affects the synthesis of antibodies. Zinc is key in helping us to fight COVID-19 because it has negative effects on the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines, which will prevent the beginning of the cytokine storm.
In certain situations, a lack of supplements can cause harmful conditions. Vitamin C deficiency causes scurvy. Other deficiencies stay with us, despite all our scientific breakthroughs, like a problem with lack of iodine in some regions, and problems with the thyroid gland, caused by this deficiency. In cardiology, there are many supplements that have strong evidence-based positive effects on the frequency of different heart problems, from high blood pressure to heart attacks. Omega-3 is one of the breakthroughs, as many problems with high risks of mortality and disability, such as stroke or heart attack can be prevented by sport, healthy food and supplements with Omega-3.
Glutrasol is a product that combines many useful components: vitamin A, C, D, and other supplements, vitamins, and microelements, that helps not only with immunity boosting, but also to keep the body safe and healthy. Potassium and selenium can help to control blood pressure, others, like iron and riboflavin, prevent anemia, thiamine, magnesium oxide help to boost the cellular energy process. One of the greatest ideas of the creators of Glutrasol IE is adding lactobacillus to the list of elements, as it helps to create a healthy bacterial flora. A combination of all these factors helps us to have strong immunity, control blood pressure, boost metabolism and prevents diabetes, arthritis, and joint pain.
Additional:
COVID-19 is a dangerous disease that can spread silently, and the only way to prevent it is by boosting your immunity. Immunity is formed by a healthy lifestyle and adequate use of nutrients and supplements. Moreover, the greatest idea in the supplement industry is combining different supplements in one product like Glutrasol IE, that will help to boost immunity and improve overall health and vitality.
