If we compare our immune system to our body’s defence force, Vitamin C is the secret weapon with enormous powers!
It provides us with defensive tools and cunning defence tactics to get the better of our opposition and resist the invasion of nasty bugs trying to make us sick.
How does Vitamin C protect us from invaders?
Vitamin C supports so many different defence mechanisms used by our immune cells in the battle against infection, including:
– Effective deployment of immune cells to the site of infection
– Swallowing and destroying invaders by specialised immune cells called phagocytes
– Production of antimicrobial ammo for immune cells to fire against pathogens
– Keeping our fortress (the epithelial cell barriers lining our skin and gut) strong
– Controlling inflammation and putting out spot fires to reduce cellular damage
However, just like a complete defence force, there are many key players.
Vitamin C isn’t the only defence fighter we need for a strong immune system. Many other helper nutrients, such as bioflavonoids, are needed for vitamin C to get to work, creating what we call a ‘synergistic’ effect. These phytochemicals are often found paired with vitamin C when it’s sourced from wholefoods – nature knows what it’s doing!
The importance of wholefood nutrition sourced from nature!
That’s why it’s so important to eat a range of fruit and vegetables naturally rich in vitamin C and bioflavonoids, such as berries, kakadu plums, red capsicum, kiwifruit, broccoli, and other citrus fruits! It provides synergistic nutrition, just as nature intended, for a more powerful effect.
Fun fact: Eating them raw will provide higher amounts of vitamin C than if you cook them. Heat destroys these precious nutrients!
Activated Nutrients provides wholefood vitamin C
This synergistic wholefood nutrition is what Activated Nutrients was founded on. We wanted to make it easy to get wholefood nutrition into the modern diet. Many of our blends of organic superfoods are packed full of natural vitamin C and its helper nutrients, which means they will help to support healthy immune system function. Other key players for immune health include vitamin A and its helper nutrients (the carotenoids), zinc, vitamin D, and vitamin B6. Read more about these here.
Reference: Carr A, Maggini S. Vitamin C and Immune Function. Nutrients [Internet]. 2017 Nov 3;9(11):1211.
Published by Activated Nutrients.