Medical expert of the article
New publications
How do vitamins affect immunity?
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
All iLive content is medically reviewed or fact checked to ensure as much factual accuracy as possible.
We have strict sourcing guidelines and only link to reputable media sites, academic research institutions and, whenever possible, medically peer reviewed studies. Note that the numbers in parentheses ([1], [2], etc.) are clickable links to these studies.
If you feel that any of our content is inaccurate, out-of-date, or otherwise questionable, please select it and press Ctrl + Enter.
[Vitamins and immunity is the right friendship
Immunity is the ability of a person to resist colds and other diseases. If it is strong, we are sick much less often than with a weakened immune system. For example, immune cells fight cancer cells, destroying them. And then the risk of cancer for a person decreases.
But what about vitamins? They help to properly develop immune cells, as well as antibodies and other substances (they are called signaling, they are responsible for the reaction of the organism to the causative agent of the disease).
If vitamins are deficient, we can get sick more often than if we care about our health.
How to adjust the normal functioning of the immune system?
You need to turn to a nutritionist or even a therapist and calculate your daily requirement for vitamins, as well as a complex of vitamins and minerals necessary for your body.
This daily requirement for vitamins for you may not be very large. But without it you can get tired more quickly at work, be in a bad mood, it would seem, without a reason. Skin and hair without the necessary vitamins, too, do not shine with health. To satisfy the body's need for vitamins, it is important to know that they can be taken in a complex (bought at a pharmacy) or from natural products.
What happens when there is a lack of vitamins in the body?
If the body lacks certain vitamins, it serves us much less and worse. With a lack of certain vitamins, serious diseases develop. So be on the alert!
Shortage in the body of vitamin A leads to problems with the development of antibodies that resist colds
The lack of vitamins B - B5, B9, B12 leads to a weakening of the immune system, the inhibition of its reactions to enemy agents and the inability to resist them. Heavy food with a deficiency of B vitamins, in particular, vitamin B6 also begins to be poorly digested and digested, which leads to a large number of toxins in the body, weakness, lethargy and fatty deposits.
Vitamins of group B in a complex with vitamin A, D, E help to effectively combat viruses. Their reception is an excellent prevention of viral diseases.
Vitamin C (or, as we also call it, ascorbic) is very good in battles against infections, it gives us extra energy, vivacity.
The lack of vitamin E in the body leads to a deterioration in the work of the nervous and visual systems. Vitamin E is an excellent means for improving vision, it makes the immune system stronger, increasing resistance to colds, especially in people in old age.
Why take vitamins?
According to dieticians, children who receive timely and sufficient amounts of vitamins on the recommendation of a doctor suffer much less often, but develop better. Their nervous and motor system works much better than their peers, who do not receive enough vitamins. They are less likely to be affected by viral diseases and those related to the work of the cardiovascular system.
Mom, who during pregnancy actively take vitamins, reduces the risk of miscarriages and they often give birth to healthy babies than those whose vitamin diet is poor.
All of us in winter, during the cold season, have the property of getting sick and lying in bed because of flu or cold. So, if we periodically take a complex of vitamins, these felings in the bed and the omissions of the work will bother us much less often. All because with the intake of vitamins we significantly increase the body's resistance to infections. Neither ARI nor the flu will be terrible for us.
It is very important to intend to take vitamins, consult a doctor about their dosages. The dosage of vitamins should be properly selected, and the vitamins themselves are balanced.
In addition, the properly selected composition of the vitamin complex will make it possible to reduce the risk of allergies and unwanted reactions of the body to these or other products and preparations.
This will ensure you exactly the result you have been striving for - good health and good spirits.