Most people know that coughs, sniffles, and sneezes aren’t limited to cold and flu season and with back-to-school time upon us, families are looking for ways to avoid being sidelined by an illness. Here are some key points retailers should keep in mind when offering guidance to consumers about ingredients they should focus on during flu season.
A Solid Foundation
A strong immune system is necessary for maintaining overall health, and for protecting against bacteria, viruses, and other infectious agents. A poor diet, stress and lack of sleep and exercise can weaken immunity, and leave the body vulnerable to colds, the flu and other infections.
Nutrition plays a critical role in supporting immune function. But even if someone is eating the recommended five to nine servings of fruits and veggies every day, it can be difficult to obtain the nutrients needed from diet alone. And, due to modern farming, processing and transportation methods, many fresh foods lose vital vitamins and minerals.
A quality multivitamin will provide vitamins A, C, D and E, and the minerals zinc and selenium, all essential for immune support. However, researchers are discovering that we need to go beyond vitamins and minerals to maintain optimal wellness. Phytonutrients, or plant-derived nutrients, help boost immunity by mobilizing the body’s immune cells and helping to fight disease. For example, carotenoids, the brightly colored pigments in yellow, orange and red fruits and vegetables, are converted to retinol, an active form of vitamin A, in the body. Vitamin A helps enhance resistance to infections, and helps maintain skin and mucus membrane defenses to infection. A variety of herbs, including astragalus, schisandra, and eleuthero, plus reishi and shiitake mushrooms, can also help support healthy immunity.
Phytonutrients work synergistically—in other words, they work better together than when taken separately in isolated supplement forms. A 100-percent whole-food multivitamin formula, such as MegaFood One Daily Multi-vitamin Formulas (which includes a range of gender- and age-specific formulas), offers the best of all worlds with not only vitamins and minerals, but also a variety of phytonutrients and immune-boosting herbs. For example, a whole-food multi may contain carotenoid-rich carrots, cruciferous veggies (like broccoli and cabbage), citrus fruits to provide flavonoids and vitamin C, tomatoes to provide lycopene, blueberries rich in anthocyanins, whole grains like brown rice to provide sterols and vitamin E, and much more. A whole-food multi ensures that the immune system is receiving the vitamins, minerals and nutrients it needs every day to stay well, delivered in the form that’s most active and available to the body.
It’s important to help consumers select a whole-food multi from a company that has taken great care to ensure that these powerful compounds remain active, and have not been destroyed by the manufacturing process. Extreme temperatures can diminish nutrient levels. With a supplement derived from whole-food concentrates, it’s also important to help them select one made with organic ingredients—synthetic and persistent pesticides have been linked to negative effects on health. Research finds organic foods are also higher in immune-boosting nutrients.