Beating Winter Colds

Sooner or later Most of us succumb each winter to a cold or two. You know the signs - your head feels foggy, concentration wanes and then comes the coughing, sneezing, sore throats and ever running nose.

A sure-fire prevention for the common cold has eluded the Multi-national drug companies desperate to hit the jackpot with a way of zapping  cold viruses in their tracks.

However all is not lost. Maybe we cannot completely stop ourselves from picking up the occasional cold, but good nutrition and extra boosts with certain vitamins, minerals and herbal products have shown themselves to be a potentially effective and natural way of boosting our immunity against attacks and combating the severity of symptoms and the number of days they hang around.

The Importance of Fruits and Vegetables

When it comes to good nutrition, following the government's recommendation to eat nine servings of fruit and vegetables a day is one of the best strategies to outwit the 200 odd viruses that can trigger a cold infection. Dark green vegetables like spinach, sweet potatoes, carrots, and mangoes are packed with a wide range of antioxidants. Apricots and pumpkins are especially helpful, main lining our bodies with the orange super nutrient beta carotene. Beta carotene is important because we convert this antioxidant into Vitamin A, a nutrient that is crucial for keeping the linings of our noses and throats in good condition, helping them to physically block the entry of viral cold invaders we breathe in from other people.

Others fruits and vegetables like oranges, grapefruit, berries, kiwi and peppers are great for Vitamin C. This powerful nutrient has been shown to mobilize macrophages, white blood cells in our blood that literally engulf and disarm enemy viruses, including those that cause colds. Not only this, but Vitamin C has its own specific anti-viral properties.' In fact, evidence of Vitamin C's cold-fighting abilities was proven way back in the 1980s. Scientists at the University of Wisconsin at Madison revealed symptoms to be significantly milder in people taking 500 milligrams of Vitamin C supplements four times a day than those not supplementing; while other scientists showed doses of 1 to 2 grams a day helping to both reduce susceptibility to common colds and lessen severity and duration of symptoms.