Growing Importance of Health Supplements During Covid-19

Growing Importance of Health Supplements During Covid-19

The Covid-19 pandemic has led to a dramatic change in human life worldwide. To protect ourselves from Covid-19 social distancing and other proper hygiene practices are important but during the pandemic, it is also important to attain a healthy lifestyle with a healthy diet. With the drastic change in people’s lives, it has been difficult for people to enjoy healthy physical activities, social activities, and a healthy lifestyle. Keeping your immune system healthy is the defense system of your body to fight against infectious diseases. To boost your immune system generally, you need to get proper sleep, exercise, and adequate nutrition. But sometimes due to our busy schedules and stressful working environment we are not able to keep up with these aspects of a healthy lifestyle. Sometimes we don’t sleep properly, don’t eat properly, and sometimes it’s difficult to manage time to do a healthy physical activity. There come health supplements to fulfill our body’s nutritional requirements. Covid-19 has increased the demand and importance of health supplements because people are getting more and more conscious of their immunity and overall health. In this article, we are going to discuss some health supplements whether they can help in the Covid-19 pandemic or not, and also we will discuss their mechanism of action to boost immunity.

Vitamin D

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble nutrient that is essential for our immune system, bone health, and overall body. It is also known as the sunshine vitamin because our body produces vitamin D when we are getting UV rays from the sun. Vitamin D deficiency is very common due to less exposure to the sun and it is negatively affecting the immune system in people deficient with vitamin D. Some studies have suggested that taking supplementation of vitamin D can help to improve the immune system and prevent respiratory infections. According to a review of randomized control studies in 2019, the supplementation of vitamins has decreased the risk of respiratory infections in people. A healthy and adequate amount of vitamin D can help to improve the immune system and respiratory infections. 

Zinc

Zinc is a mineral that is commonly used in health supplements and other health care products and essential for our immune system. Zinc plays an important role in the inflammatory response and is required for immune cell development. Zinc deficiency is associated with an increased risk of infectious diseases due to a weakened immune system. According to research, 16% of the respiratory infections in the world are associated with zinc deficiency. Zinc has antiviral properties and its supplementation is shown to reduce the duration of the common cold.  

Vitamin C

During the pandemic, vitamin C’s popularity has increased due to its ability to protect against infections and improving immunity. Vitamin C also acts as an antioxidant and prevents oxidative stress of free radicals. Oxidative stress is also linked with several diseases and health conditions. According to some researches supplementation of vitamin C can be effective against respiratory infections and common colds. According to a review of 29 studies supplementation of vitamin D can reduce the duration of colds by 8% in adults and 14% in children. All of the results from different studies have suggested that vitamin C supplementation has a powerful impact on our immune system and can help to fight against infections and respiratory diseases. 

Protein

Proteins are the building blocks in our body and crucial for good health. Protein is necessary for the proper growth and maintenance of body tissues and muscles and serves a lot of other important functions in our body. Studies have shown that protein helps to produce immunoglobulins and antibodies. Antibodies are proteins that form our immune system and protect our body from viruses and bacteria. Without enough antibodies in our body bacteria and viruses can grow, multiply, and invade our body. When our body produces antibodies for a certain disease, it develops immunity against that disease and protects the body from foreign invaders. Getting an inadequate and proper amount of protein through diet or supplements depending upon your physical activity is important to keep our immune system boosted.

B Complex Vitamins

Studies have shown that deficiencies in B vitamins including vitamin B6 and vitamin B12 are related to a weak immune system. Supplementation of B vitamins can help to boost immunity and fight against viruses and diseases. 

Echinacea

Echinacea is a plant-based polyphenolic compound that has been shown to have antiviral effects and can help to boost immunity. Studies have shown that Echinacea has powerful immune-enhancing effects and can potentially fight against viral respiratory infections. 

Conclusion

In the coronavirus pandemic, the importance of health supplements has increased in people and it causes dramatic changes and modifications in the health care industry. Many supplements claim to boost immunity but no supplement or diet can cure the coronavirus completely. But maintaining a healthy lifestyle with proper sleep, exercise, a healthy diet, and supplementation of essential nutrients can help to boost immunity and enhance the body’s ability to fight against viral infections.