Orange Juice and the Immune System Cycle
Knowing how your immune system works is key to understanding how you can help fight disease and infection. During cold and flu season, your immune system is at greater risk. Yet, you can take steps to support your health by making nutritious choices and by including important lifestyle additions. Exercising regularly, consuming nutrient-rich foods and beverages from all the basic food groups, receiving a flu shot, and getting plenty of sleep, all help support a healthy immune system.
Nutrient-rich foods can help support a healthy immune system and unhealthy foods may weaken it by promoting inflammation or resulting in a shortfall of nutrients that the immune system needs on an ongoing basis to stay healthy. That's why it is important to choose healthy foods: doing so may increase the likelihood of short-term benefits, including helping the body fight colds and flu, and long-term benefits, potentially helping in the fight against diseases like cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer's.
A healthy lifestyle, starting with diet, is one of the best ways to help the body fight colds and certain diseases. These eight steps will help support the immune system to promote good health throughout cold and flu season and a lifetime of better health.
1. Choose nutrient-rich foods: Drinking one glass of 100 percent orange juice, as part of a well-balanced diet, will provide your body with several essential nutrients including folate, vitamin C, potassium and thiamin, as well as naturally-occurring flavonoids which can help provide health benefits.
- Folate: Folate is needed to make new cells. Since the immune system needs a constant supply of new cells, folate is essential for a healthy immune system. Folate may help lower homocysteine levels in the blood. Homocysteine may contribute to inflammation and some studies suggest it may be related to coronary heart disease and cognitive impairment associated with Alzheimer's disease, when high levels exist 1. Also, lower intake of folate as an adult has been associated with a higher risk for certain types of cancer 1.
- Vitamin C: One of the most powerful antioxidants, vitamin C is a key nutrient to help the body maintain a healthy immune system and has been associated with modestly reducing the severity or duration of a cold when taken before the onset of illness 2. Vitamin C also may help neutralize free radicals that can cause cell and tissue damage that could lead to diseases, including cancer and heart disease. Fruits and vegetables, especially citrus fruits, are primary contributors of vitamin C in the diet. A diet rich in fruits and vegetables may help reduce the risk of various types of cancer, such as esophageal cancer3.
- Vitamin B6: The immune system needs vitamin B6 to function effectively. It helps maintain the health of lymphoid organs that make white blood cells, which fight infections 1. Orange juice provides 7% of the Daily Value for vitamin B6.
- Carotenoids: Some carotenoids are precursors to vitamin A, which is important for making new cells and is therefore essential in the maintenance of immune function. Carotenoids also may have anti-inflammatory activities4.
- Potassium and Magnesium: According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s High Blood Pressure Education Program, potassium plays an important role in our cardiovascular health5. Higher potassium and magnesium intake has been associated with lower blood pressure6, 7. Diets containing foods that are a good source of potassium and that are low in sodium may reduce the risk of high blood pressure and stroke8. Orange juice provides 14% of the Daily Value for potassium and 7% of the Daily Value for magnesium.
- Flavonoids: Flavonoids are substances that occur in certain plant foods and developing research suggests that they may have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, or anti-cancer activities9.
2. Get a shot: Visit your doctor or local pharmacy to discuss receiving a flu shot before cold and flu season begins.
3. Be active: It is important to get some fresh air because the body is more vulnerable to cold and flu viruses if constantly indoors. Also, regular exercise can contribute to overall good health making it more likely that your immune system stays healthy to stave off colds and flu.
4. Stay clean: Germs are everywhere, and once we come in contact, it only takes a moment for it to spread to the rest of the body. Offices and schools are breeding ground for infectious germs, so wash hands frequently and disinfect as often as possible.
5. Sleep well: Quality of sleep can affect what happens to the body once it comes into contact with the flu virus. Although the recommended daily amount is eight hours, most Americans get less.
6. Manage stress: Reduce stress by getting out of the situation, resting and relaxing. Stress may have negative effects on the health of the immune system which may increase the chance of getting infections.
7. Detect disease early: When disease is detected in its beginning stages through check-ups and exams, the body stands a greater chance of survival.
References:
1. Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences. Dietary Reference Intakes for Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Folate, Vitamin B12, Pantothenic Acid, Biotin, and Choline. 1998;Washington DC, Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences.
2. Douglas R, Hemila H, D’Souza R, Chalker EB, Treacy B. Vitamin C for preventing and treating the common cold. The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2004;Issue 4, No. CD000980.
3. World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research. Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and the Prevention of Cancer: a Global Perspective. Washington, DC: AICR, 2007.
4. Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences. Dietary Reference Intakes for Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Selenium, and Carotenoids. 2000;Washington DC, Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences.
5. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National High Blood Pressure Education Program. Accessed at http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/hbp/prevent/factors/supls.htm#potassium. Access date: 01/30/2008.
6. Whelton PK, He J, Cutler JA, Brancati FL, Appel LJ, Follmann D, Klag MJ. Effects of oral potassium on blood pressure. Meta-analysis of randomized controlled clinical trials. JAMA. 1997;277(20):1624-32.
7. Jee SH, Miller ER, Guallar E, Singh VK, Appel LJ, Klag MJ. The effect of magnesium supplementation on blood pressure: a meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials. Am J Hypertens. 2002; 15(8):691-6.
8. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Center for Food Safety & Applied Nutrition.
A Food Labeling Guide. September, 1994 (Editorial revisions June, 1999). Appendix C: Health Claims. Accessed at http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/flg-6c.html. Access date: 01/25/2008.
9. Manthey JA, Grohmann K, Guthrie N. Biological properties of citrus flavonoids pertaining to cancer and inflammation. Curr Med Chem. 2001;8(2):135-53.
