Immune system is essential to our health and well-being as it protects our body from infection and illnesses, which are caused by the invaders, such as: free radicals, bacteria, parasites and more.

Our immune system has to fight them all the time as they attack us every single day.

It helps with simple cuts, bruises, burns, common flu as much as it helps fight serious injuries and diseases.

For every single bacteria and virus there is different antibodies used to fight and protect our body.

With age, as we grow older, our immune system gets weaker, and then the chances of getting chronic diseases (diabetes, cancer etc) are higher. Also fighting a common flu takes longer than when we were young. Weaker immune system is a sign of ageing as well.

Our immune system has to fight lots of viruses and bacteria every day, also the environmental problems weaken our immune system which are: pollution, UV radiation, smog. Those are things we don’t have much control over.

But there are things which weaken our immune system, those which we have control over, those are: cigarettes smoke, alcohol, processed food, drugs, stress.

They increase the number of free radicals that the immune system has to fight. If we can avoid them by having healthy lifestyle, balanced diet and we exercise, we don’t stress our immune system too much so it can take care of fighting the environmental free radicals, those which we have little or no control over.

Free radicals are molecules that lack an electron. The missing electron makes the free radical molecule unstable and it causes it to take away the electron from healthy cells. This weakens the immune system and is a cause of premature ageing and development of chronic diseases.

The way to neutralize free radicals is by antioxidants. Antioxidants are the free radicals’ fighters; they give one of their own electrons to free radicals, so they don’t take electrons from another cell. Antioxidants remain stable even after they already give the electron.

Immune system protects us from:

– Common colds and flu

– Chronic diseases, such as: cancer, diabetes

– Inflammation. Autoimmune diseases (Crohn’s disease, type I diabetes, arthritis, Celiac (gluten) disease.

To boost our immune system and make sure it is strong we should make sure that we reduce the number of free radicals to minimum and we maximize the number of antioxidants by eating foods rich in antioxidants and take supplements which will give our immune system a boost.

Vitamin C — increases production of white cells that help fight infections. It also boosts the levels of glutathione — which is the power antioxidant, critical for proper immune functioning. It destroys bacteria, viruses and toxins.

In food you can find it in: most fruits and vegetables, like sweet peppers, papaya, strawberries, Brussels sprouts, citrus fruits, kiwi, broccoli.

Vitamin E — it gives a real boost to the immune system. They preserve immunity and rejuvenate it as you get old. It also keeps viruses from replicating.

In food you can find in: fatty foods (vegetable oils), nuts, seeds and grains.

Beta-carotene — protects the integrity of cells by putting out free radicals that destroy cell structure.

In food you can find it in: carrots, sweet potatoes, dried apricots, spinach, cantaloupe, pumpkin, kale, swiss chard.

Vitamins which work best together are vitamin C, vitamin E and beta-carotene — all these three-boost immune system and postpone ageing better than one or two alone. Additionally, those 3 antioxidants help reduce risk of heart disease and stroke and inhibit the oxidation of LDL cholesterol.

That is the reason why In Collagem we added all three of them, so they work better together in delaying ageing and boosting immune system.

Vitamin B6 — if you don’t have enough vitamin B6 in your diet you may be more prone to signs of ageing, which is failing immune system. Deficiency of this vitamin leads to reduced production of disease fighting substances in the immune system.

Selenium — boost immune system. If you are selenium deficient you are prone to attack by viruses, cancer etc. Selenium is also the building block of glutathione, which is most essential to neutralise free radicals.

In food you can find it in: Brazil nuts, grains, sunflower seeds, meat, fish (tuna, oysters).

Zinc — great to keep immune system strong as it fights free radicals and restores thymus efficiency, which with age shrinks and its efficiency is dropping.

In food you can find it in: seafood (especially oysters), meat and also cereals, nuts and seeds.