Staying healthy and boosting your immune system does not happen by chance. Including enough vitamins and minerals in your diet can help you to build a healthy body and protect it against infections in the long term.
In today’s world, with the ease of processed food and convenient, fast food, we often do not eat enough vitamin-rich vegetables and fruits. We need to be looking at the foods that we eat and making sure that we are getting the vitamins that we need. In particular, it is suggested that B-vitamins play an important role in maintaining and boosting your immune system. Therefore, we should be including more of them in our diet.
What are B Vitamins?
There are eight B vitamins, namely B1 (thiamine), B2 (riboflavin), B3 (niacin), B5 (pantothenic acid), B6 (pyridoxine), B7 (biotin), B9 (folate) and B12 (cobalamin). While all of these different vitamins have different functions in the body, they all have a general effect on your body’s ability to produce energy and create molecules. Except for B12, we cannot store B-vitamins in our bodies for long periods of time and therefore we have to eat foods that contain them to see the benefits. Foods that are high in B vitamins include salmon, leafy greens, liver, eggs, black beans, lentils, meat, and milk.
Why B Vitamins?
There are many advantages to including more B vitamins into your diet in terms of maintaining your health and immune system as you age. Here are just a few:
- Vitamin B12 is important for nerve function, red blood cells, and producing DNA.
- Vitamin B6 is vital for brain development and works to maintain the immune system and your central nervous system.
- A deficiency in Vitamin B9 can negatively affect your mood and is associated with depression.
- B vitamins are also associated with boosting your metabolism.
- Studies suggest that a proper intake of B vitamins can lower your risk of strokes.
- Vitamin B2, in particular, helps your body break down carbohydrates, fats, and proteins to help you metabolise your foods.
- B2 can also prevent migraines, carpal tunnel syndrome, and cataracts, as well as help to prevent muscle cramps.
- B5 helps to produce and maintain healthy hormone levels in the body.
- Vitamin B6 can help with a reduced risk of heart disease and metabolising amino acids.
- Vitamin B12 can help you to avoid anaemia and helps with building healthy blood and nerve cells.
These facts barely scrape the surface of the advantages of taking in enough B vitamins. By including enough of them into your diet, you can maintain healthy muscles, bones, and nerves, as well as boosting your overall health. B vitamins not only improve and maintain your general health but help to boost your immune system – helping you to stay healthier for longer.
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