Spring is here! Time for a fresh start. We’ve left the cold weather and winter behind and ushered in the season of sunshine, chirping birds and burgeoning nature. Sounds idyllic? Not so much when we are beset by illnesses or allergies. But armed with the right nutrients, you can confidently relax and enjoy one of the most beautiful times of the year.
This spring, give yourself a chance to start fresh with health. Taking the right vitamins can be an essential part of a healthy lifestyle, which includes proper diet, exercise and sleep habits. But most of all, the right micro-nutrients help your body get on its feet. They provide you with nutrients, help with regeneration, promote detoxification, and reach out to the body.
The most important nutritional supplements for spring:
In spring, it is important to take vitamins that once keep healthy, wake up the body from “hibernation” and allow participation in outdoor activities. They can protect against viruses that appear in the warmer months, help with allergies and maintain healthy skin and vision.
Now we don’t want to keep you in suspense any longer. Here are the most important supplements for the best possible start into spring.
Vitamin A
Vitamin A has powerful antioxidant properties that support important immune system and organ functions. It also keeps skin healthy after sun damage by promoting repair and growth. It is especially important as our skin is again exposed to stronger rays after long periods of sunless exposure.
Vitamin B
It is recommended to take a B-complex supplement because B vitamins perform a wide range of bodily functions. They are important for prevention, maintaining energy levels and dealing with stress, among other things.
Vitamin B1 (thiamine), B2 (riboflavin) and B3 (niacin) keep the nervous system healthy, release energy from food and provide healthy skin and vision. These vitamins are crucial in spring because they protect the body from sun damage while providing the energy needed for physical activity.
Vitamins B6 and B12 support red blood cell production and ensure proper brain and nervous system function. Incidentally, these vitamins are easily lost through increased sweating in warmer weather. Yet another reason to make sure your intake is adequate.
Vitamin C
Vitamin C is a potent source of antioxidants and plays an important role in immune system support and function. The immunological benefits of vitamin C have been shown in studies to shorten the duration of seasonal health problems and that vitamin C can promote respiratory function, sinus health and skin health.
Vitamin C helps the body cope with the heat by protecting skin and blood cell health. Vitamin C is also a natural antioxidant, so taking it as a dietary supplement can prevent cell damage. It also increases collagen production, which protects the skin from sun damage. Vitamin C is also a natural antihistamine and is therefore especially important for hay fever sufferers.
Vitamin D
We know from experience, a bath in the spring sun has a positive effect on mood. Conversely, numerous studies have confirmed that there is a clear link between depressed mood and lack of light. In addition to a good mood, now is also the time to use the sun again to fill up on vitamin D, because our vitamin D stores are empty due to the long season with little light. Moderate sunbathing, exposing hands, face and parts of arms and legs to the sun for 15 to 20 minutes, is sufficient.
The basic prerequisites for this are sufficiently high UVB radiation, which is only prevalent over the midday period, and not using sunscreen. The body uses the sun’s UVB radiation to form its own vitamin D from a modified cholesterol compound in the skin. Another important argument: a good supply of vitamin D supports our immune system in the still sometimes cold transitional period.
Vitamin E
Dietary supplements with vitamin E have several benefits. They help improve physical endurance by increasing energy levels, and reduce muscle damage from exercise. Since vitamin E is an antioxidant, it can also help delay cell-damaging processes, such as sun damage.
Zinc
Zinc is a mineral and essential micronutrient that provides a wide range of health benefits and functions throughout the body and is excellent for promoting immune system health. The growing popularity of zinc in the fight against seasonal ailments is supported by scientific research. They show that zinc can play a role in supporting respiratory function, muscle comfort and sinus health. Important, then, for managing the discomfort of hay fever.
Selenium
Selenium is a mineral and belongs to the essential trace elements. The human body cannot produce it itself, instead it must be supplied through food or dietary supplements. In the body, selenium fulfills numerous functions. Among other things, it protects us from free radicals and thus from diseases and aging processes. It also influences our immune system, the health of skin, hair and nails and is involved in the production of the thyroid hormone.
Omega-3
It has been known for a long time that fat is not fundamentally bad. Rather, the quality and composition of the fat are decisive. Omega-3 fatty acids are among the “good” fats and support important bodily functions. For example, they make a significant contribution to maintaining normal heart functions. But the range within which omega-3 fatty acids can influence essential functions of our body is much broader.
The omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA are among the essential fatty acids and cannot be produced by the body itself. EPA and DHA are found mainly in fatty cold-water fish such as herring, mackerel or sardines and contribute to normal brain and heart function and support the maintenance of normal vision (according to EFSA, the European Food Safety Authority).
Turmeric
An exotic has crept into our list of top active ingredients for spring: Turmeric. The active ingredient in turmeric, called curcumin, has been used in traditional Ayurvedic medicine for many thousands of years and has a wide range of health applications. Of particular interest here is research that has shown curcumin to support the immune system and provide strong seasonal protection.
Studies have shown that curcumin plays a role in supporting respiratory and nasal health in people who struggle with seasonal health issues, while also strengthening the immune system.
Conclusion:
To strengthen your immune system, you should pay attention to a sufficient intake of important nutrients and vitamins. The intake through the daily food is possible through a healthy and balanced diet. But especially in the winter months or in the time thereafter, the immune system needs particularly energetic support. Then it can be supported with an additional intake through high-quality food supplements.
In this way we can fill gaps in the diet and prevent deficiency symptoms or other health problems. And enjoy spring to the fullest.
Sources:
Inadequacy of Immune Health Nutrients: Intakes in US Adults, the 2005–2016 NHANES
Refocusing vitamin A supplementation programmes to reach the most vulnerable; Erin McLean1, Rolf Klemm2,3, Hamsa Subramaniam4, Alison Greig5
On the effect of vitamin C intake on human health: How to (mis)interprete the clinical evidence; Jens Lykkesfeldt.
Vitamin A: its many roles—from vision and synaptic plasticity to infant mortality; John E. Dowling.
Immunologic Effects of Vitamin D on Human Health and Disease; by Nipith Charoenngam 1,2 and Michael F. Holick 1
Pictures:
Photo by Andrey Zvyagintsev on Unsplash
Pic by Siberian Art/Shutterstock, Nummer: 1027919113
