Eat away infecton
The British Nutrition Foundation outlines key nutrients that can help children and parents fight off illnesses. looks at where you can find them
HAVING a healthy immune system is vital for both children and adults – and what we eat plays a major part in this. To make it clearer to parents which foods can help keep children and young people’s immune systems healthy, the British Nutrition Foundation (BNF) has put together a list of the key nutrients for the job.
As well as protein and omega-3 fats, a number of vitamins and minerals have key roles in supporting the immune system.
The BNF says they are:
VITAMIN A
Found in: Eggs, cheese, whole milk, liver. The body can also make vitamin A from beta-carotene, found in dark green leafy vegetables, orangecoloured fruits and vegetables (eg. carrots and melon).
VITAMIN B6
Found in: Poultry, fish, fortified breakfast cereals, chickpeas, soya beans, some fruit and vegetables (eg. bananas, avocados, green peppers), nuts and seeds.
A banana offers around a third of the vitamin B6 needed for a four to 10-year-old. A snack of walnuts (20g, or six halves) provides around 10% of the recommended daily vitamin
B6 requirement for teens and adults.
VITAMIN B12
Found in: Meat, fish, milk, cheese, eggs, fortified breakfast cereals, fortified milk alternatives.
Two tablespoons of tuna in a sandwich can provide all the vitamin B12 a child needs for the day, and two poached eggs will cover adults and teens’ daily B12 needs.
VITAMIN C
Found in:
Citrus fruits, berries, kiwi fruit, green vegetables, cauliflower, peppers, tomatoes.
Broccoli is a good vitamin C provider – five small steamed florets will provide under 11s with the vitamin C they need for the day.
COPPER
Found in: Wholegrain breakfast cereals, wholewheat pasta, couscous, quinoa, shellfish, pulses, dried fruit.
Baked beans are an easy source of copper that children enjoy. For teenagers and adults pulses used in soups, stews, and curries are good way to boost intake.
VITAMIN D
Found in: Oily fish, eggs, some fortified breakfast cereals, some fortified dairy and dairy alternative products (check labels).
FOLATE
Found in: Green vegetables (eg. broccoli, cabbage, spinach), chickpeas, oranges, berries, cheese, wholemeal bread. Green veg are packed with folate, whether it’s peas, plenty of lettuce or pak choi in stir fries.
IRON
Found in:
Red meat, pulses, nut butters and seed pastes like peanut butter and tahini, fortified breakfast cereals, wholemeal bread, dried fruit.
Surveys suggest around half of teenage girls and a quarter of women may have low iron intake. Vitamin C can help the body absorb iron, so try a glass of orange juice with fortified breakfast cereal.
SELENIUM
Found in: Nuts and seeds (particularly Brazil nuts, cashews and sunflower seeds. For children under five years, nuts and seeds should be offered ground or as a nut butter/ seed paste to reduce the risk of choking), eggs, poultry, fish, shellfish.
Fish is a great selenium provider – teens and adults should eat at least two portions a week, one of which should be oily (salmon, sardines).
ZINC
Found in: Meat, poultry, cheese, nuts and seeds, some shellfish (like crab and mussels), wholegrain breakfast cereals, wholegrain and seeded breads.
Lean beef mince is a good source of zinc, so favourites like chilli, meatballs and cottage pie will all boost zinc intake. Wholegrains are also a source of zinc so try a cheese sandwich on wholegrain bread.
AS the saying goes, prevention is better than cure – and that’s a philosophy that features highly in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), as does the principle of self-care – or ‘ Yang Sheng’.
“Unlike Western medicine, which focuses on fixing health issues, Chinese medicine focuses on prevention alongside cure,” says Katie Brindle, author of Yang Sheng: The Art Of Chinese Self-Healing.
“For example, in Chinese medicine, a bad night’s sleep or thinning hair signifies the beginning of a deeper health issue. The principle is that if you eliminate small health niggles as they arise, you’ll prevent bigger ones happening.”
Katie (katiebrindle.com) trained to become a Chinese medicine practitioner after it helped her recover from injuries sustained in a car accident.
She says self-care is a huge part of this approach to wellness, which taps into discovering energy imbalances long before they turn into physical symptoms. “The theory is that you prevent the imbalance getting a foothold in the body and turning into something more seri
PRIORITY IN
ous. Think of it as how we address our dental care – we brush our teeth daily to prevent plaque building up and turning into an issue.”
As we enter the Year of the Ox (Chinese New Year fell on February 12 this year), we talk to Katie to find out more...
ENERGY, FLOW AND BALANCE
Katie says there are three fundamental principles to Chinese medicine’s holistic mind-body approach.
■ Ensuring the free flow of energy – qi – and blood circulation (good circulation is seen as a foundation of health).
■ Purge and nourish (if toxicity lingers in the body, it causes stagnant qi, which may eventually lead to physical symptoms and disease, so you work to clear out what you don’t need, and nourish the body to strengthen it).
■ Strengthening the five key organs (Chinese medicine says ill-health will always relate to one of the five key organs – liver, heart, spleen, lung, and kidney – so they all need to be balanced).
Katie believes Chinese medicine is “brilliant for everything” but says it works particularly well for fertility and gynaecological issues, and skin problems.
“Depending on the person and the issue, sometimes it’s an instant fix and sometimes a gentle process that happens over time,” she says.
And although she’s a huge advocate for taking this approach to supporting your health and wellbeing, she is not suggesting anybody stops seeing their regular doctor.
It’s always important to get any symptoms or health concerns checked out by your GP.
Katie says: “In an ideal world, Western and Eastern medicine would work in symbiosis, as they work really well together.”