Winter is here and we can be ready for this cold and flu season
by boosting our immunity with the foods we eat.
I will spend the next few weeks with some suggestions on ways to boost
your immunity, helping you avoid communicable winter illnesses.
I have always been a strong believer of Foods over Supplements. The bioavailability of the nutrients is
usually greater in whole foods then in any pill or supplement form. This is the best way to find all the components of edible health benefits.
So, let’s start this series with my recommendation for you to
eat yogurt regularly.
One of the best ways we can protect our heath is by avoiding inflammation;
yogurt containing live cultures has an immune-function without creating an
inflammatory response. This fermented
milk product contains the probiotics that assist in this protection.
Yogurt’s live cultures not only appear to be beneficial for gut
immunity, but are also showing some benefits to allergic reactions and is
suggested to lower incidence of upper respiratory illness, which goes right
along with the winter cold and flu.
When purchasing yogurt look for the LAC seal – this is the Live
Active Cultures identification from the National Yogurt Association. Frozen
yogurt, and products made with yogurt, such as yogurt-covered raisins, may be
delicious and have separate benefits, but not the ones we speak of here. Furthermore, “Made with live cultures” does
not mean that the cultures are still alive – which they must be for us to
receive all the immunity benefits, so make sure your carton has the LAC seal.
Remember that because is not conclusively studied that you
should consume a live-culture yogurt product, with all its complementary
ingredients such as protein, calcium, vitamins B2, B12, and D. It very possible that the real benefit of
yogurt is in the combination of macro and micronutrients with the probiotics,
so take it all in for good health.
Take home message: Eat yogurt with live active cultures at least
4-5 times each week to improve immunity and digestive health.
Nutrition Facts for 1/2 cup of plain low-fat yogurt: 96
calories, 1 g fat, 1 g sat fat, 6 g chol, 75 mg sogium, 16 g CHO, 6 g Protein.
Dietary Highlights: Recommended Daily Values: 19% of Calcium,
13% of Riboflavin (B2), and 10% of B12
Kopp-Hoolihan, L. (2001). Prophylactic and therapeutic use of
probiotics: A review. American Dietetic Association.Journal of the American
Dietetic Association, 101(2), 229-38
Van, d. W., Keen, C. L., & Gershwin, M. E. (1999). The influence
of chronic yogurt consumption on immunity. The Journal of Nutrition, 129(7),
1492S-5S.
Meyer, A., Micksche, M., Herbacek, I.,& Elmadfa, I.
(2006). Daily intake of probiotic as well as conventional yogurt has a
stimulating effect on cellular immunity in young healthy women. Annals of
Nutrition & Metabolism, 50(3), 282-9.
National Yogurt Association: http://www.aboutyogurt.com
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