Immune-Boosting Foods: Selenium and Vitamin E

In a previous post, Immune-Boosting Foods: Fermented Foods and Vitamin C, I described some food groups that help strengthen our immune system; specifically, I talked about fermented and vitamin C–rich foods.

In it, I explained why these nutrients are necessary for our first line of defense to adequately perform its function and how inadequate intake can make us susceptible to infections, particularly viral infections.

Below, I include other food groups that are equally essential to our immune system:

1) Selenium and Vitamin E–rich foods

Recent studies show how deficiencies in selenium or vitamin E can lead to increased viral pathogenicity and altered normal immune response.

In addition, deficiencies in any of these micronutrients can lead to specific viral mutations, causing relatively benign viruses to develop into more pathogenic ones.

Vitamin E-rich foods:

Wheat germ	Red peppers (raw)
Sunflower seeds (and their oil)	Mangoes
Pumpkin seeds	Blackberries
Almonds	Kiwis
Brazil nuts	Black currants
Pecan nuts	Raspberries
Pistachios	Blueberries
Hazelnuts (and their oil)	Apricots
Pine nuts	Turnip and cabbage (leaves and stems)
Peanuts	Beet leaves and stems
Cashew nuts	Mustard leaves and stems
Avocados	Asparagus
Olives	Dark green leafy vegetables: spinach, chard, kale, Brussels sprouts…
Broccoli	Octopus
Pumpkin	Wheat germ oil
Snails	Hazelnut oil
Wild Salmon	Sunflower oil
Lobsters	Almond oil
Fish roe	Extra virgin olive oil

Selenium-rich foods:

Brazil nuts	Organic meats (pork, beef, turkey, chicken)
Fish (especially sardines, tuna, sole, oysters, clams, wild salmon…)	Eggs
Ham	Cottage cheese
Whole rice	Dairy (milk and yogurt)
Sunflower seeds	Mushrooms
Beans	Oat flakes
Lentils	Spinach
	Bananas

With this list in hand, it is easy to assess which foods we should include on our plate, and how often to do it.

In addition, it is worth adding to the range of foods that we regularly eat: that is, not only eating spinach or cashew nuts, but “daring” to try other foods that contain these nutrients and progressively incorporate them into our diet.

In this way, not only do we ensure adequate levels of Selenium and Vitamin E, but we are also improving and balancing the levels of other vitamins, minerals and antioxidants that each food provides, in almost unique ratios.

Are there more foods that contribute to boosting our immune system?

Of course, 😊.

Here you have a post about Fermented Foods and Vitamin C-rich foods in which I explain why they are essential to strengthening our immune system.

And here, another article in which I introduce the “mother of all antioxidants” and explain why Vitamin A-rich foods are important for our first line of defense.

I send you one of those hugs that strengthen the immune system and bring up smiles 😊

 

Teresa M.

 

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Photos: Maksim Shutov, Charles Deluvio, Caroline Attwood on Unsplash