Ten Foods to Kick a Cold and Boost Your Immunity
Fight Colds with What You Eat
Red Bell Peppers
Bell peppers are part of the nightshade family and originated in South America before spreading to Europe and the rest of the world. Bell peppers are both low in calories and dense in nutrients. They are a good source of phytochemicals as well as beta carotenes and vitamin C.
In fact, gram for gram, red bell peppers have twice the vitamin C of most vitamin C-containing fruits and vegetables, Blatner said, including oranges.
Linus Pauling, one of the most influential scientists of the 20th century, was an advocate of megadoses of supplemental vitamin C to prevent colds. Whether vitamin C is effective at preventing a viral infection that will cause a cold is under debate and hasn't been fully proved or disproved.
But research has gone far enough to show that increasing vitamin C intake can reduce the length of time cold symptoms last as well as reduce the severity of those symptoms.
And experts are not huge proponents of supplemental vitamin C.
"The best way to get vitamin C is through food," La Puma said.
The FDA recommends getting about 90 milligrams of vitamin C each day, which is easily obtainable through daily meals. A half cup of raw red bell pepper contains 142 milligrams of vitamin C.
Vitamin C is known to maintain the skin, which is the body's first line of defense against microbes and viruses of all kinds. Vitamin C may also help to increase white blood cell count as well as antibody production.
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