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Foods That Boost Your Children’s Immune System
Childhood is full of laughter and play, but it’s also a time of plenty of sniffles and sneezes. Immature immune systems and not-so-perfect hygiene can wreak havoc on a child’s body. Certain types of food can boost the strength of the immune system, helping your child fend off illnesses and making for fewer missed school days. Try some of these immune system powerhouses with your child to help ensure his body is as strong as it can be.
About Children’s Immune Systems
Children’s immune systems must develop in order to be more effective at fighting off dangerous bacteria and viruses that cause infections and diseases. By understanding the various components of children’s immune systems, parents and teachers can improve children’s immunity.
Toddler Fever Treatments
Fevers go hand-in-hand with an illness and are a sign that your body’s immune system is fighting an infection. This doesn’t make it any easier to watch your little one suffering with a fever, though. By taking proper care of her when she’s sick, you can ensure that she’ll be playing again in no time.
Treatments for Dust Allergies
An allergic reaction occurs when the body’s immune system overreacts to substances called allergens that usually are not harmful. Household dust, which can include tiny particles of pollen, fibers and microscopic insects called mites, can cause allergic reactions, according to Medline Plus, and dust mites are the primary cause of dust allergies. Treatments for dust allergies vary, but it should be noted that the highest concentration of dust mites is typically found in box springs, mattresses and bedding.
Foods High in Vitamin A During Pregnancy
Vitamin A, which aids the body’s immune system, eyes, mucus membranes and cell reproduction, is really two kinds of vitamins: retinol and the provitamin-A carotenoids. Natural retinol comes from animals, while the carotenoids, of which the most well-known is beta carotene, come from vegetable sources. When you eat the animal sources of retinol vitamin A, you absorb the retinol the most directly and efficiently, while the vegetable carotenoids get converted into retinol inside the body less efficiently. The hype you might have heard about beta carotene, which is present in many vividly colored vegetables and fruits, is well-deserved and stems from the fact that it’s the most efficiently absorbed of all the carotenoids. How much vitamin A should you take during pregnancy? In supplement form, take no more than the right amount of vitamin-A retinol for your age—to be safe, consult the chart from the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine and speak with your physician. As for foods to take or not take that are high in vitamin A during pregnancy, see the recommendations below.