{"id":7787,"date":"2021-11-04T10:39:26","date_gmt":"2021-11-04T16:39:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.seafood-harvest.com\/?p=7787"},"modified":"2023-01-23T11:16:54","modified_gmt":"2023-01-23T18:16:54","slug":"how-eating-fish-can-boost-your-immune-system-and-keep-viruses-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.seafood-harvest.com\/index.php\/2021\/11\/04\/how-eating-fish-can-boost-your-immune-system-and-keep-viruses-away\/","title":{"rendered":"How Eating Fish Can Boost Your Immune System and Keep Viruses Away"},"content":{"rendered":"

https:\/\/www.seafoodnutrition.org\/project\/salmon-chowderHeading back into the cold and flu season is extra anxious this year. Now, more than ever, people are looking for ways to “boost” or support their immune systems, according to Seafood<\/a> Nutrition Partnership. Fish can play a part in fighting off cold and flu.<\/p>\n

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“Nutrients, the things we eat, are a very important part of how our immune system functions in addition to things like physical activity and not smoking,” said Dr. Philip Calder<\/span>, professor of nutritional immunology at the University of Southampton and author of a recent peer-reviewed study, “Nutrition and immunity: lessons for COVID-19<\/a>.” “The immune system is central to protection against infection. In the past 18 months, weak immune systems have been exposed as a major public health challenge.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Good nutrition is essential to supporting a strong immune system, and if there is one food that packs a punch of a wide spectrum of vitamins and minerals, it is seafood. “Seafood is an excellent source of immune-supporting micronutrients, some of which, like Vitamin D, are really hard to get from other foods,” said Calder at the Seafood Nutrition Partnership’s 2021 State of the Science Symposium<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Data from the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study<\/a> of more than 420,000 people show eating seafood reduced respiratory deaths by 20 percent. In fact, higher fish and omega-3 fatty acid intakes were significantly associated with lower total mortality.<\/p>\n

Both fish and shellfish provide essential nutrients to the body that keep immune health functioning properly. Here are some key nutrients found in a variety of seafood that work together to support antiviral immunity, according to the Seafood Nutrition Partnership, which has an Eat Seafood America!<\/a> initiative to help Americans stay healthy through the pandemic and beyond.<\/p>\n