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12 Top Foods That Boost the Immune System (#4 is Wicked Cool!)
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7. Garlic
This relative to onion has a powerful active ingredient called allicin, which helps your body fight bacteria and the infections they can cause. One British study gave 146 subjects either a garlic extract or a placebo over a 12-week period and found that those who consumed the garlic were two-thirds less likely to come down with a cold or the flu. In fact, other studies have shown that true garlic lovers who eat more than six cloves every week have a 50 percent lower rate of stomach cancer and a 30 percent lower rate of colorectal cancer. Try to chomp on a clove or two each day. If the taste is too strong for you, then dice garlic raw into your vegetable dishes, soups, and even salads.
8. Mushrooms
People all over the world have been eating mushrooms for centuries both for flavor and for their medicinal properties. Modern research backs this up. How do mushrooms work? They increase the production and activity of white blood cells, making them much more aggressive toward invaders in the human body. Although all mushrooms are healthy, opt for maitake, reishi, and shiitake, which appear to pack the biggest punch.
9. Tea
In one Harvard study, subjects who drank five cups of black tea each day over a two week study period had 10 times the compounds in their blood to fight back against viruses than those who simply drank a placebo hot drink. The amino acid that boosts your immune system, L-theanine, is found in abundance in both green and black tea. Even decaf versions can give you this immune-boosting benefit. Drink at least two cups each day and be sure to get all the antioxidants that you possibly can be squeezing the tea bag to get every last immunity boosting drop.
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