The Incredible Edible Remedy Nutrients Found in Eggs Can Help Boost Immunity - The American Egg Board

Move over, vitamin C. There are other immune-boosting nutrients in town. In total, Americans suffer from an estimated 1 billion colds each year, and children miss 22 million school days because of it.(1) While there is no cure for the common cold, getting a wider variety of immune-boosting nutrients may be one simple way to reduce the risk. Add these nutrients – including several found in eggs – to your diet to enhance immunity and promote good health during cold and flu season:

• Selenium: Selenium works with vitamin E to function as an antioxidant. Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are currently looking into the role that selenium plays in decreasing vulnerability to the influenza virus.(2) Eggs are a rich source of selenium: two eggs provide more than half (56 percent) of the recommended daily intake. Other foods with selenium include meat, seafood, whole grains and walnuts.
• Vitamin A: Vitamin A is necessary for maintaining the body's immune functions and decreasing susceptibility to infections. Vitamin A is found in foods including spinach, sweet potatoes, cantaloupe and mango. It is also found in egg yolks: one egg has 244 International Units (IU) of vitamin A, or 5 percent of the recommended daily intake.
• High-Quality Protein: Protein is not normally associated with immunity, but it plays a key role in building the antibodies needed to fight infection, as well as building and repairing body tissues. Eggs provide some of the highest quality proteins of any food. One egg has six grams of protein, or 13 percent of the recommended daily intake.
• Vitamin B12: Vitamin B12 works with folate to build red blood cells, helping the body stay healthy. Foods that have vitamin B12 include milk, cheese, fish and eggs. Eggs provide 11 percent of the recommended daily intake of vitamin B12.
• Zinc: Decades of research have shown that zinc plays an important role in reducing both the duration and severity of common cold symptoms. Eggs have 0.6 mg of zinc, which is 4 percent of the daily recommended intake. Zinc is also found in oysters, turkey, plain yogurt and sirloin steak.

Bridget Swinney, a registered dietitian and author of three books including Healthy Food for Healthy Kids: The Practical and Tasty Guide to Child Nutrition, agrees that eating nutrient-rich foods is important during the winter months. “I encourage parents to feed their family foods with nutrients that offer extra protection during the cold and flu season. Those foods will help children stay healthy and fight off germs,” says Swinney.

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