18 Apr 2020OIF Nigeria0News Online Health Talk. Nutrition @covid-19 I am Sussan chisa, a Nutritionist and a health coach, hope we are coping well with the lockdown and overcoming our fear concerning our health?I know everyone is working hard to stay healthy amidst the world health crisis. Well that is why we must talk about health and want us to look at the topic: Antioxidant, what are antioxidants and how does it help us at this time? Antioxidants are compound found in food, plants that stop or delays damage to the cells, I can rightly also call it the immune system which consists of organs, cells, tissues, proteins. Together they carry out bodily processes that fights off pathogens which are viruses, bacteria and foreign bodies that causes infection and diseases.I will just explain briefly how the immune system works. When the immune system meets with a pathogens or viruses for instance, it triggers an immune response called ANTIBODIES that attacks the viruses or bacteria. So on constant basis the immune system which can be called the white blood cell moves through the blood vessels and tissues and charges into battle at any sign of invaders to either ingest them or kill them, funny enough, the cells only live for few weeks, so it’s a good thing we build more of them by what we eat and drink. A single drop of blood can contain up to 25000 white blood cells.Having given this brief explanation, it is very important to know how to support this wonderful soldier called the immune system by what we eat and drink especially at a time like this. So back to our topic, how does antioxidant affect the immune system? like I said earlier, antioxidants are compound that can be found in food, fruits, herbs like vitamins A, C, E, minerals in form of selenium, zinc, lycopene, lutein etc. Among so many others these are very important because they help by cleaning or removing waste products in our cells called free radicals, free radicals are compound that attach themselves to normal or healthy cells to cause damage which eventually leads to degenerating diseases if not checked. These free radicals can be caused by toxins.1) Under fruits: we have oranges, mango, guava, pineapple, berries, avocado, apples, pawpaw, tangerine among others. 2) Vegetable; carrots, sweet potatoes, broccoli, beetroots, tomatoes especially boiled ones, cabbage etc. 3) Herbs; guava leaves, tender mango leaves, avocado leaves, fruits leaves, single nettle, Maca roots, green tea, raspberry tea etc these are high in antioxidants like quercetin, lycopene, lutein, ellagic acids, flavonoid, chlorophyll, fibres, calcium, beta- carotenoid, vitamin A,C,E. Finally, for the purpose of these knowledge and request by the president of OIF Mrs Tarela Aghanti I will be giving us simple immune boosting tea to fight viruses and flu. 1) 1 cup of hot water + ginger and lemon 2) Green tea + cloves and funnel seeds, 3) Cinnamon + ginger and black seed make sure you roast your black seeds. For those with ulcer you can replace ginger with turmeric, 4) Tender mango leaves + guava leaves boil together with either ginger, cloves or cinnamon this is a powerful drink that kill viruses and reduces inflammations in the body. Please if you do have an underline illness let’s know so we guild you properly. Well this is where I will be drawing my conclusions, special thanks to the president OIFN, members and everyone. Stay home, Stay safe, Safe lives and God bless you. Presented by Mrs Susan Chisa Health and Nutritionist Coach.