What to Eat to Cure Anything

What to Eat to Fend Off a Cold

Foodies rave about exotic mushroom types, but the common white button variety could be your key to a cold-free winter, suggests research from the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University in Boston. They contain polysaccharides, which activate natural killer cells that destroy cold- and flu-causing viruses, says Dayong Wu, PhD, a scientist at the center.

Three ounces of salmon can supply nearly 800 IUs of vitamin D, close to the amount that some experts recommend you get each day. That's a good defense against sniffles: Researchers at the University of Colorado Denver found that people with low levels of D had significantly more colds. Without enough of this crucial nutrient, your body can't produce antimicrobial proteins called cathelicidins, which destroy bacteria and viruses, according to lead study author Adit Ginde, MD.

This healthy snack is packed with vitamin E, which has been shown to boost the activity level of the body's infection-fighting T cells. That may be why scientists at the Center on Aging found that this nutrient lowers the risk of getting a cold by 20 percent.

People who ate two cups of yogurt a day for four months had four times the gamma interferon, a natural substance that fights viral and bacterial infections, than those who skipped the calcium-rich food, a University of California Davis School of Medicine study reveals. The key: Choosing yogurt with live active cultures.

Ingredients
4 ounces salmon
1 garlic clove, minced
1 cup sliced white button mushrooms
1 teaspoon olive oil
3 cups baby spinach
2 tablespoons plain low-fat yogurt
1 teaspoon dried dill
Salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 cup sunflower seeds, shelled

Directions
Preheat broiler. Broil salmon until flaky and opaque, about 9 minutes. Saute garlic and mushrooms in olive oil. Add spinach; remove from heat when spinach is wilted. Mix yogurt, dill, salt ,and pepper. Place salmon on spinach; top with sauce and sunflower seeds.