As you may know, flu is especially prevalent in the winter. However, one thing that many people get confused about flu is how to differentiate it with cold. Today, we will learn the difference of flu and cold and how to prevent it.
Flu is considered as an infectious respiratory disease caused by influenza viruses. The symptoms of flu can range from mild to serious, and in some cases, it may require hospitalization. In particular, the elderly over the age of 65, children, pregnant women, and patients with some chronic diseases are more vulnerable of getting complications such as pneumonia. Therefore, the aforementioned groups of people should take of themselves extra carefully in the winter.
To explain further, flu has six common symptoms like fever, headache, muscle ache, cough, runny nose, or sore throat. You may think that they all seem like symptoms that are accompanied by cold as well. However, unlike cold that symptoms gradually become serious, the symptoms of flu starts all of the sudden and usually come along with high fevers of over 38 degrees celcius. The most highly recommended way to prevent the flu is vaccination! In addition to vaccination, you should avoid people having respiratory diseases and keep personal hygiene well by properly washing hands, using sanitizers, etc.
Then, what are some good foods to prevent the flu? The first food we would like to introduce you is kiwi. Kiwi has a lot vitamin C and can help strengthen your immune system. Kiwi has 1.4 times more vitamin C than lemon and twice as much than orange.
The second food is ginger. Ginger can help kill viruses as well as bacteria that can cause pneumonia, bronchitis, etc. Ginger contains substances that can suppress enzymes that cause inflammation. Try taking it as a ginger tea or ginger porridge, etc.!
Having osyters and beef are also a great choice as they contain abundant zinc. Zinc helps strengthen white blood cells, so it can definitely boost your health. However, consuming too much of them can actually lower immune functions, so you should keep an eye on how much you eat them. The last food is mackerel! Mackerel contains omega-3 fatty acid and this can lower the occurrence of inflammation and promote white blood activity. You should try to consume 2-4g of omega-3 fatty acid a day.
Prevent yourself from getting flu by having well-balanced meals and doing regular exercises! Remember, nothing is more important than your health. :)
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