The immune system is our body’s defense against viruses, bacteria and infection. While maintaining a reduced stress lifestyle and participating in regular exercise are excellent for keeping your immune system strong, it often needs some help along the way. The types of foods that you eat on a daily basis are your primary sources for vitamins and nutrients; however, this is not always enough to keep you healthy, although eating healthy foods will boost your immune system’s effectiveness.The chief destroyer of your immune system is free radicals. Free radical cause mutations in the cells and this can lead to heart disease as well as cancer. In order to prevent these conditions, it is necessary for you to fight these free radicals off.Your body’s best defense to free radicals is antioxidants and these come from many sources. The strongest antioxidant though is vitamin C. Vitamin C gives your immune system a boost so that it can aggressively fight the cancer cells and free radicals in the body. Diets that are high in vitamin C have been linked to reduced risks for a variety of cancers including breast, colorectal, stomach and prostate cancer.There are a variety of foods that can assist you in getting your required amount of vitamin C. These include citrus fruits, melons, broccoli, green peppers and a variety of other fruits and vegetables. Those people who smoke cigarettes should increase their daily vitamin C intake beyond the recommended daily allowance, as smoking depletes vitamin C stores quickly.So, does vitamin C strengthen your immune system? It most certainly does. It provides your immune system with the antioxidants it needs to destroy free radicals that wreak havoc on your body. By insuring that you receive your daily-recommended allowance of vitamin C, you are doing your immune system a lot of good. You can also help vitamin C out by supplementing with vitamin E as well. Vitamin E has also been shown to be an important antioxidant and great for fighting infection.Photo credits: http://healthyprotocols.com/