What to Eat for Seasonal Allergies? 6 Ingredients to Help You Cope

Text / Lu Fangping, Fooding Taiwan Good Ingredients Editorial Team; Photography / Wang Zhengyi

Quite a few ingredients are said to fight off seasonal allergy flare-ups, and among them, the ones more widely "recognized" by doctors and dietitians come down to roughly the following six.

Jujube (Chinese date) helps protect the liver and boost physical strength.

*Ginger
Ginger is rich in vitamin C and has anti-inflammatory properties; drinking ginger tea helps relieve nasal congestion caused by the common cold, and can also ease respiratory symptoms caused by environmental allergies.
►See more: There are many varieties of ginger, how to choose one?

*Jujube (Chinese date)
Japanese researchers found that jujube contains large amounts of an anti-allergy substance - cyclic adenosine monophosphate - which can block allergic reactions from occurring.
►See more: Jujube nourishes the blood and protects the liver, 4 tips for picking good ones

*Coix seed (Job's tears)
The butylene glycol in coix seed is a natural moisturizing ingredient, while dipotassium glycyrrhizate has a calming, anti-inflammatory effect, making it a natural anti-allergy agent.
►See more: Coix seed beautifies the complexion and can also ease mild water retention

*Honey
Honey contains a certain amount of pollen grains and can help resist allergies. Experts suggest that drinking one spoonful of honey a day can keep you away from seasonal allergy symptoms such as asthma, itching, coughing and dry eyes.
►See more: 57% of longan honey fails the test! 5 tricks to tell

*Grapes
From the flesh and skin to the seeds, grapes are excellent beauty-food ingredients, and the OPC anthocyanins in grape seeds in particular can ease symptoms such as allergies and asthma, with antioxidant and anti-allergy effects.
►See more: [Tips] Pick grapes this way for good taste and peace of mind!

*Enoki mushroom
Researchers in Singapore found that the stems of enoki mushrooms contain a protein that can suppress allergic conditions such as asthma, rhinitis and eczema. Eating enoki mushrooms regularly helps remove heavy metal ions and the toxins and waste produced by metabolism.
►See more: High fiber, low calorie, enoki mushroom is a "goes-with-everything" ingredient

Traditional Chinese medicine practitioner Liao Qianhui says she personally especially recommends coix seed and jujube. Coix seed "is white in color and enters the lung, and the lung governs the skin and hair," so it can help moisturize and whiten the skin; coix seed also has effects such as promoting diuresis and draining dampness, strengthening the spleen and benefiting the stomach, and dispelling wind-dampness, making it especially suitable for modern people with the "soft muscles, listless and weak" type of water retention.

As for jujube, it is rich in vitamin C and various amino acids, helps protect the liver and boost physical strength, and also has the functions of tonifying the middle and boosting qi, nourishing the blood and calming the spirit, and moderating the properties of medicines. Because it can enhance the phagocytic function of immune system phagocytes, it can fight allergies; for people under great stress, with an unsettled mind, or prone to insomnia, jujube can also do its work and give a healthy complexion.