you dont have to let the cold and flu season have its way with you boost your immune system now this years cold and flu season will feel like one of the latest batman or spiderman flicks you wont just be battling one villain youll have to fight off several experts predict two flu epidemics the regular seasonal flu and the possibly pandemiccausing swine flu along with the usual plethora of rhinoviruses of course colds and flu bugs spread from person to person so unless youre a cavedwelling hermit youre at risk what to do boost your immune system now to dodge these viral bullets 1 get shot to keep performing at your best youll need to roll up your sleeve according to the centers for disease control and prevention cdc the most powerful tool for preventing flu both seasonal and swine is the annual flu shot available in october and november from doctors public health departments and some pharmacies walgreens for example flu shots rev up the immune system to prevent flu infection this year youll need one shot to prevent seasonal flu and another to prevent swine flu the swine flu vaccine is currently in the final stages of testing 2 become a friend of herbs another way to enhance immune function is to take immuneboosting herbs a great deal of research shows that some herbs activate the immune system against colds flu and other diseases for example andrographis chilean researchers gave either a medically inert placebo or andrographis 1200 mg per day to 158 adults who felt colds coming on after five days andrographis had a high degree of effectiveness in reducing symptoms the herb cut the severity and duration of sore throat and nasal symptoms in half a swedish study compared andrographis and a standard antiviral drug amantadine symmetrel for treatment of flu the herb worked almost as well as the more costly drug andrographis is available at health food stores and supplement shops take 1200 mg a day or follow package directions echinacea echinacea is my favorite immune booster says james duke phd retired director of medicinal herb research for the us department of agriculture but echinacea is controversial some studies show strong immunity rallying against colds others show no benefit swiss researchers analyzed what they called the three best studies and found that echinacea cuts cold risk in half its available at health food stores and supplement shops follow package directions ginseng asians revere ginseng as an immune booster and totalbody health promoter canadian researchers gave 279 adults ages 18 to 65 either a placebo or dose of ginseng 200 mg twice a day four months later the ginseng group suffered fewer than half as many colds and the ones they did develop were brief and mild likewise university of connecticut researchers gave flu shots to 43 people over 65 years plus a placebo or ginseng 200 mg twice a day the ginseng group was 50 percent less likely to develop