How to eat and love your way to super-immunity this winter

Batten down the hatches - flu season is here. But when it comes to staving off the dreaded lurgies, what are just old wives' tales and what really works?

- Hayley Spencer

It helps to first understand our body's natural means of defence. As well as our skin and the mucus in our noses (yes, snot has its pluses) to stop germs from getting into the body, we have the microbiome - the estimated 30-40 trillion microbes living in our bodies.

As the gut health revolution has taught us, it's home to the biggest community of microbes, making it a great place to start when working on our immunity.

Emily English, nutritionist and founder of gut health supplement, Epetome, explains: "Approximately 70 to 80 per cent of the body's immune cells are located in the gut. Therefore, a healthy gut is vital for a strong immune system. The gut microbiota plays a crucial role in educating the immune system and helps it distinguish between friendly and harmful pathogens."