BBC One look into the Truth about Boosting your Immune System

The coronavirus outbreak has pushed our immune system centre stage. It’s vital to us fighting the disease – but how much do we all really know about how to keep it strong?

In The Truth About Boosting Your Immune System, Dr Ronx Ikharia, an emergency medicine doctor, delves into the latest science to find out what we can all do to make our immune system as healthy as possible.

Ronx teams up with Professor Sheena Cruickshank, an immunologist at the University of Manchester, to run a unique experiment. They recruit a group of volunteers and give them an ‘immune makeover’ – changing their diet, exercise and sleep habits for six weeks to test the impact on their immune health and discover how we might all benefit.

Ronx puts their own body to the test, to discover just how easily our immune system can be damaged and the surprising ways it can be strengthened – from a relaxing massage to getting a fright.

Together with leading scientists, Ronx uncovers the latest research on so-called ‘immune boosters’ to see what works and what doesn’t – and reveals the one key vitamin that can make a difference.

And Ronx discovers a surprising truth: that for many of us, ‘boosting’ our immune system is the last thing we should be doing. In the UK the most common immune problem is overactivity – it’s thought to lie behind rising cases of allergies and asthma.

The Truth About Boosting Your Immune System, BBC One, 9pm