What I do is eat plenty of fresh fruit (vitamins C)and vegetables that have easily absorbable vitamins and minerals if you introduce that as part of your meal planning strategy. In cold and scratchy throat season I use herbal teas with turmeric and ginger, both anti-inflammatory. I make my own teas from these spices. While I do use supplements in my diet, mostly vitamins D with Calcium, as I do not consume enough of milk and dairy to have proper amount to augment and maintain my bone and muscle cells, I do try as best as I can to get most of my vitamins and minerals from food sources, that is why we always have greek yogurt in the fridge.