Vitamin D3
There is a lot of research about Vitamin D, the “sunshine vitamin,” being the most effective defense against colds and flus. Large scale studies have found it successfully reduces the flu by 50% (up to 40% more effective than this year’s flu vaccine), and we have experienced its benefits firsthand in our house (1,2). After getting the whole family getting hit with multiple upper respiratory bugs in the first weeks after the seasons changed this year, we got back to using Vitamin D3 and have stayed healthy since despite all the bugs going around town.
Vitamin D works by increasing the production of broad spectrum antimicrobials by the body, making it effective protection against colds and other seasonal infections like meningitis and pneumonia. Vitamin D levels can be tested easily in my office to see if your levels are low, but it’s safe to say that if you’re experiencing winter in New England, you can benefit from supplementation of 5000 IUs daily. Since Vitamin D is obtained from sunlight and only found in very small amounts in food, research is showing widespread deficiency is likely the main reason for “flu season” occurring when it does, between November and March. Your vitamin D3 must also contain Vitamin K for proper absorption. We use Designs for Health’s D3 Synergy. It’s a sweet-tasting liquid in a dropper that my toddler loves taking, and it’s easy to dose down to 1/4 of the adult dose from the dropper.
Getting Adjusted
Chiropractic has been found to boost T-fighter immune cells that fight pathogens by 48% for 1-2 days following an adjustment (3, 4). These are the “Pac-Man” type cells that gobble up invaders. Chiropractic patients report fewer flus, colds and missed work days. In fact, during the 1918 Spanish Flu epidemic, chiropractic patients were found to be more resilient against the deadly flu virus, with significantly decreased mortality rates (4).
Fundamental Nutrition
Recently, an interesting individual on social media left a hateful comment and called me an “anti-vaxxer” because I posted a photo of my son and I fortifying our bodies against the flu with fresh green juice containing oregano, a powerful antimicrobial. While I personally do believe flu immunizations specifically to have weak evidence for efficacy and do not choose to use them, I think most would agree there’s clearly nothing “anti-vaccine” about recognizing good nutrition as the primary means of prevention or even choosing not to receive the flu vaccine, which the CDC has said is 10% effective in 2018 and weak against the most dangerous strain of the flu, A (H3N2)(6, 7).
Whether or not you choose to get the flu vaccine, meeting your daily recommended 5-7 servings of colorful fruit and veggies for vitamins and antioxidants should always be your family’s first line of defense against both acute and chronic illness. I like to use this helpful Rainbow Chart by Dr. Rangan Chatterjee as a fun way to try to meet our daily requirements with food, and our family uses a concentrated whole food fruit and vegetable supplement to bridge the gap when we don’t get enough. In addition, a scoop of fermented foods daily for probiotics, like pickled vegetables, saurkraut, or kimchi, or beverages like kefir or kombucha, will help to keep your immune system in peak shape.
I also keep a number of evidence-based natural solutions in the medicine cabinet for rapid recovery when we do start to get sick, including our “flu shot” of oregano juice, so if you’d like to learn about those and how to use them, make sure you sign up below for my newsletter so you don’t miss the next post in this series.
Sources
- Mitsuyoshi Urashima, Takaaki Segawa, Minoru Okazaki, Mana Kurihara, Yasuyuki Wada, Hiroyuki Ida; Randomized trial of vitamin D supplementation to prevent seasonal influenza A in schoolchildren, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Volume 91, Issue 5, 1 May 2010, Pages 1255–1260, https://doi.org/10.
3945/ajcn.2009.29094 - https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2017/02/study-confirms-vitamin-d-protects-against-cold-and-flu/
- Selano JL, Hightower BC, Pfleger B, Feeley-Collins K, Grostic JD. “The Effects of Specific Upper Cervical Adjustments on the CD4 Counts of HIV Positive Patients.” The Chiro Research Journal; 3(1); 1994.
- Brennan P, Graham M, Triano J, Hondras M. “Enhanced phagocytic cell respiratory bursts induced by spinal manipulation: Potential Role of Substance P.” J Manip Physiolog Ther 1991; (14)7:399-400.
- https://www.danmurphydc.com/Rhodes_Flu.pdf
- https://www.cbsnews.com/news/this-years-flu-vaccine-may-only-be-10-effective-experts-warn/
- https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/qa/vaccineeffect.htm#why_flu_vax_less_effective_against_H3N2
