Vitamin D Offers Protection Against Swine Flu
A Daily of Dose Boosts Immunity Against Many Diseases and Illnesses
Sep 25, 2009
Studies suggest that Vitamin D plays a vital role in combating many illnesses and has the benefit of increasing immunity against the flu.
Canadians Take 1,000 International Units of Vitamin D Daily
We learn as schoolchildren that an important source of Vitamin D is the sun. It comes to us through our skin from the solar rays. The Canadian Cancer Society recommends that during the winter months, when the sunshine is minimal, Canadians take 1,000 International Units of Vitamin D daily. Dr. Louise Parker, an epidemiologist and expert in environmental exposures that lead to cancer says studies are showing the people who suffer with lung cancer and colon cancer have been deficient in Vitamin D.
Vitamin D Helps the Body Absorb Calcium
Research indicates that the risk of osteoporosis in women who took Vitamin D was lessened. They had stronger bones and fewer cancers than those who didn’t take extra Vitamin D. For people living in northern latitudes - avoidance of sun exposure because of its risk of developing skin cancers may be causing more harm than good, in the long run. This is true for people living in the more extreme northern latitudes like Canada and Scandinavian countries.
Prognosis for People Diagnosed with Internal Cancers is Better with Vitamin D
There is even data now that suggests that the prognosis for people who do go on to develop internal cancers - like colon cancer, lung cancer, and breast cancers - is better when the diagnosis coincides with a season of maximum sun exposure. In other words, sunshine plays a positive if not a vital role in helping patients to survive longer. Or as Dr. Setlow, an expert in the field of solar radiation and its effects on cancer puts it, "A good vitamin D status is advantageous when combined with standard cancer therapies".
How do People Achieve Maximum Benefits of Vitamin D and Avoid Skin Cancer?
The answer, at the moment, is that because the melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer and develops from UVA rays from which we need protection, it is suggested that sunscreens are developed that would allow some of the UVB rays in while keeping the very harmful UVA rays out. Setlow explains that although more non-melanoma skin cancers may occur, "they are relatively easy to treat and have a low mortality rate compared with the internal cancers Vitamin D appears to protect against".
How Much Vitamin D Should People Take?
1,000 IU of vitamin D a day is recommended. Eating vitamin D rich foods, like fatty cold-water fish and fortified foods, which include breakfast cereals and some juices in addition to milk, will help. Egg yolk and cod liver oil are two other very good choices. Perhaps the best way to get enough Vitamin D is to take a supplement. Most multivitamins contain about 400 units and most calcium supplements, also recommended, contain 200 units of Vitamin D. According the Harvard Medical Newsletter, a multivitamin and three calcium pills would get you to 1,000 IU. For women, that’s a good idea but is not as good an option for men because of the link between prostrate cancer and high consumption of calcium.
Mike Adams, Editor of NaturalNews writes, "People who have adequate levels of Vitamin D in their blood rarely get sick from seasonal flu. The flu primarily strikes those who are nutritionally deficient in one or more key immune system nutrients."
Source:
Vitamin D Council
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