Is vitamin D a good defense against the swine flu?

The antibiotic vitamin: deficiency in vitamin D may predispose people to infection

Science News
Nov 11, 2006
Janet Raloff

In April 2005, a virulent strain of influenza hit a maximum-security forensic psychiatric hospital for men that's midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles. John J. Cannell, a psychiatrist there, observed with increasing curiosity as one infected ward after another was quarantined to limit the outbreak Although 10 percent of the facility's 1,200 patients ultimately developed the flu's fever and debilitating muscle aches, none did in the ward that he supervised.

"First, the ward below mine was quarantined, then the wards on my right, left, and across the hall," Cannell recalls. However, although the 32 men on his ward at Atascadero (Calif.) State Hospital had mingled with patients from infected wards before their quarantine, none developed the illness.

Cannell's ward was the only heavily exposed ward left unaffected. Was it by mere chance, Cannell wondered, that his patients dodged the sickness?

A few months later, Cannell ran across a possible answer in the scientific literature. In the July 2005 FASEB Journal, Adrian F. Gombart of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and his colleagues reported that vitamin D boosts production in white blood cells of one of the antimicrobial compounds that defends the body against germs.

Immediately, Cannell says, the proverbial lightbulb went on in his head: Maybe the high doses of vitamin D that he had been prescribing to virtually all the men on his ward had boosted their natural arsenal of the antimicrobial, called cathelicidin, and protected them from flu. Cannell had been administering the vitamin D because his patients, like many other people in the industrial world, had shown a deficiency:

The FASEB Journal article also triggered Cannell's recollection that children with rickets, a hallmark of vitamin D deficiency, tend to experience more infections than do kids without the bone disease. He shared his flu data with some well-known vitamin D researchers, and they urged him to investigate further.

On the basis of more than 100 articles that he collected, Cannell and seven other researchers now propose that vitamin D deficiency may underlie a vulnerability to infections by the microbes that cathelicidin targets. These include bacteria, viruses, and fungi, the group notes in a report available online for an upcoming Epidemiology and Infection...

 Really the best way to stay healthy is to eat healthy...and keep active ALL the time.  Do at least 15 minutes of exercise per day, the more intense the better (usually).  So if you're comfortable walking, jog, and if you're comfortable jogging, sprint and keep improving.  

I am active almost all day...

Being out in the sun is also very good for you.  I don't mean to go tanning every day, but spend a small amount of time in the sun on a daily basis.
http://www.sunshinevitamin.org/]null[/email]

Drink distilled or reverse osmosis water, try to avoid tap water, since the gov. has access to it and can put whatever garbage they want in it.  

I heard reverse osmosis water is acidic water.

Distilled water, although not the best tasting water (it's an acquired taste), is much better than reverse osmosis water.

There are water filters out there that remove harmful chemicals and metals. Also if your area adds fluoride, there are specific filters that remove fluoride. Anything advertised, such as brita and pur, are generally not the best filters out there.

When I got a blood test, my vitamin D level was almost non existant.   :surprised:

If you live in the north, sun exposure will not help Vit D level during late fall and winter.  The sun angle is too low in the sky.  

Just this fall I got a new doctor that emphasizes  Vit D, and taking 5000 IU per day has kept me from being sick all winter. Usually I am sick the entire winter!  It also reduced risk of some cancers.  I am a believer in taking Vit D suppliments.

Thank you very much for telling me this.  Your words are true.  I did a quick look up and it appears that Green Tea is alkaline, so I have probably not done any damage (since that is how I use my water if not for soup).

To figure out how acidic your R.O. water is you can buy some of those little pH strips (remember from chemistry class?) and test your water. Organic green tea is great, as compared to regular black tea and coffee.

While acidic R.O. water is bad, not everything acidic in the environment is bad. Some acidic fruits become alkaline in your body. "Foods such as orange juice and lemon juice are acidic in their natural state but turn alkaline after they have been metabolized in the body", so you don't have to avoid citrus fruits. IIRC, mangoes and some of the more exotic fruits are very alkaline. That said, most fruits and vegetables are alkaline.

Your diet of sardines is very healthy, they are not only high in Vitamin D, calcium, and other minerals, they are high in Omega-3s. Omega-3s are nature's fountain of youth. Omega-3s in pills can go rancid (refrigerate them if anyone buys them), so having them from the fish themselves is much better.