FLU SEASON IS UPON US! HERE'S A SAFER WAY TO BEAT THE FLU!!

The flu season is fast approaching, and it's on everyone's mind how to fight the bug that seems to be so rampant today.

Today's post is about a nutrient which is gaining more prominence as it's numerous roles in keeping you healthy emerge. It's my favourite preventive and possibly curative 'secret' weapon for beating the flu:

Meet the humble vitamin, the sunshine vitamin, Vitamin D. Vitamin D is the 6th Pillar of A Healthy Life. All 8 Pillars must be solid in your life for you to enjoy true health and success in every area of life.





This vitamin is well known for its role in healthy bone development and calcium metabolism. However, for the past 30 years, other roles for Vitamin D have been emerging and some recent, well-conducted studies are coming to the fore now and we now know that:

There is a vitamin D deficiency epidemic worldwide.

This deficiency is worse in the winter months because there's not enough sunlight for our skin to make enough of its own vitamin D.

Vitamin D boosts your immune system and helps it work better.

Most of your cells need adequate levels of Vitamin D to function optimally.

Vitamin D has been shown to be protective against colds and flu when taken in adequate amounts, therefore in winter months, when vitamin D levels are particularly low, colds and flu are more common.

Vitamin D in appropriate levels, is also protective against several forms of cancer: one of its functions is to arrest the multiplication of these abnormal cells in the body.

Vitamin D insufficiency symptoms include, among other things, depression, joint pain, tiredness (which has often been 'diagnosed' as chronic fatigue syndrome or fibromyalgia or 'psychological'), muscle ache, diabetes (Vit D helps regulate insulin activity), osteoporosis, heart disease, some cases of high blood pressure (Vitamin D plays a role in regulating the Renin-Angiotensin pathway). Deficiency causes osteomalacia in adults, rickets in children, and heart failure if severe.

The current recommended daily allowance of 400IU/day is not nearly enough to protect you from the major illnesses and symptoms mentioned above.

The level of Vit D in your blood should be in a range between 75-150nmol/l. (Get your Dr to test your level asap, to know if you need more vit. D).

You need to make sure you are well stocked up on Vitamin D, especially in the winter months. It's been suggested that the reason colds and flu occur more frequently in winter months, is lack of Vitamin D (less sunlight).




Those at most risk of suffering from dangerous Vit D deficiency are:

• Dark skinned people, or people whose clothing covers most of their skin most of the time
• obese people, 
• people suffering from malabsorption syndromes eg coeliac, inflammatory bowel disease,
• the elderly, 
• housebound, 
• excess use of sunscreen.
• Babies of mothers with insufficient levels of vitamin D.

How To Get Enough Vitamin D:
1) Stay out in the sun (sunbathe) for 30 mins each day (this makes your body produce 20,000IU of vitamin D per day.) Clearly not practical though. However, do get as much sun as you can manage. Early morning sunlight is best as that contains mostly the UVB rays which protect you from getting skin cancer, while helping you make Vitamin D.

2) Eat loads of foods containing Vit D. Foods like Oily fish, cod liver oil, egg yolk. The amount in these foods is really minimal. Still won't give you enough per day, but these things all add up and every little counts, so do this as well.


3) Take a high quality Vitamin D3 supplement (there's a cheaper counterpart, Vitamin D2, but this form is less effective so you want to avoid it if possible. Certainly you wish to avoid any Vitamin D plus calcium only combination unless blood tests show your calcium levels to be lower than normal).

This is the most practical way to ensure you are getting the right amount of D3.

But first get your doctor to test your Vitamin D levels by requesting the test called 'Serum (25, OH) Vitamin D).

If blood tests show you have insufficient levels of Vitamin D, you need to take between 2000IU and 5000IU of Vitamin D3 daily and remain on a maintainance of 2000IU when your levels normalise. So you'd need a repeat blood test when you've been on the supplements for at least a month.

If blood tests show you to be Vitamin D deficient, you need to take at least 10,000IU of Vitamin D3 per day, and maintain on 2000IU per day when your levels normalise. So here also you need a repeat blood test after a month on supps.

This may sound like a lot of Vitamin D to be taking, but remember your body can easily make twice that amount just by you sitting out in the sun for 30 minutes.

During flu season, you may, if you were originally insufficient or deficient, need to increase your daily intake to 5000IU per day, then go back down to maintainance doses afterwards. Read on to discover the supplements I trust, use and recommend (highly).

Take home tips:

If you want to win the fight against flu this year, optimise your vitamin D levels.

Get your Dr to request Vitamin D levels for you. Ask for the 'serum 25-OH Vitamin D' blood test. Optimise your intake such that you're well within healthy levels of Vit D. Give your body a fighting chance this flu season! The supplements I use and recommend to friends and family are the ones made by USANA Health Sciences: they're of the highest quality, contain the right amounts in the right proportions and have been independently shown to not only contain what they say they contain in the amount it says on the 'tin', but also that they are bioavailable (available to your cells after you've taken them, which is where they're needed!)

Every adult should be on their Essentials multivitamins, multimineral and antioxidant pack. Their HealthPak contains 'The Essentials' including 2000IU of Vitamin D3 per serving, as well as additional antioxidants. If you are vitamin D insufficient then this is all you need.

They also make Essentials for children and for teenagers so your young ones have the chance to optimise their levels too. Every child should be on the Usanimals (Essentials multivitamin, mineral and antioxidants for children aged 1-12 years old) and every teenager should be on BodyRox (Essentials for teens)

If you are vitamin D deficient then you ALSO need to take their Vitamin D3 tablets (each little tablet contains 2000IU of vitamin D3), to optimise your levels.

Take control of your health! Continue eating your veg and fruit (ratio of 3 veg to 2 fruit, mind you), exercising regularly and applying all the other components of The 8 Pillars of A Healthy Lifestyle (TM).