Dynamic D Again Shows It's Stuff Against The Flu

As we have often mentioned Americans are woefully deficient in vitamin D, especially during the winter months. A research team from Philadelphia recently tested the vitamin D blood levels of 382 healthy children and adolescents who lived in the Northeast. They found that 68 percent of the kids had inadequate levels during the winter, as did an alarming 55 percent year-round. Levels are even lower in older people, who produce much less vitamin D with similar sun exposure. The bottom line is, whether you decide to have a flu shot or not, your best bet for making it through the flu season unscathed is to increase your intake of supplemental vitamin D.

Vitamin D turns on genes that boost production of antimicrobial peptides called cathelicidins, which destroy viruses, bacteria, and other germs. Limited sun exposure results in minimal vitamin D production and compromised immunity. Studies show that children who are exposed to sunlight are less likely to get colds. Kids with rickets (a vitamin D deficiency disease) are prone to respiratory infections. African-Americans, whose dark skin predisposes them to lower vitamin D production. Older folks in Norway and other countries with high intakes of vitamin D are at reduced risk of dying during the wintertime. People who take cod liver oil, which contains hefty doses of vitamin D, have a lower risk of respiratory infections. Children prone to frequent infections who took 60,000 IU of vitamin D per week for six weeks had zero recurrences during that time. I could go on, but here’s all you really need to know: To prevent flu and other infectious illnesses, increase your level of vitamin D.

vitamin D recommendation to 2,000 IU per day, especially during the fall and winter—and year-round if you don’t get much sun exposure. Some people, however, require much larger doses to bring their blood levels up to normal.