H1N1 ... Include Vitamin D in Your Arsenal

Even though it wasn't on topic, at last Thursday's presentation by Leslie Beck (the nutritionist) someone asked her about how to protect against H1N1. Leslie suggested making sure your Vitamin D levels are adequate. For almost all of us, this means taking a daily 1000 ml Vitamin D supplement. She encouraged people to ask their Doctors to test their Vitamin D levels to determine if they might, in fact, need more than that.

Leslie's suggestion echoes what I've been reading elsewhere ... that Vitamin D is the BEST defense against H1N1 and other flues as well. The rational makes sense even though I don't know that it's the only answer. Why is winter our "cold and flu season"? Could it be because it's when we are the least exposed to sunshine (which is our main source of Vitamin D)? Hmmmm ... Even if the link to Vitamin D and H1N1 resistance isn't confirmed (and it isn't without controversy), it certainly can't hurt to make sure you're covered in the Vitamin D department.

Not to mention that recent studies have found that women with higher levels of Vitamin D were significantly less likely to get breast cancer! They are now testing to see if Vitamin D might be an effective defense against other cancers. There are already correlations between low Vitamin D and heart disease, MS, and many other diseases.

I'm going with Vitamin D and I was happy to hear from a nutritionist how important it is that we get enough of it.

Follow the link the the CBC News story about Vitamin D (Feb 2009).
Read this article about Vitamin D and H1N1, specifically.

As an interesting aside, I see that one of the leading researchers of the H1N1 strain (and with previous flues) and a proponent of world-wide vaccination has had his motivations questioned in the journal, Science. There is some suspicion that he might be fueling the H1N1 pandemic fears because of his own corporate interests in the vaccine. While speculation might not be surprise under the circumstances and rumours might be expected (though nothing has been confirmed), to have it actually published in such a respected journal gives one pause. Note that there is no significant corporate interest in Vitamin D.