TAG | Immunity
What are the best and most proven nutrients to keep from getting colds and flues? This has become the number one question in the supplement business these days. And there are certainly a lot of opinions to be had in this area. You hear about Echinacea, Goldenseal, Elderberry, and a wide range of other “immune boosting” nutrients. For the last decade Echinacea has been all the rage, but this year it seems to be Elderberry based products that are the big fad. Let me make it clear, I am not apposed to any of these herbal products and the jury is still out on there true effectiveness. But I do believe strongly in the following nutrients, they are not fads, and are not flashy, but my decisions are truly based on lots of history and research. These are the nutrients I use to keep from getting sick, and they work.
Multi Vitamin 1 a day
Vitamin C 2000mgs.
Vitamin E 400IU
Vitamin D 2000IU
Zinc 50mgs.
Obviously, this formula is not going to prevent 100% of every possible bacteria or virus that tries to get us sick, but I truly believe it can help prevent an awful lot of unnecessary sick days. Also, if you do get sick I believe these nutrients will help to lessen the duration of the illness.
Vitamin D is known as the “sunlight vitamin”, and for years the general consensus had been that we got all our vitamin D needs met by the natural sunlight we absorbed. That might have been true when we our species was outside hunting and gathering for survival or working long hours outsider on the farm, but many of us nowadays receive very little or often no Vitamin D from the sun. The other traditional source of vitamin D has been through Vitamin D fortified milk, but many people nowadays limit there milk consumption.
It was also believed over the last couple of decades that because Vitamin D is a fat soluble vitamin it would accumulate in the body and cause potential toxicity if taking what were once considered unnecessary dosages. Over the last few years because of a large amount of research that has been completed on vitamin D the general consensus on what is needed daily has dramatically changed.
When I first began to notice the dramatic increase in Vitamin D sales a couple of years ago most people where purchasing it for cardiovascular reasons. Many studies at that time began to be published about the cardiovascular benefits and doctors began to prescribe Vitamin D for that reason.
Over the last year or so a new wave of people has jumped on the Vitamin D bandwagon, those people that have been advised by their physicians to use Vitamin D for its immunity boosting benefits. The most common recommendations are for adults to take 2000IU daily and for children to take 400IU. The recommended dosage of Vitamin D seems to be continuing to evolve. I am currently using 2000IU each day myself and will post an update if a change in this dosage is warranted.
