Vitamin D, a powerful, natural antibiotic

Skin cancer is a huge topic of concern for lots of people.  As someone who is, shall we say, pigment challenged, I make a point to use sunscreen when I am out and will try to avoid spending too much time in the sun in the middle of the day.  While this is for sure keeping my skin healthy, is it helping me with the flu?

The sun is a huge source of Vitamin D, a key vitamin for health that is not readily available in the diet.  Yes you can get get some Vitamin D from drinking milk, however, the amount is so paltry it is almost a waste of time.

Recently there was a study published in Nature Journal where a group of scientists from UCLA confirmed two recent studies the showed we have a naturally occurring steroid hormone that in short is a powerful antibiotic.  This antibiotic increases the body’s production of a certain protein that is instrumental in destroying the cell walls of lots of bad stuff, including the flu virus.  Oh the name of this steroid hormone, yes Vitamin D.

Ever notice that tons of people get sick in the winter?  Ever wonder why?  What do we do in the winter, we stay inside.  We limit our exposure to sunlight.

The elderly die much more in the winter than in the summer, is this a coincidence?

So what do we do about  it?

There are several options.  First is spend a LITTLE time in the sun.  15 minutes a day every other day will do the body a ton of good.  If you can do this, most likely you won’t need anything else.  If getting outside is not an option, diet is the next step.  Food high in Vitamin D include…well nothing you really want to eat, let’ s be honest here.  If you are willing to ingest a bunch of cod liver oil, well let’s say you are a better person than I am.

Lastly you can go the supplement way. Just a word of caution there is a small chance that you can overdo it with the supplements, although a recent expert had this to say, “Worrying about vitamin D toxicity or Overdose of vitamin D is like worrying about drowning when you are dying of thirst.”

If you choose to go the supplement route, make sure you check with your doctor as to any contra-indications that may be present.  There is discussion as to how much you should be taking.  Most agree that 2,000 units per day is a decent amount.  Make sure that you look for vitamin D3, or cholecalcifero if you are shopping for it.

Any questions?  Leave me a comment and I will see if I can help you.