The Vitamin You Must Have To Avoid the Misery of the Common Cold (And It’s Not Vitamin C)
I just came across more evidence on the importance of vitamin D to our health.
On his web site, one of my favorite health writers (J F McCaffrey MD), recently wrote about a study in a major medical journal that confirmed that vitamin D is associated with lower risks of colds and other respiratory infections.
The study publishes in the journal looked at data collected during a national health survey of 18,883 participants. The researchers evaluated the vitamin D levels in specimens collected during the survey. The researchers then compared that information with who had reported upper respiratory infections or colds over the course of the survey.
The data showed that someone with low levels of vitamin D were at much greater risk of respiratory infections. The risk was even greater in those who had chronic problems such as asthma.
Ever conservative, the researchers are quick to say that their report doesn’t prove that taking vitamin D cuts your chance of coming down with a cold. That’s true, it doesn’t. Association does not prove cause and effect. It could be that healthy people are outside more and therefore have higher vitamin D levels than people already too sick to be out and about.
That may be true, but they didn’t identify any such differences in the survey. It’s also a fact that a lot of other studies show the importance of vitamin D in an increasing number of areas. Low levels of vitamin D are noted in people with increased risks of a wide range of health problems, including cancer and heart disease.
So while strictly speaking it’s true that “controlled trials are warranted” to show for sure that supplementing withvitamin D prevents respiratory infections, I’m not waiting. It will be a long time, maybe decades before such trials are done, if anyone ever does them at all (there’s not much money in selling vitamin D). Even high doses of vitamin D are safe and I’m going to make sure I’m getting enough.
If you live in a sunny area, you can get adequate vitamin D with only 15 minutes of so of sun exposure to most of your body a day. But not everyone can get out in the sun or enjoys it. Taking a supplement is a good idea. 2000 units a day is reasonable.
Vitamin D has a lot of benefits besides strengthening your immune system. Find out about Vitamin D and Heart Attacks at that link.
And again, to get the information you need to live a life filled with vitality, I highly recommend going to:
You can request a great free report while you’re there on the Surprising Power of the Heart while you’re there. It has some pretty amazing information that you’ll definitely find helpful.
April 27 2009 06:04 pm | Natural health care
