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Vitamin D Keeps Infections At Bay
There is no bigger proponent of Vitamin D then Health Freedom Alliance. When new studies come out we are the first to publish them. Adding to the multiple health benefits of vitamin D is the latest research, which indicates the nutrient is an effective tool in building up the immune system to help ward off viruses and other infections.
Lead author of the research, Professor Carsten Geisler, from the Department of International Health, Immunology and Microbiology at the University of Copenhagen stated, “We knew vitamin D was important for calcium absorption and fighting diseases such as cancer and multiple sclerosis – but we didn’t realize how crucial it was for activating the immune system.”
According to researchers, Vitamin D is crucial for the activation of T cells that guard the body against serious infection.
Without an adequate amount of the nutrient, the T cells remain dormant and are unable to identify, directly attack or destroy infections allowing bacteria to invade.
Explaining the role of vitamin D in helping the immune system of the body, the researchers stated, “When a T cell is exposed to a foreign pathogen, it extends a signaling device or ‘antenna’ known as a vitamin D receptor, with which it searches for vitamin D. This means that the T cell must have vitamin D or activation of the cell will cease. If the T cells cannot find enough vitamin D in the blood, they won’t even begin to mobilize. ”
In the case of flu infection, the scientists stated that vitamin D helps produce antibacterial peptides that shields against flu.
That is why a lack of sunshine in winters leads to a deficiency of vitamin D and people get infected with flu viruses.
Important breakthrough
According to researchers, recognizing the role of Vitamin D for immunity is an important breakthrough which could be vital to fight anti-immune reactions of the body.
It would also help suppress the natural defense of the body to prevent organ rejection after transplants and lead to new ways to combat infectious diseases on a global scale.
Professor Geisler stated, “They will be of particular use when developing new vaccines, which work precisely on the basis of both training our immune systems to react and suppressing the body’s natural defences in situations where this is important – as is the case with organ transplants and autoimmune disease.”
The findings are published in the latest edition of Nature Immunology.
A little about vitamin D
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that is naturally present in very few foods but is available as a dietary supplement.
It may be obtained in the recommended amount with a well-balanced diet, including some enriched or fortified foods. It can also be found in fish liver oil, eggs and fatty fish and supplements.
The body manufactures vitamin D when exposed to sunshine, but people are spending more time indoors and are deficient of the nutrient. Experts recommend 10 to 15 minutes of sunshine 3 times a week.
http://www.themoneytimes.com/featured/20100308/vitamin-d-keeps-infections-bay-id-10102820.html
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I am a Team Leader of a group called Spark People and I have 119 members and growing…
I would like to post your articles in its entirety. Giving you all the credit. and posting the article link where I got it from. But to do so I need permission first. Do I have it???
Thank you,
EJ Heinrich
Team Leader of Herbs, Supplements & Vitamins
Did I read that right??? That Vitamin D helps the body to not reject a transplanted organ while boosting the immune system??? If anyone can clarify that further for me – I would be grateful. My Hawaiian brother just received a double lung transplant last October and if Vitamin D will help his body accept the donated organ – I would surely like to pass this info along to him. I’ve felt fairly powerless to help him via natural means since the surgery due to the possibility of rejection. Does anyone have more info on this? Thanks!
IMO the T-cells require vitamin D to manufacture the anti-microbial peptides with which they destroy invaders. IOW vitamin D is the ammo the T-cells use to “shoot” the invaders.
“The tissues that line our air passages are especially rich in antimicrobial peptide producing cells, where they provide a front line defense against invaders. These cells require vitamin D to function effectively. Vitamin D suppresses cytokines. “Cytokine Storms” are responsible for many influenza deaths. Vitamin D protects against influenza and other respiratory infections.” Life Extension
Vitamin D is thus a KEY to protecting yourself from our Political Pandemic.
Vitamin D
“The combined effect of current nutrition guidelines and current sun-avoidance advice is to ensure that adults who follow these recommendations will have circulation vitamin D concentrations lower than 30 ng/ml.” Doctor Reinhold Vieth Vitamin D Expert, Note the vitamin D most of us will be lacking can result in deep lung tissue destruction and death from a man made virus
“The findings of our study support an important role for vitamin D in prevention of common respiratory infections, such as colds and the flu. Individuals with common lung diseases, such as asthma or emphysema, may be particularly susceptible to respiratory infections from vitamin D deficiency.” Doctor Adit Ginde
“Studies have found the influenza virus is present in the population year-around; why is it a wintertime illness? Even the common cold got its name because it is common in cold weather and rare in the summer. Vitamin D blood levels are at their highest in the summer but reach their lowest levels during the flu and cold season. Could such a simple explanation explain these mysteries?” Doctor John Cannell Vitamin D Council, Note this is explosive please think about it awhile
Doctor Donald Miller, a cardiac surgeon and Professor of Surgery at the University of Washington, recommends avoiding the flu shot and taking vitamin D instead. According to Doctor Miller, “Seventy percent of doctors do not get a flu shot.” Why MOST Doctors do NOT get flu shots
“The tissues that line our air passages are especially rich in antimicrobial peptide producing cells, where they provide a front line defense against invaders. These cells require vitamin D to function effectively. Vitamin D suppresses cytokines. “Cytokine Storms” are responsible for many influenza deaths. Vitamin D protects against influenza and other respiratory infections.” Life Extension
“Practicing clinicians have achieved efficacy with daily vitamin D supplements of 5,000 IU or higher – virtually eliminating influenza infections even among vulnerable populations.” Life Extension, Note 8,000 IU may be a safer dose for full sized adults to assure a vitamin D level of greater than 50 ng/ml
IMO vitamin D is essential to protect and enable your immune system, especially the defense of your lungs. Instead of slowly killing our pregnant women and children with “vaccinations” we could simply give them vitamin D. Why do we not? Because it is a Political Pandemic and death is desired. This is the reason IMO the RDA for vitamin D has been held so low in the face of a mad as heck field of vitamin D experts who have proclaimed such action by the Federal Establishment to be bordering on the criminal. Our Political Pandemic has been in the works since at least the 1970s when the anti-vitamin D campaign was put into action.
It is beyond clear that “vaccination” weakens your innate immune system. Your innate immune system is the part that first encounters the invader in your respiratory tissues or on your skin. When your innate immune system is weak it will allow the invading toxin deep into your lungs. This destruction of deep lung tissue is the most important threat encountered so far in our Political Pandemic.
“Experts recommend 10 to 15 minutes of sunshine 3 times a week.”
Respectfully I disagree. Hours around solar noon with NO suntan gunk is far more salubrious.
Yes 15 minutes will give you perhaps 30 ng/ml of vitamin D which may be twice what you would have had. 30 ng/ml will probably NOT provide enough vitamin D to supply the antimicrobial peptides in depth sufficient to stop a bio-weapon attack.
60 to 70 ng/ml will give you a shot at robustly good health. This requires HOURS of sun.
“Did I read that right??? That Vitamin D helps the body to not reject a transplanted organ while boosting the immune system???”
I am only guessing but here is how I would think this may work.
“It would also help suppress the natural defense of the body to prevent organ rejection after transplants”
We know high levels of vitamin D suppress the
overproduction of cytokines. I am guessing the rejection mechanism will produce large numbers of cytokines.
In any case I am fairly sure your brother will benefit by developing a DEEP tan. NO suntan gunk please.
yes
Quoting the article, “In the case of flu infection, the scientists stated that vitamin D helps produce antibacterial peptides that shields against flu.”
But, but, but influenza is a viral infection, not bacterial. Those scientists are blowing smoke up our you know what.
Shame on the editors of this web site for publishing an article with such an error.
“But, but, but influenza is a viral infection, not bacterial. Those scientists are blowing smoke up our you know what.”
The correct term is “Antimicrobial Peptides” which are effective against bacteria, fungi, viruses, and protozoa.
The importance of Vit.D should not be underestimated. There is lots of anecdotal evidence available, and any person can try to replicate it with some simple experimentation.
Japan had an extended rainy season last summer and a notable spike in swine flu cases in August, sparking all kinds of fears, but it was less problematic in October than predicted. Many schools underwent closures in winter on account of various influenzas.
The past month has also been uncommonly wet, with lots of minor bugs going around now that nearly everyone has been exposed to the swine flu. I picked up one, and fish liver was only modestly helpful, but we finally got some sunshine yesterday. I went out in a tank top for about 40 minutes, with people commenting that I was so young (51) and healthy, but that I would certainly catch a cold that way. Well, today, that cold is clean gone.
No one mentioned, how MUCH Vit. D in supplements a person can take that will help the immune syste, What are minimum & maximun doses?
The body chemistry is so beautiful, complicated, yet elegant. Nothing works alone, but in synergy and balance. The research says that vitamin D needs vitamins A and K to be processed by the body. An excess of vitamin D without A and K can result in toxicity (see “Current Knowledge in Nutrition”) and calcium kidney stones. People are popping vitamin D gels without doing the research. In foods, D and A usually occur together. A good clean source of cod liver oil contains A and D.
TY. Sylvia
“No one mentioned, how MUCH Vitamin D in supplements a person can take that will help the immune system, What are minimum & maximum doses?”
The simple answer IMO is attempt to get as much vitamin D as possible from the sun. When it is not possible to use the sun about 1000 IU of vitamin D/25 pounds of body weight/day should give you about what you need. If in doubt get tested.
Rough Guide to Vitamin D Levels IMO
“If you want to maintain a level of 32 ng/ml you need to ingest 4,000 IU of vitamin D3/day. IMO the upper safe dose is 10,000 IU of vitamin D3 a day. If you have a serious health problem these large doses are not going to hurt.” Doctor Robert Heaney Vitamin D Researcher
According to most vitamin D experts use the 25-hydroxyvitamin D test; 25(OH)D Test Am I Vitamin D Deficient. It is rare but possible to have vitamin D problems so you should be tested by a doctor knowledgeable in vitamin D.
* Woefully Deficient below 16ng/ml much of our population
* Deficiency below 32 ng/mL 85% of our population
* Marginal below 50 marginal body storage of vitamin D
* Good above 60 good body storage of vitamin D, Note the only practicable way to achieve these levels is IMO getting many hours of sun
* Achievable IMO in summer above 70 robust good health, ability to defend against mycoplasma, AIDS and other serious plagues
* 50 – 80 year around, levels as desired by Doctor John Cannell Vitamin D Council
* Excellent often achieved by persons in sun all day above 90 super immunity, you want to be here IMO with ANY serious disease or condition especially Cancer, AIDS and other serious plagues
* Vitamin D Toxicity above 200 according to Doctor John Cannell Vitamin D Council, Note you can be well over 100 without a problem. Don’t be afraid of vitamin D; be afraid of having too little
Interestingly there is another body product that is EXTREMELY protective against infections. Like vitamin D it is being vilified with no sound basis by medical dogma.
LDL can Be a Protective Healer
“The question is, why do some people have more cholesterol in their blood than others, and why can the same person have different levels of cholesterol at different times of the day? Why is our level of cholesterol different in different seasons of the year? In winter it goes up and in the summer it goes down. Why is it that blood cholesterol goes through the roof in people after any surgery? Why does blood cholesterol go up when we have an infection? Why does it go up after dental treatment? Why does it go up when we are under stress? And why does it become normal when we are relaxed and feel well? The answer to all these questions is this: cholesterol is a healing agent in the body. When the body has some healing jobs to do, it produces cholesterol and sends it to the site of the damage. Depending on the time of day, the weather, the season and our exposure to various environmental agents, the damage to various tissues in the body varies. As a result, the production of cholesterol in the body also varies.” Doctor Natasha Campbell-McBride, MD
“in the study, researchers infected mice with salmonella. Each of the mice had different levels of LDL cholesterol. The researchers divided the mice into groups of 20 animals or more and assessed their daily survival rate over 21 days. There was a striking difference. The mice with high levels (seven times normal) of “bad” LDL had only a 5% death rate from this bad germ. The mice with “normal” LDL all died. The mice with the high LDL also had 99-99.9% fewer organisms in their vital organs. The researchers found that the protection came from LDL’s ability to prevent the bacteria from attaching to and invading host cells. This prevented the bug’s ability to invade. There’s a moral to this story. There is no “bad” natural chemical or cholesterol in your body if God puts it there. Quite possibly, if you have high LDL, your body might know that it’s under bacterial stress. If so, it could be making more LDL in its wisdom to thwart invaders.” Doctor Robert Rowen MD
“It has been recorded that people with high levels of cholesterol are protected from infections; they are four times less likely to contract AIDS, they rarely get common colds and they recover from infections more quickly than people with “normal” or low blood cholesterol.” Doctor Natasha Campbell-McBride, MD
“Neurotoxins are transported throughout the body attached to protein components of lipoproteins, and therefore require cholesterol for their transport and elimination. These neurotoxins also have a strong affinity for lipoidal tissue of the nervous system and brain. A rise in cholesterol levels and triglycerides in response to neurotoxins protects by preventing permanent attachment of the neurotoxin to the nerve and brain cells. Symptoms of neurotoxicity are most likely to occur when the cholesterol is lowered suddenly or when the affected patient goes on a low-fat, low-cholesterol, low-protein diet.” Eric Davis, DDS
“We already know that people with high levels of LDL have better outcomes from severe Gram-negative bacterial infections. Gram-negative organisms produce some real nasty and hard to treat infections. These organisms include salmonella, E. coli, pseudomonas, and others.” Doctor Robert Rowen MD
Please note most of the time changes in your LDL levels are a normal part of living. For example your LDL is normally higher in the winter than in the summer; probably because high blood levels of vitamin D in the summer take some of the load off cholesterol’s healing responsibilities.
LDL inactivates dangerous bacterial toxins; it plays a major role in your immune system explaining the observed relationship between low cholesterol and various chronic and often deadly diseases such as AIDS.
Experts recommend 10 to 15 minutes of sunshine 3 times a week.
It should be noted that the body needs a certain intensity of UVB in order to make vitamin D. When your shadow is longer than you, your body will not be able to make vitamin D. Best time to get the sun is around noon, and depending on where you live, this may not even be good enough in the winter months.
If you decide to use supplements, get your blood levels tested. I tested low (34 ng/ml) and took 10,000 IU for 2 months, which got my blood levels up to 62 ng/ml. Then I went on a maintenance dose of 5,000 IU and found after 4 months that my levels had dropped to 42 ng/ml. It’s hard to predict how much we need, we’re all different, so get tested.
Thanks
Yes we are all different but your experience gives us some valuable parameters to work with IMO.