Study: Vitamin D Reduces the Risk of Getting the Flu by Up to 50%

The doctors in Japan say that the risk of kids suffering from the flu may be lowered by 50 percent only if they take vitamin D. This discovery has potential implications for flu epidemics since vitamin D has no big side effects and costs little. Vitamin D is naturally made by the human body when exposed to direct sunlight. Also based on the research made in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition it is more effective in comparison to vaccines and anti-viral drugs. Only 1 in 10 kids, aged 6 to 15 years, taking Vitamin D in a trial came down with the flu. This is in comparison to 1 in 5 taking a dummy tablet. The Japanese doctor, Mitsuyoshi Urashima the one who led the trial told The Times that this vitamin was more effective in comparison to vaccines when it comes to preventing the flu. Moreover, it was discovered that vitamin D was even more effective when the kids were already given extra vitamin D by their caretakers and parents outside the trial. Consuming vitamin D (Web MD) was shown to lower the risk of flying to a third. A medical consultant and a doctor, Dr. Damien Downing, has publicly spoken that governments “like” epidemics as a chance to impose their will. This doctor has been advising his patients to increase their intake of vitamin D instead of getting the vaccine. You may be surprised to understand that many doctors in both America and Canada prescribe 50,000 IU of vitamin D daily as a treatment for different chronic diseases. The deficiency of vitamin D is common during the months in winter, particularly in those countries which are far north of the equator. The sunshine vitamin acts as an immune system modulator, it increases macrophage activity (a kind of white cell) and prevents the excessive production of inflammatory cytokines.

50% Reduction in Flu Infections Using Vitamin Sunshine

Exactly 354 kids took part in this trial. It was discovered that vitamin D protects against Harvard Gazette, but not against influenza B. This was a fully controlled scientifically, randomized, and double-blind trial. It was conducted by scientists and doctors from Jikei University School of Medicine in Tokyo, Japan. The kids were given a dose daily of 1200 IUs (international units) of the sunshine vitamin over 3 months. In the very first months, kids in the group consuming the vitamin became sick just as much as those who took the dummy tablet. By the 2^nd month, when the level of vitamin in the kid’s blood was higher, the advantage of this vitamin was clear. The Japanese scientists for the antiviral drugs oseltamivir and zanamivir lower the risk of flu infection by 8% in kids who have been exposed to infection. This is in comparison to 50% of the bigger reduction in vitamin D. Typically, anti-virals are more effective in comparison to vaccines for the influenza virus which suggests that both kinds of medical intervention would fail in a similar trial when pitted against the sunshine vitamin. Also, anti-virals are too expensive and probably too toxic to be given to people as a whole whereas the sunshine vitamin comes with extra benefits. This sunshine doesn’t prevent bone fractures, but it’s also thought to lower the risk of diabetes, cancer, and heart disease, involving different bacterial and viral infections. This Japanese finding supports a theory that levels of low blood the vitamin D occurring in winter explain why the epidemics of flies usually peak between December and March. What this vitamin does is it activates the innate immune system and enables the body to make several proteins like cathelicidin and defensin that activate cell activity and disable viruses.