Influenza is a symptom of vitamin D deficiency

Influenza is a symptom of vitamin D deficiency J. J. Cannell

R. Edgar Hope-Simpson proposed that a 'seasonal stimulus' intimately associated with solar radiation, explained the remarkable seasonality of epidemic influenza.

Solar radiation triggers robust seasonal vitamin D production in the skin; vitamin D deficiency is common in the winter, and activated vitamin D, 1,25(OH)2D, a steroid hormone, has profound effects on human immunity, it dramatically stimulates the expression of potent anti-microbial peptides. The 200 known antimicrobial peptides directly and rapidly destroy the cell walls of bacteria, fungi, and viruses, including the influenza virus, and play a key role in keeping the lungs free of infection.

In the last several decades, we have begun to lather on sunblock and consciously avoid sunlight.

The vitamin D steroid hormone system has always had its origins in the skin, vitamin D does not exist in appreciable quantities in normal human diets. Until quite recently, when dermatologists and governments began warning us about the dangers of sunlight, humans made enormous quantities of vitamin D where humans have always made it, where naked skin meets the ultraviolet B radiation of sunlight A single, twenty-minute, full body exposure to summer sun will trigger the delivery of 20,000 units. We just cannot get adequate amounts of vitamin D from our diet. If we don't expose ourselves to ultraviolet light, we must get vitamin D from dietary supplements.

Today, most humans only make about a thousand units of vitamin D a day from sun exposure.

The inescapable conclusion is that vitamin D levels in modern humans are not just low - they are aberrantly low.

George Bernard Shaw was right when he said, ¡°the characteristic microbe of a disease might be a symptom instead of a cause.¡±

Physiological doses of vitamin D (5,000 units a day) may prevent colds and the flu, and that physicians might find pharmacological doses of vitamin D (2,000 units per kilogram of body weight per day for three days) useful in treating some of the one million people who die in the world every year from influenza.



www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov...

J. J. Cannell


[edit on 23-7-2009 by meaguire]

I believe this article. I love to sunbathe, and get roundly lambasted for it. However, I recently took a month long break from my sunbathing, and I have not felt good lately. I will be returning to my daily sunbathing in short order.

Some other benefits of sunbathing are making our bones stronger and anti depressant qualities.

The sun is our friend not our enemy, I have often wondered WHY there is such an awful conspiracy against the sun.

Originally posted by hotbakedtater

The sun is our friend not our enemy, I have often wondered WHY there is such an awful conspiracy against the sun.

Drug companies can't sell you sunlight, so there's no promotion of its health benefits.

The sunscreen industry doesn't want you to know that your body actually needs sunlight exposure because that realization would mean lower sales of sunscreen products

Even weak sunscreens (SPF=8) block your body's ability to generate vitamin D by 95%.

www.naturalnews.com...

Influenza is caused by a virus.

pathmicro.med.sc.edu...

Orthomyxovirus.

Although a vitamin D deficiency can weaken the immune system and make you more likely to get the flu, you still need to get the virus. And I don't think lacking vitamin D makes you any more likely to get influenza than any other pathogen.

Originally posted by ravenshadow13

Although a vitamin D deficiency can weaken the immune system and make you more likely to get the flu, you still need to get the virus. And I don't think lacking vitamin D makes you any more likely to get influenza than any other pathogen.

The mechanism of action of vitamin D in infection, dramatically increasing the body’s production of broad-spectrum natural antibiotics (anti-microbial peptides) suggests pharmaceutical doses of vitamin D will effectively treat not only influenza and the common cold, but a host of other seasonal infections, including meningitis, septicemia, and pneumonia, in both children and adults.

Ultraviolet radiation (either from artificial sources or from sunlight) reduces the incidence of viral respiratory infections, as does cod liver oil (which contains vitamin D).

In the largest and most nationally representative study of the association between vitamin D and respiratory infections, people with the lowest blood vitamin D levels reported having significantly more recent colds or influenza.

Researchers from Harvard and the University of Colorado, writing in the Archives of Internal Medicine, published convincing evidence that Cannell’s observations at Atascadero State Hospital were correct (Vitamin D deficiency linked to more colds and flu. Scientific American, Feb 23, 2009

While many think the influenza virus causes influenza, Cannell notes it was George Bernard Shaw who first understood: “The characteristic microbe of a disease might be a symptom instead of a cause.” George Bernard Shaw


www.pediatricsupersite.com...
journals.cambridge.org...
foodconsumer.org...

[edit on 23-7-2009 by meaguire]