Influenza, Flu Shots And Vitamin D
January 18, 2011 by Bob Livingston
A question posed to Dr. John Cannell of the Vitamin D Newsletter: “Will the Mexican flu come back again this year? Should I get a flu shot or just take vitamin D?”
His answer: “I don’t know and I don’t know. However, I am beginning to believe that vitamin D is at least as protective as flu shots, although such a head-to-head comparison has never been done.
“The reason I say that is two-fold:
- Several randomized controlled trials of vitamin D have suggested that the right dose of D may be as protective as most studies of the effectiveness of flu vaccines. (In other words, a comparison of studies showing the effectiveness of vitamin D and the effectiveness of the flu vaccine show similar results — Editor.)
- Mass vaccination of our elderly has failed to reduce the rate of influenza hospitalization or death rate among the elderly.
“However, I suspect that as flu vaccination rates in the elderly went up in the last 30 years, acquired immune deficiency syndrome due to vitamin D deficiency also went up and the two canceled each other out.” (End quote)
More on this can be found at http://www.vitamindcouncil.org.
You can opt-out at any time. We protect your information like a mother hen. We will not sell or rent your email address to anyone for any reason.
