Influenza, the flu, is a seasonal viral disease. Its seasonal nature has been inaccurately attributed primarily to: 1) People are in closer contact in the winter because they are inside more, and 2) It is colder. Colder winters is a reason that has been disproved. We have heaters in our homes, our cars, our workplaces, and have warm clothes, hats and boots to wear when we are outside. That people are more tightly situated in the winter would be difficult to prove as a cause, but people are also closely packed in the summer; think shopping malls and movie theaters.
In the area of the world I call the Golden Band, the region where the latitudes are equidistant from the equator, near the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn, it typically has adequate sunlight year-round. This is important as it assures that the people who live there have the potential to be exposed to the sun consistently, therefore constantly producing vitamin D3 and maintaining appropriate blood levels. This is an area that the flu rarely occurs.
When influenza does occur, it is during their rainy seasons. What do the winter in the southern and northern hemispheres and the rainy season in the Golden Band all have in common? They are time periods with inadequate sun exposure for an extended period such that most people do not produce adequate vitamin D3 and their blood levels drop.
As you can see, we need vitamin D3! As our body is constantly using it to first balance calcium, any leftover vitamin D3 is used for the optimization of our immune system, metabolic and sleep systems. This is what I call the Madison-HannaH affect (more on it later).
Experience with Vitamin D3
Our immune systems outside of the Golden Band require higher blood levels of vitamin D3 to be able to fight off diseases like influenza. In the close to six years I had patients on Optimal Dosing – 30,000 IU’s of vitamin D3 per day, I rarely had a patient who suffered from the flu. It was easy to recognize when all winter long, people elsewhere were suffering from the flu, yet only the new patients to my clinic, where I was seeing 30-50 established patients a day, were symptom-free of coughing, fever or muscle aches. Have you had the flu in the past year?
*The information posted above is for educational purposes only. Always check with your doctor before initiating any changes in your medical treatment. If you do not, then The Two-Minute Health Fact, Dr. Judson Somerville, nor The Optimal Dose is responsible!
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