Natural Health

Vitamin D Cuts Flu By Half: Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Randomized Trial

Vitamin D is a highly effective way to avoid influenza. A study documents that children taking low doses of Vitamin D₃ are 42% less likely to contract influenza.

Nicknamed the sunshine supplement because we can synthesize it from sun exposure on our skin, Vitamin D₃ has been anecdotally linked to flu prevention on many occasions. This study provides strong evidence of the validity of the observations.

The Study

Performed by Mitsuyoshi Urashima and colleagues from the Jikei University School of Medicine in Tokyo, the study was randomized, double blinded, and placebo-controlled. 430 children aged 6-15 were enrolled and followed between December 2008 and March 2009. Half were given Vitamin D₃ and the other half received a placebo. The dose was 1,200 IUs a day. 334 of the children completed the study.

Nose and throat swabs were used to diagnose influenza Types A and B. 18 of the children taking Vitamin D, and 31 in the placebo group, came down with influenza Type A, indicating a 42% reduction of risk from taking Vitamin D. Type A influenza includes all the serious flu epidemics, including seasonal flus and the swine flu fake pandemic.

Type B influenza was unaffected by Vitamin D. This is not a great concern, as Type B influenzas are generally very mild. Type C influenzas have never been associated with epidemics and are even milder, with only cold-like symptoms.

Some reports claim that the study shows Vitamin D outperforms flu vaccinations. While it’s certainly a far healthier and safer way to avoid influenza, the truth is that the study did not make any comparison with vaccination. However, in light of the fact that there is No Value in Any Influenza Vaccine, as documented in a Cochrane Collaboration study, it is certainly a fair assessment that Vitamin D outperforms flu vaccines—and does so without the dangers.

Study Used Low Dose of Vitamin D

While the study is certainly indicative of the benefit of Vitamin D in preventing flu, it might have shown an even greater effect if the authors had used more adequate doses. As Dr. Mercola has noted in Canada Looks at Vitamin D for Swine Flu Protection, 1,200 IUs of Vitamin D is adequate only in the youngest children.

Canada’s Public Health Agency notes that they’ve done a study showing that children below age 5 should take 35 IUs/day per pound of weight, children aged 5-10 should take 2,500 IUs, and adults should take 5,000 IUs/day. These figures are, of course, typical standardized doses, and are not necessarily adequate for individuals, nor are they necessarily needed by everyone.

Conventional Medicine Still Doesn’t Get It!

When one considers the risks inherent in flu vaccines and antiviral drugs, the prevention of influenza through Vitamin D’s immune system boosting is certainly far superior to vaccination.

The attitude of Dr. John Oxford, professor of virology at Queen Mary School of Medicine, London describes the drugs-first approach:

This is a timely study. It will be noticed by scientists. It fits in with the seasonal pattern of flu. There is an increasing background of solid science that makes the vitamin D story credible. But this study needs to be replicated. If it is confirmed we might think of giving vitamin D at the same time as we vaccinate.

In the face of a study showing that fairly low dose Vitamin D effectively prevents flu, he’s still thinking of vaccination, with all its dangers, as the primary approach to health! It’s a perfect example of how modern medicine is making us sicker. Rather than considering the natural approach of preventing illness by promoting natural health, he thinks of strengthening the immune system as merely a supplement to drugs and vaccines.

As long as studies like this one are treated as merely superfluous, at best an addendum to health, then modern medicine isn’t health care. It’s sick care.