If you’re looking for a simple strategy to reduce your risk of coming down with a cold, I have a suggestion.  It’s simple, safe, cheap, and easy.  As a bonus, it probably also reduces your risk of breast, colon or prostate cancer.  Interested?

This “magic bullet” is vitamin D. 

For years, I thought of vitamin D mainly for its role promoting the absorption of calcium.  However vitamin D has many other functions which may turn out to be even more important.  Its support of proper immune function is one of them. 

We all recognize that the winter months are the cold and flu season.  The question is – why?  For many years it was postulated that it was because cold viruses were somehow more active in cold weather and people were cooped up together in closed buildings during the winter.  As air conditioning has led to people being cooped up in closed buildings year round, that explanation seems less likely.

Recent research has shown both that vitamin D is necessary for proper function of various components of the immune system, and that decreased levels of vitamin D are associated with greater risk of illness.

The amazing thing is that various studies which measure the levels of vitamin D in the population estimate that between 20 and 60 percent of people are deficient.  (The highest rate of deficiency occurs in home-bound older people in northern climes.)

Vitamin D is extremely safe.  People with high calcium levels might want to be careful taking it since it might increase calcium absorbtion.  Most folks can take a few thousand units a day without concern. 

I suggest taking 1000 – 2000 units of vitamin D a day (the D3 form is preferable to the D2 form), at least during the winter.  Some people may take 5000 day, and I’ve seen studies where the participants were given 10,000 units day. 

It is possible to measure vitamin D in the blood although it is not commonly done.  I would only take the higher doses of vitamin D if testing showed persistently low levels.

And yes, there is evidence that higher levels of vitamin D are associated with lower levels of cancer.  More on that later.
 

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