Smart Moves During Cold and Flu Season

It’s that time of year again! I love the changing of the seasons, but along with it comes more time in doors and an increased chance to spread germs. This year more than ever it makes sense to be prepared.

The best way to prepare for cold and flu season is to get 7-8 hours of sleep regularly, to eat clean, and to drink plenty of water. Minimum water intake should be your weight divided by 2.2. So if you weight 180 pounds then divide by 2.2 and that gives 81.8 so you should drink a baseline of 82 oz in 1 day.

Diet is important because we get most of your vitamins, minerals and other nutrients from food and we influence out immune system by what we eat. Sugar can dip your immune function for up to 24 hours after eating it. So, it is best to minimize sugar and to make sure you get 6-8 cups of veggies in each day. A small amount of protein and fat is also necessary for a healthy immune function, mood and bone support!

The information below are guidelines meant for you to discuss with your doctor since there are many reasons a supplement may not work for you. Let your doctor help you decide.

Vitamin D

Getting in 5,000 iu daily during the dark months is important says Dr. Fauci, and poor levels seem to correlate to worse outcomes if you contract covid and influenza.

Vitamin E

Vitamin E 300-500 iu 1 pill 2 times per week and Vitamin A 25,000 iu 1 pill 2 times per week decrease negative outcomes from respiratory complaints.

NAC

N-Acetyl-Cysteine helps recycle glutathione, the main detox chemical and antioxidant in our body, and research shows taking 600 mg 2 times per day with meals in advance of flu season leads to less severe outcomes regarding influenza. We also know glutathione is necessary for proper immune function including th1 immunity. There may also be a supportive role for NAC in regards to covid-19.

Elderberry

Not only good tasting but Elderberry is a safe and effective way to help combat influenza A and B and or other upper respiratory infections. Daily dosing of 1 tsp through the winter is beneficial and can be increased if you become ill with your doctors help.

Vitamin C

This helps recycle glutathione and can act to offset oxidative stress. There are several studies looking at intravenous vitamin C in covid. Vitamin C has other antiviral properties, immunomodulatory properties, and a deficiency of vitamin C has been linked to increased lung inflammation reversed by vitamin C supplementation. Consider 500 mg 1-2 times daily.

Zinc and Copper

Deficiency of zinc can lead to viral infection and sufficient zinc can support immune function making it essential, but so is copper. Zinc and copper compete for absorption, so taking zinc alone can lead to a copper deficiency over time and serious health consequences. Limiting our scope to immune function, we need copper for proper T cell function, and neutrophils and be decreased with more serious copper deficiency. Through the winter consider taking copper 1-2 mg 2 days per week and zinc 30-50 mg on the other 4 days can help make sure you are replete and balanced. And, intracellular zinc seems to inhibit coronaviruses (research was done on other coronaviruses) so making sure you are not deficient may help with the current infection, but we don’t know for certain just yet.  

English Ivy

This is great for upper respiratory illnesses where you need to thin the mucus and can also activate the little hairs in your airway to help move the mucus out. This pairs nicely with NAC.

Quercetin

Usually this supplement is discussed in relation to allergies or stabilizing mast cells. But here I will discuss its theoretical benefits in regards to covid and viruses in general. When we consider therapeutics for covid-19 we look at how the virus works/gains entry/divides and see if we can interrupt it somewhere. Quercertin can inhibit  3CLpro (The viral main protease or enzyme that controls the activities of the coronavirus replication complex) and PLpro (or Papain-like protease which is critical to covid-19 replication.) Quercetin is anti-inflammatory and it can decrease clot formation (which covid increases) and may help to get zinc inside the cell where is can interrupt virus replication.  All promising mechanizing with an excellent safety profile.  Discuss 500 mg 2-3 times per day with your doctor.  

Extra Support: If you need extra immune support consider Transfer factor Multi immune 3 pill on empty stomach once daily. If you are coming down with an illness discuss using Proboost 1 packet 1-3 times per day with your doctors.

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