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With the coronavirus scare in full swing, folks have managed to go into complete and utter irrational panic mode. Law abiding citizens have turned into the suburban equivalents of gun-slingers, stealing hand sanitizers, wipes, and masks from healthcare facilities. Folks have even totally cleared out cleaning supplies from their local markets, apocalypse style.
I'm not here to judge - I understand how our fears can get the best of us at times (I have an irrational phobia of dust and refuse to touch anything that contains that putrid substance unless I'm wearing the equivalent of a hazmat suit. Sigh).
But I am here to help us focus on other highly effective ways we can prevent the spread of sickness and help keep our bodies healthy.
While it’s a great idea to keep any surfaces that we come into contact with clean, it’s also important to keep our immune systems in tip top shape. The old adage “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” is so true when it comes to fighting off illnesses. Making sure our bodies are getting the nutrients we need through supplements can help us do just that. Although taking supplements can’t prevent us from catching viruses per se, they have been shown to tremendously improve our bodies ability to fight them off.
Now, here's the disclaimer. It’s important to know that we are not doctors and this is not medical advice.
This is for your informational edification only. We don't want any zealots taking this information, going bonkers with it, and hurting themselves. We are not saying that everyone should take these supplements, or if you do decide to take them, what doses you should specifically take. Please talk to your doctor or healthcare practitioner for that info.
We are, however, presenting information that we've painstakingly gathered from reputable sites and publications written by doctors. We want you to live your best life, and these are some options to consider to help stay healthy and strong.
Without further ado, here are three doctor recommended vitamins that have been scientifically proven to either kill viruses or help stop them from replicating in the human body.
Vitamin C
What it does
Vitamin C is an antioxidant. When we get sick, those infections lead to our bodies activating phagocytes, which are cells capable of engulfing and absorbing bacteria and other small cells. These phagocytes release oxidizing agents that deactivate viruses and kill bacteria. Essentially, they use oxygen to kill germs in a similar way hydrogen peroxide does! But this oxygen also damages healthy cells – think of it like friendly fire. Vitamin C helps to deactivate the oxygen and reduce damage to our healthy host cells.
Recommended dose
3,000 mg daily or possibly more, depending on how much your body can handle safely. Some healthy adults can take between 8,000 to 10,000 mg daily with no adverse effects if divided up into three or four equal doses. A good rule of thumb is to reduce the amount you intake if you start to get diarrhea.
Foods rich in this vitamin
- Guava
- Acerola Berry
- Oranges
- Red Pepper
- Blackcurrants
- Kiwifruits
- Lychee
- Lemon
- Strawberry
- Papaya
- Broccoli
- Parsley
Where to buy
Vitamin D3
What it does
Vitamin D helps to boost our immune system by stimulating naturally occurring antimicrobial peptides, which are amazing little proteins in our bodies that kill bacteria, yeasts, fungi, viruses, and even cancer cells. These peptides live in immune cells throughout our body, including cells lining the upper and lower respiratory tract. Unfortunately, most people are severely deficient in vitamin D during the winter months, which is a major reason why viral infections are most prevalent during that time of the year.
Recommended dose
|
Age |
FDA Recommended Daily Intake |
Endocrine Society Recommended Daily Allowance |
|
Infants (0-12 months) |
400 IU |
400-1000 IU |
|
Children (1-18 years) |
600-800 IU |
600-1000 IU |
|
Adults (19+ years) |
800 IU |
1500-2000 IU |
|
Pregnancy and Lactation |
600 IU |
1500-2000 IU |
|
4000-6000 IU* |
Foods rich in this vitamin
- Fatty fish, like tuna, mackerel, and salmon
- Foods fortified with vitamin D, like some dairy products, orange juice, soy milk, and cereals
- Beef liver
- Cheese
- Egg yolks
Where to buy
Vitamin A
What it does: Vitamin A is a micronutrient and antioxidant that is crucial for maintaining vision, promoting growth and development, and protecting epithelium and mucus integrity in the body. Epithelium mucus cells are considered our first line of defense because they are what line the canals that lead to the outside world like our lungs and digestive tract. Vitamin A helps our bodies produce mucin, the active ingredient in epithelium mucus that helps to trap germs that make us sick.
Recommended dose
|
Age |
Male |
Female |
Pregnancy |
Lactation |
|
0–6 months* |
400 mcg RAE |
400 mcg RAE |
||
|
7–12 months* |
500 mcg RAE |
500 mcg RAE |
||
|
1–3 years |
300 mcg RAE |
300 mcg RAE |
||
|
4–8 years |
400 mcg RAE |
400 mcg RAE |
||
|
9–13 years |
600 mcg RAE |
600 mcg RAE |
||
|
14–18 years |
900 mcg RAE |
700 mcg RAE |
750 mcg RAE |
1,200 mcg RAE |
|
19–50 years |
900 mcg RAE |
700 mcg RAE |
770 mcg RAE |
1,300 mcg RAE |
|
51+ years |
900 mcg RAE |
700 mcg RAE |
||
|
*Adequate Intake (AI), equivalent to the mean intake of vitamin A in healthy, breastfed infants. |
||||
Foods rich in this vitamin
- Egg yolks
- Beef liver
- Liverwurst
- Butter
- Cod liver oil
- Chicken liver
- Salmon
- Cheddar cheese
- Liver sausage
- King mackerel
- Trout
Where to buy:
Conclusion
Although fortifying our diets with these vitamins is important, it's also important to prevent the spread of illness by washing our hands and keeping our homes clean with peroxide based cleaners. Hydrogen peroxide is powerful enough to disinfect surgical equipment, but yet is extremely safe for our environment because it safely breaks down into water and oxygen. Our bodies even produce the stuff naturally to kill off illnesses!
Stay safe!
❤️Raven
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