Flu

What Role Does Supplementation Play?

Author: Dr. Stephen Chaney

Winter is just around the corner. Temperatures will plunge and winter winds will blow. And with the winter months come winter illnesses.

You probably have already winterized your car and have had your heating system checked to make sure it is winter-ready. But have you winterized your immune system?

We are being told to expect new strains of the flu and COVID this winter. RSV isn’t changing, but it is still hanging around. We are being told to get our shots now. But those shots don’t protect us from the common cold and other viral illnesses, so we are also being advised about which drugs to take if we do get sick.

But you may be wondering if there is a holistic approach for strengthening your immune system…

…A natural approach that might make improve the effectiveness of the shots or allow you to do without them.

…A natural approach that would improve your resistance to the illnesses that shots don’t touch.

My answer is yes! Here are my suggestions:

Have You Winterized Your Immune System?

There are charlatans that will sell you specialized pills and potions to strengthen your immune system. Ignore them. For the most part their claims are bogus.

There are the “Dr. Strangeloves” of the internet that will recommend highly specialized and/or restrictive dietary programs to strengthen your immune system. Ignore them. They are more interested in audience numbers than in science.

I recommend a simple, common-sense approach. We don’t need specialized recommendations to strengthen our immune systems. In fact, there is one healthy lifestyle that benefits us in multiple ways. The same recommendations that reduce our risk of health disease, cancer, and diabetes also strengthen our immune system. 

• Start by eating a balanced diet composed of whole, unprocessed foods without a lot of fat and simple sugars. A great place to start designing a balanced diet that is perfect for your age, gender and activity level is https://choosemyplate.gov.

• Get plenty of sleep. The experts recommend 8 hours of sleep a night, but most Americans get far less than that.

• Exercise on a regular basis. Both too little and too much exercise can weaken the immune system (You might have guessed that the problem for most of us is the “too little”, not the “too much”). The experts recommend at least 30 minutes at least 5 days a week. Twice that amount is probably optimal unless you want to run marathons or become a “muscle man”.

• Maintain ideal body weight. Those excess pounds really zap our immune system.

• Minimize your reliance on medications. Many common medications weaken the immune system (Just listen to the disclaimers in the TV commercials for examples). But you must work with your physician on this. Once your physician knows that you are willing to take personal responsibility for your diet and lifestyle, they will generally be willing to minimize the number of medications that they prescribe.

• Focus on the positive. Studies show that optimists are healthier and live longer than pessimists. And the good news is that anyone can cultivate an attitude of optimism. For most of us it is a lifestyle choice – not something that we were born with.

• Add a supplement program to assure that your immune system is functioning optimally. In the ideal world supplements wouldn’t be necessary, but there are very few “saints” who do a great job in all 6 of the areas that I mentioned above.

What Role Does Supplementation Play?

A well-designed supplement program fills in the “gaps”. We want to make sure that we are getting adequate nutrition to keep our immune system healthy. Here are the nutrients you need:

• B vitamins and protein because our immune cells need to divide very rapidly when we have immune challenges.

• Antioxidants because our immune cells create lots of free radicals.

• Trace minerals, especially iron and zinc, because they are required by important enzymes of the immune system.

• Vitamin D because it is vitally important for a strong immune system and most of us are not getting enough.

• Probiotics (healthy bacteria) because 70% of our immune system reside in the gut, and “bad” bacteria and yeast in our intestines can weaken the immune system.

• Omega-3 fatty acids to modulate the immune system once it has taken care of the invading bacteria or viruses.

We don’t need mega-doses. We just need enough.

One final thought: Remember that a holistic approach to strengthening our immune system is not an “either – or” proposition. Experts tell us that the flu shot is 66% effective in preventing the flu for people with a strong immune system and only 33% effective in preventing the flu for people with a weak immune system.

Optimizing Your Immune Response

A group of experts recently published an exhaustive review of the role nutrition plays in preventing upper respiratory viral infections (PC Calder et al, “Optimal Nutritional Status For A Well-Functioning Immune System Is An Important Factor To Protect Against Viral Infections”, Nutrients, 1181-1200, 2020).

Their conclusions were:

1) “Supplementation with some nutrients in addition to a well-balanced diet is a safe, effective, and low-cost strategy to help support optimal immune function.”

• • They recommended ~100% of the RDA for vitamins a, B6, B12, E, folic acid, and minerals zinc, iron, selenium, magnesium, and copper.

• • They recommended 250 mg/day of EPA and DHA.

2) “Supplementation with above the RDA for vitamins C and D is warranted.”

• • They recommended 200 mg/day of vitamin C for healthy individuals and 1-2 g/day for individuals who are sick.

• • They recommended 2,000 IU/day for vitamin D.

3) “Public Health individuals should include nutritional strategies in their recommendations.”

The Bottom Line

This week I shared tips on winterizing your immune system, so you can withstand the worst that winter brings.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

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My posts and “Health Tips From the Professor” articles carefully avoid claims about any brand of supplement or manufacturer of supplements. However, I am often asked by representatives of supplement companies if they can share them with their customers.

My answer is, “Yes, as long as you share only the article without any additions or alterations. In particular, you should avoid adding any mention of your company or your company’s products. If you were to do that, you could be making what the FTC and FDA consider a “misleading health claim” that could result in legal action against you and the company you represent.

For more detail about FTC regulations for health claims, see this link.

https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/health-products-compliance-guidance

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About The Author 

Dr. Chaney has a BS in Chemistry from Duke University and a PhD in Biochemistry from UCLA. He is Professor Emeritus from the University of North Carolina where he taught biochemistry and nutrition to medical and dental students for 40 years.  Dr. Chaney won numerous teaching awards at UNC, including the Academy of Educators “Excellence in Teaching Lifetime Achievement Award”. Dr Chaney also ran an active cancer research program at UNC and published over 100 scientific articles and reviews in peer-reviewed scientific journals. In addition, he authored two chapters on nutrition in one of the leading Biochemistry textbooks for medical students.

Since retiring from the University of North Carolina, he has been writing a weekly health blog called “Health Tips From the Professor”. He has also written two best-selling books, “Slaying the Food Myths” and “Slaying the Supplement Myths”. And most recently he has created an online lifestyle change course, “Create Your Personal Health Zone”. For more information visit https://chaneyhealth.com.

For the past 53 years Dr. Chaney and his wife Suzanne have been helping people improve their health holistically through a combination of good diet, exercise, weight control and appropriate supplementation.