Dr. John Cannell, a cardiac surgeon and
Professor of Surgery at the University of Washington, recommends avoiding the flu shot and
taking vitamin D instead.
2000 IU/day vitamine a day
eradicated colds / flu
Aloia and Li-Ng presented evidence of a
dramatic vitamin D preventative effect from a randomized controlled trial (RCT) [25]. In a
post-hoc analysis of the side effect questions of their original three-year RCT, they
discovered 104 post-menopausal African American women given vitamin D were three times
less likely to report cold and flu symptoms than 104 placebo controls. A low dose (800
IU/day) not only reduced reported incidence, it abolished the seasonality of reported
colds and flu. A higher dose (2000 IU/day), given during the last year of their trial,
virtually eradicated all reports of colds or flu.
Association Between Serum
25-Hydroxyvitamin D Level and Upper Respiratory Tract Infection in the Third National
Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
Serum 25(OH)D levels are inversely
associated with recent URTI. This association may be stronger in those with respiratory
tract diseases. Randomized controlled trials are warranted to explore the effects of
vitamin D supplementation on RTI.
I’m writing to alert readers to a
crucial email from a physician who has evidence vitamin D is protective against H1N1 and
to ask you, the reader, to contact your representatives in
Washington to help protect Americans, especially children, from H1N1 before winter comes.
John Cannell, MD
President Vitamin D Council
--
Dear Dr. Cannell:
Your recent newsletters and video about
Swine flu (H1N1) prompted me to convey our recent experience with an H1N1 outbreak at
Central Wisconsin Center (CWC). Unfortunately,
the state epidemiologist was not interested in studying it further so I pass it on to you
since I think it is noteworthy.
CWC is a long-term care facility for people
with developmental disabilities, home for approx. 275 people with approx. 800 staff. Serum
25-OHD has been monitored in virtually all
residents for several years and patients supplemented with vitamin D.
In June, 2009, at the time of the
well-publicized Wisconsin spike in H1N1 cases, two residents developed influenza-like
illness (ILI) and had positive tests for H1N1: one was a
long-term resident; the other, a child, was transferred to us with what was later proven
to be H1N1.
On the other hand, 60 staff members
developed ILI or were documented to have H1N1: of 17 tested for ILI, eight were positive.
An additional 43 staff members called in sick with ILI.
(Approx. 11-12 staff developed ILI after working on the unit where the child was given
care, several of whom had positive H1N1 tests.)
So, it is rather remarkable that only two
residents of 275 developed ILI, one of which did not develop it here, while 103 of 800
staff members had ILI. It appears that the spread of
H1N1 was not from staff-to-resident but from resident-to-staff (most obvious in the
imported case) and between staff, implying that staff were susceptible and our residents
protected.
Sincerely,
Norris Glick, MD
Central Wisconsin Center
Madison, WI, USA
--
Dear Dr. Glick:
This is the first hard data that I am aware
of concerning H1N1 and vitamin D. It appears vitamin D is incredibly protective against
H1N1. Dr. Carlos Carmago at Mass General ran the
numbers in an email to me. Even if one excludes 43 staff members who called in sick with
influenza, 0.73% of residents were affected, as compared to 7.5% of staff. This 10-fold
difference was statistically significant (P<0.001). That is, the chance that this was a
chance occurrence is one less than one in a thousand.
Second, if you read my last newsletter, you
will see that children with neurological impairments, like the patients at your hospital,
have accounted for 2/3 of the childhood deaths for H1N1 so far in the USA. That is, the
CDC knows, because they reported it, that patients with neurological impairments are more
likely to die from H1N1.
The problem is that I cannot get anyone in
authority at the CDC or the NIH to listen. I need readers to email or call their senators
and congresspersons in Washington.
Ask your senator or congressperson to
contact the CDC and NIH to complain about CDC and NIH inaction on Vitamin D and H1N1.
Also, ask your senators and representative to
demand congressional hearings on Vitamin D and H1N1, before it is too late. Here is the
link below, just click it and follow instructions to contact your own represenatives.
Thanks for your update about the hospital
in Wisconsin. I have had similar anecdotal evidence from my medical practice here in
Georgia. We are one of the 5 states with widespread H1N1 outbreaks.
I share an office with another family
physician. I aggressively measure and replete vitamin D. He does not. He is seeing one to
10 cases per week of influenza-like illness. In my practice-- I have had zero
cases. My patients are universally on 2000-5000 IU to maintain serum levels 50-80 ng/ml.
Ellie Campbell, DO
Campbell Family Medicine
3925 Johns Creek Court Ste A
Suwannee GA 30024
--
Dear Dr. Campbell:
That’s good news. Now, if we just had
a way for the CDC and the NIH to pay attention. Critics say we should not recommend
vitamin D to prevent influenza until it is proven to do so (It has not been). The critics
are thus saying, although they seem not to know it, you should be vitamin D deficient this
winter until science proves being vitamin D sufficient is better than being Vitamin D
deficient. Such advice is clearly unethical and has never ever been the standard of care.
This is not rocket science. If I am wrong,
and Vitamin D does not prevent influenza, what is lost? A few dollars. If they are wrong,
and it does prevent influenza, what is lost? So far, the
CDC says 41 kids are dead from H1N1, and the flu season has not yet started.
John Cannell
Vitamine D tekort en griep
Compelling epidemiological evidence
indicates vitamin D deficiency is the "seasonal stimulus" [22]. Furthermore,
recent evidence confirms that lower respiratory tract infections are more frequent,
sometimes dramatically so, in those with low 25(OH)D levels [90-92]. Very recently,
articles in mainstream medical journals have emphasized the compelling reasons to promptly
diagnose and adequately treat vitamin D deficiency, deficiencies that may be the rule,
rather than the exception, at least during flu season [40,41]. Regardless of vitamin D's
effects on innate immunity, activated vitamin D is a pluripotent pleiotropic seco-steroid
with as many mechanisms of action as the 1,000 human genes it regulates [93]. Evidence
continues to accumulate of vitamin D's involvement in a breathtaking array of human
disease and death. [
Dr. John Cannell on vitamin D -
Skip the flu shot, just get vitamin D
Geert
Vitamin D and flu study
Adit Ginde, MD, MPH, assistant professor at
the University of Colorado Denver’s School of Medicine’s Division of Emergency
Medicine was the lead author in both studies and recently answered questions on the role
vitamin D plays in our health. Ginde’s study in the Archives of Internal Medicine
specifically looked at low levels of vitamin D and a person’s risk of contracting
colds and the flu.
Vitamin D Deficiency May Cause
Cold, Flu
A team of US researchers found that there
are high chances for people to catch a cold when they lack vitamin D. According to the
study vitamin D increases the body's immune system helping prevent the risk of catching a
cold or the flu. People with the lowest blood levels of vitamin D had more recent colds or
cases of the flu and the risks were even higher for those with chronic respiratory
disorders like asthma.
Canada examines vitamin D for swine
flu protection
The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC)
has confirmed that it will be investigating the role of vitamin D in protection against
swine flu, NutraIngredients-USA.com has learned.
Researchers see link between
vitamin D, flu immunity
In February, researchers reported a link
between vitamin D levels in the blood and upper respiratory infections in a group of
nearly 19,000 people ages 12 and older.
A 2006 review article in the journal
Epidemiology of Infection laid out a detailed case for vitamin D and its protective effect
against the flu. One of the arguments: About 2% of people have evidence of flu viruses in
their systems during the summer, yet that seldom leads to outbreaks of the flu. The
article also noted that the 1968 Hong Kong flu first showed up in Great Britain in August
that year, but the virus did not cause any significant summertime illness. But as the sun
became progressively lower in the sky and the winter solstice arrived, the first community
outbreaks occurred. As spring arrived, flu cases ebbed and virtually disappeared after the
summer solstice, only to rise again in September 1969 and explode in the days before the
winter solstice. No vitamin D is made in the skin at latitude 52 degrees (the latitude of
London) from about October to March," the article said.
Proceedings of the Conference
"Vitamin D and Health in the 21st Century: An Update" Available
Proceedings of the Conference "Vitamin
D and Health in the 21st Century: An Update" Available The conference "Vitamin D
and Health in the 21st Century: An Update" was convened September 5-6, 2007, by the
NIH Office of Dietary Supplements, bringing together scientists with many areas of
expertise. Conference proceedings are published in the August 2008 supplement to the
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, published by the American Society for Nutrition.
Below are links to the 20 articles from this issue.
