Nutrition. Vitamins. You.
A very important question during this pandemic is, “Can I protect my lungs?” This is where the Coronavirus picks up its tempo and can be really damaging. Here’s what you need to know from Jerry Hickey, Ph.
Jerry Hickey, Ph. believes the objective during this COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic is to make yourself stronger. If you can make yourself stronger with specific foods and supplements, you can boost your immunity and overall wellness today.
Invite Health Podcast, Episode hosted by Jerry Hickey. Ph
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It’s March – it should be a bit past the peak flu and virus season now, but the Coronavirus has changed all of that so I’d like to talk to you today about the mineral Zinc; it can be a quick fix for your immune system for many people.
The Importance of Zinc Today
If you’re low on zinc – deviating below the normal healthy level on your blood test – it reduces the number of immune cells you make; these are the cells that fight the infection.
Plus, to make matters worse, whatever lowered number of immune cells you do make, commonly generically called white blood cells, they’re not going to work very well for fighting off viruses and bacteria and this will increase your risk of developing an infection. This is according to a report from the the University of California Davis.
The UC Davis medical authorities also say that taking a Zinc supplement daily, reduces your rate of infection. This is extremely important – that the zinc, through it’s anti-inflammatory activity, that comes from Zinc’s powerful and well documented antioxidant activity, may help protect your tissues form the damage generated by the infection. It’s not unusual for a viral infection to damage your lungs through the generation of free radicals if the virus can get in there.
Zinc Benefits
Zinc has many brilliantly good effects on the body;
And plaque can start to accumulate in your brain:
Higher doses of Zinc, well above the upper recommended level have proven to be safe and to safely shorten the length of those symptoms of the common cold by a good percentage – a third in general, according to a review of studies published by the Royal Society of Medicine.
Human Clinical Trials on Zinc
Many human clinical trials of the young, the elderly, and those in between show that Zinc is needed for your immune system and taking a bit extra during cough and cold season is very helpful for reducing the duration of symptoms and for protecting you from an infection in the first place.
In a review of studies published in the Journal BMC Family Practice of Zinc lozenges and the symptoms of a viral infection of the upper respiratory tract, Zinc reduced the length of suffering with
There were some caveats to this review of clinical trials;
This is important; there are other viruses out there including two additional corona viruses that are zoonotic but have not infected people yet, you want a well-functioning immune system.
So how does Zinc work?
Zinc is required to make the cells that kill infections, known as neutrophils and macrophages, and the cells that single out specific infections or that control the immune system; your B cells which are your antibodies that recognize specific viruses and bacteria, and your all important T Cells that guide the immune system, kill infections, and turn off the immune system when the infection is over.
Viruses use proteins on the outside of their viral coating to infect us. Zinc has the ability to complex with these proteins and the more zinc in your cell the better it works. This reduces the ability of a virus to infect you. So a deficiency of Zinc increases dysfunction of the immune system and increases your susceptibility to infection.
Children and adolescents are often low in zinc but who is typically low in Zinc focusing solely on adults;
For the elderly and HIV positive individuals Zinc supplementation is a must; HIV-infected individuals are particularly susceptible to zinc deficiency. In HIV-infected patients, low serum zinc concentrations are connected with disease progression and increased mortality.
In one study conducted in AIDS patients, 45 mg/day of zinc for one month resulted in a decreased incidence of opportunistic infections compared to placebo.
In a placebo-controlled study of 231 HIV-positive adults who were initially low in zinc, doctors found that supplementing with ZINC, 12 mg/day for women and 15 mg/day for men, for 18 months reduced the incidence of immunological failure (defined by a low CD4+ count, a type of T cell) by 76% and the rate of diarrhea by 60%.
A systematic review of three randomized controlled trials concluded that zinc supplementation was safe and efficacious in reducing opportunistic infections in HIV-positive adults. Low zinc in the elderly is fairly common and adds to the age-related decline in immune function.
In a study of nursing home residents, a low level of zinc in the blood serum lead to a higher rate of pneumonia and pneumonia-related mortality, and in fact increased all-cause mortality.
Studies examining the effects of zinc supplementation on immune function in middle-aged and elderly adults show that zinc supplementation improves immune function. For instance, a randomized, placebo-controlled study in people over 65 years of age found that zinc supplementation (25 mg/day) for three months increased blood concentrations of helper T-cells and cytotoxic T-cells; these are virus killers.
Additionally, a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in 101 older adults (aged 50-70 years) with normal blood zinc concentrations showed that zinc supplementation at 15 mg/day for six months improved the helper T-cells/cytotoxic T-cells ratio, which tends to decline with age and when low is a predictor of poor survival.
A recent study examined the effect of daily supplementation with a supplement that included 5 mg or 30 mg of zinc taken for three months in institutionalized elderly participants (mean age, >80 years) with an initially low serum concentration of zinc. Zinc status was improved with the 30 mg/day dose — but not with 5 mg/day — yet the most zinc-deficient individuals failed to achieve normal serum zinc concentrations within the intervention period; they needed more than 30mg a day. The number of circulating T-cells was also significantly increased in those who took the micronutrient supplement with the higher versus low dose of zinc (93).
The high prevalence of zinc deficiency among institutionalized elderly adults should be addressed and would likely improve the performance of their immune system.
Currently my wife and I are taking an additional 30mg of zinc a day; this is in addition to the 15mg we are already getting in our multiple vitamin. This is plenty because it has had time to build up in our systems. I choose Zinc Picolinate, but lozenges are also a great choice. If you are first developing symptoms of an upper respiratory tract infection use a lozenge and take about 30mg 3 times a day (no more than that).
Thank you for tuning in to the Invite Health Podcast. You can find all of our episodes for free wherever you listen to podcasts or by visiting www.invitehealth.com/podcast. Make sure you subscribe and leave us a review! Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at Invite Health today. We’ll see you next time on another episode of the Invite Health Podcast.
With the widespread of the Coronavirus, it seems that everyone is looking to stock up on products that can help them in the long run. The good news is that there are five essential immune-boosting nutrients that you should stock up on this season.
With so many viruses going around today it is more important than ever to make sure you are practicing the most effective methods to support healthy immunity. Here are the top best practices to keep your body running effectively.
Invite Health Podcast, Episode hosted by Jerry Hickey. Ph
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The headline on Medpage this morning is alarming; “Wuhan Coronavirus Looks Increasingly Like a Pandemic according to Experts.” Rapidly rising caseloads alarm researchers, who fear the virus may make its way across the globe. But scientists cannot yet predict how many deaths may result. The purpose of today’s episode is not to alarm you. But you should know how to support and actually improve the function of your immune system with the help of nutrition. This in turn, if you are exposed to a dangerous virus, should make you more resistant to viruses in general but also you are a great deal less likely to become exceedingly sick; in other words improving survival by making you stronger.
So, what is the Novel Coronavirus?
It’s also called the Wuhan virus because of the city in China where it spread from. You probably have had a mild coronavirus at some point in your life because this is a whole family of viruses and some milder strains of coronavirus account for about 15% of all cases of the common cold. Almost all other colds are caused by the rhinovirus family of viruses
Unfortunately, sometimes, a dangerous version of the coronavirus emerges. In 2002, SARS emerged in Southern China. SARS stands for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome and it eventually led to over 8,000 cases, resulting in 774 deaths reported in 17 countries, with the majority of cases in mainland China and Hong Kong. It had an almost 10% fatality rate, according to the World Health Organization with no cases reported worldwide since 2004. In late 2017, Chinese scientists traced the virus origin to cave-dwelling horseshoe bats in Yunnan province in China.
More recently the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) virus emerged. It is a coronavirus that causes respiratory tract infections. It’s symptoms range from mild to severe including fever, cough, diarrhea and shortness of breath. This infection, like most others, can become more severe in those with other health problems. The mortality rate with MERS is high; about one-third of diagnosed cases but its spread outside of a hospital is uncommon, MERS also comes from bats.
The new coronavirus, designated 2019-nCoV, was identified in Wuhan, the capital of China’s Hubei province, after people developed pneumonia without a clear cause, and for which existing treatments were not effective. The virus has human-to-human transmission, with the number of cases quickly climbing into the thousands by late January 2020. Several countries across Europe, North America and especially the Asia-Pacific reporting cases. Its incubation period (time from exposure to onset of symptoms) ranges from 2 to 14 days and there is evidence that it may be contagious during this period and possibly also for several days after recovery. Symptoms include fever, coughing and breathing difficulties. It can be fatal. As of 3 February 2020, approximately 17,486 cases have been confirmed, including in every province-level division of China. Chinese scientists quickly isolated a strain of the coronavirus and publish the genetic sequence so that laboratories across the world could independently develop tests to detect infection by the virus. The 2019-nCoV’s genome sequence is 75- to 80-percent identical to SARS-CoV, and more than 85-percent similar to several bat coronaviruses.
The Current Update
Three more cases of novel coronavirus were confirmed in California over the weekend, bringing the total U.S. cases to 11, public health officials said on Sunday. The ninth case was in a woman from Santa Clara County, who had recently traveled to Wuhan, China, according to CNBC. And late Sunday night, KSBW 8 reported the 10th and 11th confirmed cases in San Benito County, California, from a man, age 57, who traveled from Wuhan, and his wife, also age 57, who contracted the virus from her husband. Rumors continue to abound about three potential cases in New York City. According to the Wall Street Journal, one of the patients is younger than age 40, and is being kept in isolation at Bellevue Hospital. Samples have been sent to the CDC, with results expected early this week.
The good news; only about 15% of the 17,000 plus Chinese cases are considered severe but cases in China continue to multiply. Plus over the weekend: doctors in Thailand said several patients with novel coronavirus improved after treatment with a combination of the influenza drug Tamiflu and some virus inhibiting HIV medications lopinavir and ritonavir, according to Reuters.
Generally Boosting Your Immune System
All strains of viruses use enzymes to infect us, and if you can inhibit these enzymes you may weaken or sometimes prevent an infection. To a good degree, Green Tea inhibits enzymes specific to all flu viruses, cold viruses, and other infectious viruses. When someone sneezes – which seems to be how the coronavirus spreads – that sneeze can travel at a 100 miles an hour for ten feet; try and duck this in a packed train or room. Coughs travel at 50miles an hour for about 5 feet; lots of luck ducking that one also. When the virus hits you, it uses enzymes to latch onto your cells, enter them, and then multiply, leading to that typical week-long infection. The enzyme neuraminidase allows the flu and other viruses to attach to the mucus membranes in your nose, mouth, and the tear ducts of the eyes. The virus is then able to enter and exit your cells and cause an infection.†
Drugs have been developed to block these viral enzymes including Relenza and Tamiflu back in the 1990s. But Green Tea has been shown to inhibit the enzymes used by many viruses to infect us including neuraminidase but also hemagglutinin. The antioxidant catechins in green tea also inhibit the interaction of many viruses with the cell membrane after they have invaded a cell.†
Evidence for Green Tea and Healthy Immunity
According to a study from the University of Florida at Gainesville, Green tea also stimulates a particular type of immune cell called a gamma-delta T cell, which helps govern the ability of your immune system to fight viruses in general. The research shows that Green Tea also stimulates the release of interferon-gamma further helping contain viruses. Two observational studies and three randomized controlled studies were conducted to determine the efficacy of gargling with green tea according to the Japan Health Authority. As an example, results of an observational study assessed the effectiveness of gargling to prevent febrile diseases (fevers) and absence from school among healthy children. In their study, which followed 19,595 children aged 2–6 years, scientists found that fever onset was significantly lower – 68% lower – in those that gargled with green tea compared to those that gargled with tap water.†
In the Journal of Nutrition, the University of Shizouka School of Pharmacy, looked at 2663 school kids from different parts of Japan over 2 winters and found that drinking Green Tea 6 times a week decreased a diagnosis of the flu by a pediatrician by 40%. But if they drank green tea more frequently, it cut the risk by 46%.†
In a study of healthcare professionals by the same pharmacy school, taking a green tea capsule along with it’s component L-Theanine, lowered the risk of the flu in healthcare professionals by 75%.†
If you are going to brew green tea, make sure it is organic. Always add lemon to your green tea (not milk) – milk weakens the properties in green tea. The University of Florida shows that taking a concentrated Green Tea capsule 2 times daily over the flu season strongly cut the incidence of the flu. However, if a person did get sick, the infection was much milder and lasted for a much shorter amount of days. Green tea is shown to help protect the elderly. Elderly people have a weaker immune system and the classic flu shot works less effectively in them. In a study of 124 elderly residents of a nursing home, all of whom received a flu shot, gargling with green tea further cut the risk of developing the flu versus placebo.†
Other Supportive and Protective Nutrients
Other nutrients that support immune system function†:
Protect your lungs†;
Thank you for tuning in to the Invite Health Podcast. You can find all of our episodes for free wherever you listen to podcasts or by visiting www.invitehealth.com/podcast. Make sure you subscribe and leave us a review! Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at Invite Health today. We’ll see you next time on another episode of the Invite Health Podcast.
