Nutrition. Vitamins. You.
By now, we’ve all heard that there are new strains of the COVID-19 virus. Here is what you need to know about these covid mutations and why this can be incredibly problematic.
A recent study from the University of Sydney has found evidence that elderberry fruit may help fight against influenza. Here’s what you need to know.
vitamin d
Invite Health Podcast, Episode hosted by Jerry Hickey. Ph
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Vitamin D affects many aspects of our immune system and resistance to infection, including COVID-19 and all other viruses. For Vitamin D to work, it has to be activated. Many immune system cells can activate Vitamin D. That’s an important finding. At one point, we thought only our kidneys could activate Vitamin D. Now we know that our T-cells, which trigger antibody responses, can actually convert Vitamin D into its active form. This shows how important this vitamin is to immunity.†
Vitamin D is needed to activate immune system cells, but also to control the immune system so it attacks the virus and doesn’t cause collateral damage to us. The damage to our body connected to COVID-19 comes from the cytokine storm, which represents out of control immune system activity leading to harm. Usually this battle is fought in our lungs and can cause severe lung damage or even death. Zinc can also help suppress dangerous immune system functions like this.†
New Findings: COVID-19 and Zinc – InVite Health Podcast, Episode 248. Listen Now >>
Research on Vitamin D and COVID-19
Here’s a study from the Angers University Hospital in France, published recently in the journal Nutrients. Elderly patients who previously had been taking Vitamin D3 supplements, which usually works better than Vitamin D2, are more likely to survive COVID-19, but a single standard dose of 80,000 units of Vitamin D3 after you’ve been infected is probably too late to have its protective effects generated.†
There’s a very fast-building archive of studies linked to Vitamin D deficiencies and more severe COVID-19 symptoms. There’s been inverse associations found in European countries between the level of Vitamin D in your blood and the number of COVID-19 cases, as well as with mortality. They’re finding a strong connection; if you lack this vitamin, you’re more likely to get COVID-19. The COVID-19 is more likely to be serious and with deadly consequences.†
The hospital in Angers, France wanted to see if Vitamin D, when taken regularly before you had COVID-19 or taken in a large dose after you developed COVID-19, had benefits to it. These studies were done in 77 frail, elderly COVID-19 patients aged between 78 and 100 years old. About half of these patients were women. They were hospitalized in the geriatric acute care unit of the hospital. The researchers found that, in the elderly patients who experienced severe COVID-19, Vitamin D supplementation taken on a regular basis before they got sick was strongly associated with less severe COVID-19 and better survival. But if they gave them an 80,000 unit capsule after the diagnosis, it didn’t improve their outcome, so Vitamin D is something you have to take on a daily basis.†
Traveling Soon? You Need These Supplements To Stay Healthy – InVite Health Podcast, Episode 231. Listen Now >>
Many studies are finding that, if you take Vitamin D on a regular basis, you have a reduced risk of respiratory tract infections in general. In fact, there was a meta-analysis showing that, where they took many studies and found that Vitamin D helps prevent respiratory tract infections, which can include anything from the flu to a cold to COVID-19, but also helps prevent pneumonia and helps prevent the severe consequences of these infections.†
Here’s a study from AZ Delta Hospital in Belgium. A Vitamin D deficiency on admission to the hospital was associated with 370% increased odds of dying from COVID-19. They found that nearly 60% of the patients with COVID-19 were Vitamin D deficient upon hospitalization. Men in the advanced stages of COVID-19 pneumonia showed the greatest deficit. Why should that happen? Women are treated for bone loss before and after menopause, so they’re getting Vitamin D. In general, there tends to be fewer women with very deficient Vitamin D compared to men. They looked at all these other comorbidities like obesity, diabetes and lung diseases and they found that it really is the Vitamin D. They go on to explain that numerous observational studies have shown that low VItamin D levels are a major predictor for poor COVID outcomes.†
Tune into the full podcast episode for more research on the relationship between Vitamin D and COVID-19.
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.
Zinc is required in many ways for your immune system, especially to fight viruses. Here’s what you need to know about recent findings that link Zinc and COVID-19.
You don’t want inflammation all the time. You just want it highly-focused and used when you need it. You also want the immune system to be functioning well so that it takes out any viruses, bacteria, yeasts and parasites that are infectious. Aged Garlic helps on both fronts.
aged garlic
Invite Health Podcast, Episode hosted by Amanda Williams, MPH.
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Most of us have used the term “thinking outside the box” at some point in time in our lives. One thing that I like to think about is thinking outside of the kitchen and there’s a reason why. There are so many wonderful things that we have in our food on a regular basis that can be so helpful for our overall health, so we have to think about some of the common nutrients that we’re exposed to. We can think about things like onion and garlic, for example. The garlic is predominantly what I want to focus in on today. We know that garlic not only has many well-studied cardiovascular benefits to it, but it goes well beyond that. I want to talk all about the many benefits of garlic, aged garlic in particular. When we think about supplementation, we want to make sure that the form of garlic we are using is the aged garlic type.†
What is garlic?
Most of us know garlic and it definitely has a very strong and familiar scent to it. Most people know if someone has had a good amount of garlic in a meal or you walk into your house and if someone is preparing a meal with a lot of garlic, it has a very profound smell to it.
Garlic itself is a perennial that actually belongs to the onion family. The flavors that come from the garlic are very, very powerful, which is why when you’re cooking with garlic, usually a little bit goes a long way. There are many different types of garlic. Most of us just think of the traditional garlic that we utilize, which is the hardneck garlic. We have to recognize that all of the powerful constituents that are found within the garlic is what really yields all of these superior health benefits.†
Aged Garlic for Heart and Overall Health – Invite Health Podcast, Episode 54. Listen Now >>
Learn more about the history of garlic by tuning into the full podcast episode.
We also have to look at the chemicals and constituents that are in garlic. We know that allicin is a very powerful chemical constituent that is derived from the garlic itself. What’s really quite interesting is that it is the allicin that produces that very powerful and unique scent. We know that there’s a high count of sulfur compounds in garlic and this is what’s responsible for its scent and taste, as well as those beneficial effects. It’s been studied across the spectrum when it comes to health.†
Garlic outside the kitchen
Initially, people would look at garlic in terms of its cardiovascular benefits and we certainly know that there are many of those. It offers broad cardioprotective effects, to such a degree that there was a really important study that came out in the Journal of Nutrition about four or five years ago. This was done via the UCLA Medical Center, where they were showing the impact of aged garlic extract, so now we’re talking about supplementation as opposed to the food. This means that we’re taking those really active constituents and putting them into a capsulated form. You’re getting a major power punch of those constituents. In this study, they were able to show that aged garlic could reduce dangerous plaque buildup within the arteries. This is a really great thing.†
At UCLA, they completed the four different randomized studies through which they looked at the progression of atherosclerosis and heart disease and looking at the aged garlic and seeing that it had this ability to actually reverse those different stages of heart disease. We have seen studies where they assess the C-reactive protein, which indicates levels of chronic inflammation. We have seen how beneficial aged garlic can be, even with supporting cholesterol levels.†
Importance of Aged Garlic for Heart Health – Invite Health Podcast, Episode 16. Listen Now >>
A study published in 2019 by the Experimental Biology Journal talked about how garlic could reduce aging-related memory problems. In this particular study that was conducted out of the University of Louisville, they were looking at that sulfide compound within the allicin. The interesting finding within the study was the correlation between the gut microbiome. Remember, a healthy gut means a healthy mind. The researchers were able to see how the garlic itself helped to maintain that healthy gut microbiome, those microorganisms that are in the intestines that are there to keep us healthy and to maintain that proper communication between the gut and the brain. The gut contains trillions of these microorganisms. They were able to show just how the garlic itself can work in a way to enhance that communication between the two, and in doing that, they were able to show an improvement in memory.†
Tune into the full podcast episode for additional benefits of aged garlic.
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.
