What Is Bell’s Palsy? – InVite Health Podcast, Episode 436
You may have heard about Bell’s palsy, a type of facial paralysis that affects about 500,000 Americans annually, but do you know what causes it? Learn more from Amanda Williams, MPH.
Tag: zinc
Nutrients to Target Seasonal Bronchitis – InVite Health Podcast, Episode 435
Have you ever suffered from bronchitis? Millions of people deal with this every single fall and winter, but the good news is that there are nutrients that can help protect your respiratory system and bolster up your immune defenses.
Getting Your Immune System Ready for Winter, Part 1 – InVite Health Podcast, Episode 427
winter
InViteⓇ Health Podcast, Episode hosted by Jerry Hickey, Ph.
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There are concrete reasons why we get sick with a virus more frequently in the winter than in the summer. The atmosphere itself directly contributes to the risk of getting sick. The air outside in the summer is a lot heavier because it’s loaded with moisture. If somebody sneezes or coughs, the virus only goes a short distance and it crashes down to the sidewalk because the air is so laden with moisture.†
In the winter, it’s a different story. In the winter, the air is very dry, so coughs and sneezes go further. A cough can shoot a virus for 10 feet at 100 miles per hour, while a sneeze travels at about half that rate for about five feet. It’s also very cold outside, so we are more frequently clustered together inside at a pretty close proximity. Inside, the air is even drier and more arid, so that sneeze or cough can really travel further or faster.†
To make things worse, many viruses thrive in colder air. For instance, the flu and cold viruses are stronger and more infective in the winter than in the summer.†
There are some nutrients that are really key for our immune system. The problem is that there are seasonal variations in the levels of these nutrients in our body.†
Nutrient levels that decline in the winter
These nutrients are key for the immune system to be able to fight off an infection and to survive an infection. They are Vitamin C, Vitamin D and zinc. There are seasonal variations in the body’s levels of zinc, Vitamin C and Vitamin D. Just when you need them the most to fight the infections that are more common in the winter, the level of these nutrients are declining. This means that there’s less to go around in the blood plasma in the fall and winter months and this is very bad news for immunity.†
IMMUNE BENEFITS OF VITAMIN C, ZINC & VITAMIN D – INVITE HEALTH PODCAST, EPISODE 118. Listen Now>>
Zinc is needed in a number of ways for the immune system. This mineral is poisonous to viruses. Secondly, zinc is needed to create immune cells, as well as antibodies. Taking zinc in the winter is a very good strategy for helping to achieve optimal immune system function. I would shoot for about 30mg a day to help shoot up your zinc level.†
Just like zinc, our level of Vitamin C declines in the winter. Vitamin C is required for chemotaxis and respiratory burst, which are really important activities for your immune system. This occurs early on when someone sneezes on you with an infection. Chemotaxis is the ability of your immune cells to travel to the site of the infection.†
What about Vitamin D? You’re never going to get enough Vitamin D from your food. You can get some Vitamin D by getting sun exposure, but there’s not a lot of sun in the winter. Plus, you’re covered up, so you really need to take a supplement. You need Vitamin D to help fight cancer, infections and other foreign cells. Generally, take 2000 units of Vitamin D3 a day. Research shows that taking Vitamin D every day works better than one huge dose once a week or once a month.†
In this episode, Jerry Hickey, Ph., discusses how the body can be more prone to infection during the fall and winter months. He focuses on three main nutrients that the body needs to protect itself and explains how these nutrients are impacted by the cold weather. Stay tuned for Part 2 of this podcast, coming soon.†
Key Topics:
- Flu season in different parts of the world
- What Vitamin C, Vitamin D and zinc do for the immune system
- How prescription medications can impact nutrient levels
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.
Cold Weather Immune Support Tips From Chief Scientific Officer and Pharmacist, Jerry Hickey, Ph.
As the weather begins to get colder, there are factors that change that can impact our body’s ability to protect itself. It’s important to be aware of these changes and how they impact the way viruses spread during the fall and winter, as well as how this affects our overall immune health.
High Blood Pressure Drugs Deplete Nutrients Needed By Your Immune System – InVite Health Podcast, Episode 426
Millions of people have been prescribed medication for high blood pressure, but these drugs can create nutrient deficiencies that negatively impact your immune system.
Mountain Climber’s Lungs Damaged By COVID-19 – InVite Health Podcast, Episode 418
COVID-19
InViteⓇ Health Podcast, Episode hosted by Jerry Hickey, Ph.
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COVID-19 has introduced a lot of new terms to our vocabulary. For instance, we now discuss things like variants, such as the delta variant that has been going around. We also have PPE, which stands for personal protective equipment like those N-95 protective face masks that you see doctors and nurses wearing.†
HOW TO MANAGE THE NEW COVID-19 MUTATIONS – INVITE HEALTH PODCAST, EPISODE 266. Listen Now>>
How COVID-19 impacts the lungs
Unfortunately, what’s becoming more well-known is something called ground glass opacities.This is a type of lung damage that shows up on CT scans in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia.†
A lady recently came to visit me in one of our stores. Several months beforehand, she had been hiking in the Himalayan mountains. A month after her climbing, she was back in New York and she contracted COVID-19. She had a pretty bad infection for six weeks. It wound up damaging her lungs. Because it was harder for her to breathe, it put a lot of pressure on her heart, leading to damage in her heart. It also led to severe GERD.†
People with COVID-19 may also develop fluid in the lining of the lung tissue. Some people also develop thickening in the tissue of the lung when they develop viral pneumonia. However, not all patients do.†
Can nutrients help support lung health?
When this mountain climber came to speak with me, I didn’t tell her I could correct her lung damage, but I do believe there are nutrients that can help support the overall health of the lungs.†
Studies do show that certain nutrients can help lower your risk of developing COVID-19. This includes Vitamin D, fish oils, multivitamins, probiotics and zinc. These nutrients can help give you some degree of protection.†
IMMUNE BENEFITS OF VITAMIN C, ZINC & VITAMIN D – INVITE HEALTH PODCAST, EPISODE 118. Listen Now>>
There also seems to be some nutrients that can help support people who are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms. Research is limited, but they seem to be getting good results.†
The first one is glutathione. This is a master antioxidant that helps protect your eyes, brain, lungs, heart and liver. It’s also involved with detoxifying chemicals. Glutathione is naturally found in the body, but the amount can vary dramatically from person to person. Glutathione levels drop dramatically when you get a viral infection, so supplementing with this nutrient can be extremely supportive for someone battling COVID-19.†
Then there’s black cumin seed, also known as black seed. In Pakistan, COVID-19 was destroying people. A research fellow from Harvard Medical School went over there and gave 313 patients either a combination of black cumin seed and honey or a probiotic every day for a limited amount of time. 210 of these patients were categorized as having moderate cases of COVID-19. They had a cough, fever, sore throat, nasal congestion and shortness of breath. 103 patients had severe cases of the virus and were showing symptoms such as fever, cough, pneumonia and respiratory distress. They found that the patients on the black cumin seed and honey improved much faster than the other group.†
A third nutrient is a type of curcumin complex that is mixed with a black pepper fruit extract. This makes it really well absorbed. A study in the journal Frontiers in Pharmacology used this very well-absorbed curcumin in 140 patients with mild, moderate or severe cases of COVID-19. It was a 14-week trial. One group received the curcumin while another received probiotics as a placebo. The curcumin helped support oxygen saturation in the blood and helped promote recovery from symptoms.†
In this episode, Jerry Hickey, Ph. shares the story of a COVID-19 patient who went from being an active mountain climber to experiencing lung damage due to the virus. He also discusses nutrients that can help protect the body from this virus.†
Key Topics:
- The role of cytokines in the body
- Are there nutrients that can help lower your risk of COVID-19?
- Studies on glutathione
- The importance of oxygen saturation
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.