welcome back guys it's actually been a little while since I made a video because I've been
working and I'm actually in the middle of a move but I think it's important to just get this video
done because of the urgency with all the Covid 19 outbreak that's going on in the United States and
the rest of the world so in this video I actually want to talk about the impact of vitamin D and
vitamin C and also the weather cold weather versus warm weather and humidity levels and how that
affects the common cold how that affects covid 19 influenza virus so let's go ahead and get started
so first things first does colder temperatures make you more prone to getting the common cold
to getting influenza to getting covid 19 which is caused by the SARS coronavirus type 2 most health
experts agree that when it's colder out more people end up spending more time indoors and
this actually facilitates the spread of viruses also experts believe that when it's warmer weather
the immune system might actually function a little bit better compared to colder weather and there
are actually studies out there that looked at specific viruses and how they spread during
cold versus warm weather and at different humidity levels back in 2007 there was this study in this
one particular study looking at the spread of the influenza virus they put guinea pigs together in
a chamber and carried out different environmental experiments on them they found that low relative
humidities of 20 to 35 percent were most favorable for infection while transmission was completely
blocked at high humidity levels of 80 percent they also found that when guinea pigs were kept at 5
degrees Celsius transmission occurred with greater frequency compared to 20 degrees Celsius in a 30
degrees Celsius there is no transmission detected at all the authors concluded that low relative
humidities produced by indoor heating and cold temperatures favored spread of influenza viruses
I also want to add that during the winter months during the cold weather people can get runny noses
without actually having a cold but if they have a cold and they have this running nose those viruses
can be spread easier in those secretions that come from nose and then people often wipe their
nose without cleaning them and then shaking other people or touching surfaces and then other people
touch those surfaces so that's another factor into why viruses spread better in the winter months 40%
of common colds are caused by rhinoviruses the second most common cause of cold is the corona
virus the normal coronavirus not this novel coronavirus aka SARS coronavirus - it's been
shown that the Rhino virus reproduces more quickly at colder temperatures which means you can catch a
cold more quickly if you're cold and this probably applies to the corona virus as well it's likely
that with a combination of all these five factors that I just mentioned meaning colder temperatures
lower humidity people staying indoors more often in the winter months cold weather causing runny
noses and our immune system being more active when it's warmer these combination of factors
likely explains why colds flu and covid 19 are more likely to cause infections in the winter
months but there is likely a sixth factor as well and that's vitamin D our bodies don't
normally make vitamin D unless we get sunlight in the winter months for most of us in the world we
don't get enough sunlight to make enough vitamin D unless you live in a warmer climate then maybe you
are an exception so if you aren't getting enough sunlight in the winter months that means you have
to get enough vitamin D in your diet and if you don't do that you'll have low vitamin D levels
vitamin D helps regulate our calcium levels and is important for bone and muscle health it also plays
a role in regulating our immune system but its exact role is not known so why is this important
when it comes to the common cold and the flu and possibly even covid 19 so vitamin D doesn't
actually affect viruses it actually affects the way our immune system handles infections
such as viruses back in 2017 there was a large study in the British Medical Journal and it was
a meta-analysis meaning it looked at a bunch of other studies combines all the data from each of
those studies and analyzes and interprets these numbers into one huge study in this
specifically I looked at over 25 randomized control trials with a total of over 11,000 people
who took vitamin D in this meta-analysis that showed that there was a significant association
between low vitamin D levels and being more prone to developing respiratory infections it
also showed that daily or weekly supplementation with vitamin D have the greatest benefit for those
with a vitamin D deficiency the ones who benefited the most were the ones with more severe vitamin D
deficiency specifically blood levels below 10 and G's per ml and this decreased their
risk of respiratory infection by 50% if they had vitamin D supplementation it also showed
that all participants experience some beneficial effects from regular vitamin D supplementation
not just if they were deficient it also showed that taking occasional high doses of vitamin D
did not produce significant benefits so the key takeaway there is that you have to take the
vitamin D on a relatively routine basis for it to be effective and these results were statistically
significant with a large n of over 11,000 so what is my recommendation for taking vitamin D the best
thing that you could do is actually have your doctor check your vitamin D levels if low you
could get vitamin D supplementation maybe this is done by getting more in your diet maybe this
is done by taking a vitamin D supplement exactly how much you take should be a discussion between
you and your doctor I do realize that not everyone from a practical standpoint can get their vitamin
D levels checked a good broad recommendation would be to take 800 IU or 1000 I use either every day
or every other day and it's highly unlikely that someone taking that dose every day is gonna run
into vitamin D toxicity but again that's a broad generalization so we can get into a little bit
more details with that right now if you're getting your vitamin D levels measured you want to aim for
a level between 20 to 30 NGS per ml and definitely do not exceed 30 9ng per ml we also know that too
much vitamin D can be a bad thing vitamin D is one of four fat soluble vitamins and that means
the body stores the vitamin more readily in the body compared to non fat soluble vitamins and
this is significant because storing it in the body means more potential for it to have toxic
effects so just remember too much is not a good thing with vitamin D as well as other supplements
some brands are more trustworthy than others my go-to source to find out trustworthy brands for
vitamins and supplements and such is ConsumerLab calm and this is an independent lab that tests
various products I have no association with them and there's no financial relationship that I have
with them so you can check out that website the vitamin D that I personally recommend I have no
relationship with this company either would be nature made this nature made brain for vitamin D
is also recommended by a consumer lab if you want to purchase on Amazon I'll provide a link
below vitamin C is a water-soluble vitamin that is important for overall immune health its exact
role is not known however it does seem to help the function of white blood cells but again the exact
role in our body's defenses is unknown vitamin C is also important for iron absorption and being
deficient in iron can make you more vulnerable to infections in general but normal recommended daily
intake of vitamin C for adults from the diet and or from supplements is 75 to 120 milligrams you
can get about 80 to 90 milligrams from a cup of orange juice or a sliced orange or even more from
a kiwi fruit or a couple of sweet peppers so it's pretty easy to get adequate amounts of vitamin C
just from the diet alone it's common folklore that taking vitamin C supplements helps treat
cold symptoms but for the most part that folklore just doesn't hold up to scientific study in 2005
researchers analyzed 55 published studies that looked at vitamin C's ability to fight symptoms
of the common cold and the findings were pretty underwhelming in most of the studies they found
no benefit to taking vitamin C to treat a cold though one large study found that people taking
a very large dose eat thousand milligrams at the start of a cold got better faster but subsequent
studies were not able to confirm these findings as of now there's not enough research to recommend
that people take vitamin C supplements either before or after they get a cold so once again
there's no evidence that taking a vitamin C supplement even at high doses can protect
people from the effects from coronaviruses this strategy is being promoted on various
websites and social media high doses of vitamin C given intravenously are currently being looked
at in covid 19 patients in China who developed pneumonia so those results are still pending but
taking in more vitamin C than you need can lead to some side effects that includes GI upset so
stomach upset maybe a little diarrhea here and there and if you take too much over the long
term that can lead to kidney stones and possibly cataracts so until there are further studies that
definitively show that vitamin C supplementation is beneficial and preventing and/or treating
respiratory illnesses such as the common cold flu and now covid 19 I do not recommend taking extra
vitamin C unless you are vitamin C deficient and it's highly unlikely that your vitamin C deficient
if you eat food on a daily basis zinc has been one of the most popular suggestions for helping with
symptoms of cold and even this covid 19 there have been conflicting results about the effect of zinc
on the severity and duration of cold symptoms some studies showed that zinc reduces the duration of a
cold by half while others showed no effect another study found that the type of zinc taken determine
the result zinc gluconate lozenges that provide 13 milligrams of zinc lessen the duration of colds
but zinc acetate lawson jizz that provided 5 or 11 milligrams of zinc did not zinc has also been
shown in a lab study to inhibit the replication of corona virus in cells not this novel coronavirus
but the regular coronavirus there's no evidence at this time though to suggest that using zinc
lozenges can prevent this novel coronavirus this covid 19 and additional research is
needed to determine whether zinc actually has an effect on colds also keep in mind that excess of
zinc ingestion can lead to copper deficiency and can impair the absorption of antibiotics and the
use of zinc nasal gels or swabs has been linked to temporary or permanent loss of smell traditionally
a kanesha has been used to help treat cold symptoms there have been multiple studies that
have suggested that taking it when cold symptoms first begin reduces the length and severity of
symptoms however these studies were very low quality and higher-quality studies that have been
done since then showed that there was no benefit to doing so okay now a final word regarding herbs
and supplements it's difficult to talk about most herbs in supplements with scientific Authority
because most have not been well studied for effectiveness for side effects and for appropriate
dosage also the FDA does not strictly regulate how herbs and supplements are manufactured therefore
are compared to prescribed medications and non prescribed medications is a bigger unknown in
terms of strength purity and safety so it's best to talk to your doctor before you start taking
any supplement many interact with medications and many interact with each other and some are
not recommended for people with certain health conditions most supplements should be avoided by
women who are pregnant or breastfeeding and most haven't been tested for safety and children and
therefore should not be given to them now I'm not trying to hawk any products like this guy you're
saying that silver solution would be effective but what I am trying to do is build this channel
to get up-to-date and accurate health information to you so if you found this video useful give it a
like and you can see me in the next one especially if you subscribe and click on that Bell button