Vitamin D proven far better than vaccines at preventing influenza infections

Vitamin D appears to be 800% more effective than vaccines at preventing influenza infections in children.

A clinical trial led by Mitsuyoshi Urashima and conducted by the Division of Molecular Epidemiology in the the Department of Pediatrics at the Jikei University School of Medicine Minato-ku in Tokyo found that vitamin D was extremely effective at halting influenza infections in children. The trial appears in the March, 2010 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (Am J Clin Nutr (March 10, 2010). doi:10.3945/ajcn.2009.29094)

The results are from a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study involving 334 children, half of which were given 1200 IUs per day of vitamin D3.
In the study, while 31 of 167 children in the placebo group contracted influenza over the four month duration of the study, only 18 of 168 children in the vitamin D group did. This means vitamin D was responsible for an absolute reduction of nearly 8percent. Flu vaccines, according to the latest scientific evidence, achieve a 1 percent reduction in influenza symptoms.

This is just one more benefit to the long list of the benefits of vitamin D. Unfortunately, these days the best way to get adequate levels of this super vitamin is through supplementation. Our exposure to the sun (only 15 min a day provides vitamin D synthesis) is not keeping up with demands on the body. As fall and winter cold season nears, it is important to get a good daily dose in.

Dr. Kerry Ferguson