Category Archives: immune system

Treating Virus Infections: Colds, Flu—Coronavirus?

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Coronavirus3DIn my attempts to find vitamins and minerals to repair cartilage, I discovered many other benefits in the treating of chronic disease. The thing that has amazed me is how vitamins and minerals can be used to treat infections. Modern practice of treating infections has recently found that treating sepsis with vitamins can significantly improve the death rate.

“An IV protocol has been shown to dramatically improve chances of survival in septic patients. Giving adult patients 200 mg of thiamine every 12 hours, 1,500 mg of ascorbic acid every six hours, and 50 mg of hydrocortisone every six hours for two days reduced mortality from 40% to 8.5%.” Dr. Mercola on the Dr. Paul E. Marik, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Protocol for Deadly Sepsis.

In 1990, I started to treat a runny nose based on the suggestions of Dr. Linus Pauling. It works beautifully. I take a gram of vitamin C per hour until my nose stops running or I reach bowel tolerance. I discovered that it made the length of time that I had a cold shorten. In 2006 I discovered that vitamin D3 was very significant in building the immune system and for shortening the time for a cold. It was about this time that I read about a researcher at the Medical University of South Carolina that was doing research for vitamin D3 and pregnancy. He was testing the women every three days for serum vitamin D3, 25(OH)D3. On the first day, one of the women had a level of 60 ng/ml. Three days later it was less than 20 ng/ml. The following day she came down with flu symptoms. This indicated to me that the 25(OH)D3 that is stored in the body is used up quickly when pathogens attack.

I tried it the next time I had a cold with 50,000 IU of D3. The cold went away in less than twenty-four hours. This was an intentional attempt at getting a cold by not taken my normal 10,000 IU D3 per day for two weeks. Everyone that I was around seemed to have a cold. This is the only time that I really had a nasty cold since 2004 because I had built my immune system up with vitamins and minerals.

As I continued to research, it was apparent that all vitamins and minerals had significant support of the immune system. Through over 11,000+ hours of research and writing, I had developed a protocol for treating viral infections. It is interesting how research is done. Typically, only one vitamin or mineral is tested at a time. What happens if you increase all the vitamins and minerals for a short time when you get an infection?

I had not had the flu in a very long time. The last time that I remember having the flu was in the early 1990s. This year was much different. I have been under extreme stress this year. With a reduced immune system and not getting a flu shot, the flu attacked twice. The first time was late October. I was in a government office in Martinsville, VA. The person I was to see had gone to the doctor for the flu. I met with her boss for over three hours. That night I got up about three am to go to the bathroom. If not for a nearby rail, I would have crumpled into the floor. I was so dizzy. The glands on my neck were swollen to the size of grapes. I took what I thought would be enough of the vitamins and minerals to aid my immune system. By ten am the next morning all the symptoms were gone. I was amazed.

The second time was a Sunday night in mid-February. I started to feel achy. I took the extra vitamins and minerals. The next morning my lungs were getting infected and my nose was running like a faucet. Again, I took the vitamins and minerals. Just after noon, I started to run a low-grade fever. Again, I took the vitamins and minerals. The fever went away about four pm. I took the vitamins and minerals again before I went to bed. By morning, all the symptoms were gone except for the runny nose. I treated with additional vitamin C, and the runny nose lasted for three more days. I wonder now if I had taken extra vitamins and minerals the next morning if the runny nose would have been resolved. The last day, I took a liposomal vitamin C. I think that it was significant in stopping the runny nose. I have read that this is better than taking an IV vitamin C.

Here are the vitamins and minerals and how I take them:

Warning: Do not do this if you are on an immunosuppressant drug. It would not be good to heal a cold and lose a kidney. See your doctor! Do not do this for more than two days.
50,000 IU of vitamin D3 and 50,000 IU of vitamin A. Vitamin A as retinyl palmitate. Beta carotene does not convert to vitamin A until the body is deficient. Take when first symptoms occur and again in twelve hours and the next day if symptoms are still present. Safety: 100,000 IU of D3 is like a week at the beach and 100,000 IU of vitamin A is a piece of calf liver about the size of your hand. To reach toxicity on vitamin D3 one researcher says that you would have to take 50,000 IU per day for six months. Do not substitute D2 for D3. At higher levels, D2 disturbs human biology.

Vitamin C 1000 mg every hour if you have a runny nose, or you reach bowel tolerance. Minimum is 1000 mg taken morning, noon, and night. Vitamin C, zinc, and magnesium work together to differentiate innate immunity cells. Dr. Linus Pauling, promotor of vitamin C and winner of two Nobel Prizes, took around 16 gm per day. He lived into his 90s.

50 mg zinc. Same time as the vitamin D3 and A

5 mg magnesium per pound body weight per day. Example: 200 lb. person would take 1000 mg. Take as magnesium citrate. Comes as 200 mg capsule. Take one capsule every two hours until you reach the total for the day. Magnesium is the positive ion for over 300 enzymes. (Magnesium citrate can act as a laxative. You may want to increase the amount of time between 200 mg capsules, if you are a smaller person, until you reach the total for the day.)

Multimineral that includes selenium. Usually comes as three caplets per day. Reduce the magnesium intake by how much is in your multimineral. Note: The body does not absorb magnesium oxide, MgO, effectively. Ignore MgO in your calculations.

Vitamin B complex. Same time as the vitamin D3 and A

400 IU Vitamin E. Same time as the vitamin D and A.

Iodine is significant for the immune system because of metabolic processes of the thyroid. If you have thyroid issue don’t take additional iodine without seeing your doctor. I take 12.5 mg of iodide/iodine, as Lugol’s solution, every day. This is approximately the average daily intake of the Japanese.

Don’t take analgesics for elevated temperature unless it is 101 F or more. Heat helps to stop the pathogen. If you reach a 101 F fever, go to the doctor!

Older people may be significantly deficient in all these vitamins and minerals. Therefore, their immunity to pathogens is very low. This is also the case with people with underlying illnesses. It may take longer for their immune systems to respond.

The most important is the combination of vitamin D3 and vitamin A. They work independently and together to produce over 200 antimicrobial peptides (AMP). The most important is cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide (CAMP) that requires 1,25 VDR/RXR (heterodimer of vitamin D3 and vitamin A) complex. CAMP in combination with defencins—also part of AMP—kill all pathogens. You may recognize some of the ones that are synthesized and used as drugs: Gramicidin, bacitracin, polymyxin B, and vancomycin. The beauty is that the human body can produce the AMPs without side effects if given enough vitamins and minerals.

The cause of death from viral infections is the filling of the lungs with fluid. This is from the over production of inflammatory cytokines. This is typically called a “cytokine storm.” Vitamin C alone will help to reduce the storm, but the combination of AMP and vitamin C controls the production of anti-inflammatory and inflammatory cytokines. Organ failure is another cause of death. The vitamins and minerals will act along other pathways to help keep the organs healthy during the infection.

It is a sad state of affairs in how specialization has kept us from putting it all together. There are other reasons that I will not address at this point that has to do with the economy. The present position of your leaders is to maintain the economy without disruption from having a very well population. A population that lives without disease and only suffers a few months before their death. Live without fear for eventually; death comes to all of us. –Mark Pegram

There are tens of thousands of papers and articles on this topic, but no one puts it all together. Here are the ones I read for this article:

https://www.hindawi.com/journals/bmri/2016/1375858/   https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4925964/
https://maxwellbiosciences.com/articles/alzheimers-disease/ll-37-cathelicidin-antimicrobial-peptide-an-alzheimers-disease-therapy-candidate
https://www.jbc.org/content/286/39/34121.long
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4925964/ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S095528631200109X
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00441-016-2449-z
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2020/01/14/vitamin-d-protects-against-infections.aspx
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathelicidin
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2020/02/24/iv-vitamin-c.aspx https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2020/02/04/novel-coronavirus.aspx
https://www.sigmaaldrich.com/technical-documents/articles/biofiles/antimicrobial-peptides.html

Pathogen Uses of Cloaking Devices Disrupted

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Pathogen CloakingIn the much-watched Star Trek program, the dastardly Klingons would cloak their ships so that they were invisible to the USS Enterprise. In the human body, pathogens also cloak themselves to be invisible, seem like sugar or a food, by using sialic acids. Sialic acids are common on the cells of vertebrates and are the highest concentration in the brain. The immune system will not attack pathogens with sialic acid attached because they appear as a natural part of the human system. Dr. P. R. Raghavan has found that Metadichol, by expressing the CD33 gene, allows binding of these acids so that the immune system can disrupt the pathogen.
There have been many papers published on human healing by Dr. Raghavan that include increase in stem cells, reduction of diabetes, and general well being realized with the use of Metadichol. The finding of the binding of sialic acid with the expression of CD33 and the increase in stem cells explains the healing of wounds quickly when using Metadichol.
Below is a recently published paper by Dr. Raghavan on this topic. Metadichol acts to up regulate or down regulate CD33 depending on signaling mechanisms in human physiology.

Metadichol® and CD33 Expression in Umbilical Cord Cells

Abstract
CD33 also known as Siglec-3 is endogenously expressed in stem cells and is a marker for the myeloid lineage of cells. Increased expression of CD33 thus allows it to bind to any Sialic Acids (SIAs). These acids are binding sites for pathogens and toxins. By binding to these acids, CD33 can prevent invasion of hosts by these pathogens. Down-regulation of CD33, increase the release of the pro-inflammatory cytokine TNF-α by monocytes that increases reactive oxygen species that are involved in diseases like diabetes mellitus, Alzheimer’s, cardiovascular diseases asthma, and in various cancers.
     The up-regulation of CD33 using Metadichol® was studied using Wharton’s Jelly Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs) isolated from human umbilical cord and were grown in p-35 dishes until confluent and treatment was carried out with different concentrations. One dish was untreated and considered as control. The treated and untreated cells were analyzed using Flow Cytometry. The cells treated at 100 pg of Metadichol® has shown the highest increase (>400 fold) in CD33++ expression (48.77%) compared to untreated control (0.11%).
Link to paper: CD33-paper
This paper may be difficult to digest. However, that should not stop you from using Metadichol for whatever ails you. This is a link for the 29 articles with links to Dr. Raghavan’s papers that I have published on Metadichol.  –Mark Pegram

Human Production of Vitamin C

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Human C

I had reported early the finding of Dr. P. R. Raghavan for increased levels of vitamin C in diabetes cases when treated with Metadichol. (Metadichol Induces High Levels of Vitamin C) It appears that the increase was activation of the gene responsible for making the enzyme necessary for the completion of vitamin C production.  This was based on the findings of Dr. Raghavan’s gene studies. This is true in animal studies not yet proved in Humans as the GULO gene is non-functional. Does Metadichol activate the dormant GULO gene in humans despite it being mutated? Studies provided by Skanda Life Sciences shows that Metadichol does activate the gene responsible for the missing enzyme in mouse studies. “Metadichol, Vitamin C, and GULO Gene Expression in Mouse Adipocytes” Link to PDF Metadichol-Vitamin-C-Gulo The loss of production for vitamin C in humans and not in other animals is a mystery.

Vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid, has shown a remarkable ability to reduce disease. Benefits include the prevention and treatment of scurvy, common cold, boost the immune system, lower hypertension, treatment of lead toxicity, cataracts, treatment of cancer, stroke, elasticity of skin, wound healing, and asthma. Metadichol® has shown it can help maintain high levels of plasma vitamin C without oral supplementation of vitamin C. Metadichol® is a nanoemulsion of policosanol or the waxy substance that is found in high concentration on the sunny parts of plants.

Vitamin C is so important to immune health that without it we would soon die of scurvy. Sailors in past centuries developed the disease because of the lack of fresh vegetables and fruits. The British used limes to provide vitamin C and the Germans used sauerkraut (Thus, the associated nicknames). Recently a physician in Norfolk Virginia found that he could treat septic shock (deadly blood infection) with vitamin C, thiamine, and hydrocortisone. The physician has had only one death after treatment of 150 patients. This shows the significance of how important vitamin C is to the immune system, and may explain how Metadichol works so effectively on so many different diseases.

Metadichol boosts the immune system in many other ways. One of the more important ones is how it affects the action of the vitamin D receptors. The vitamin D receptor acts like a conductor of the orchestra for other nuclear receptors. One very important action of the receptors is the making of antimicrobial peptides that are killer cells for all pathogens. Vitamin C supports many of the functions of neutrophils. Neutrophils (white blood cells), another important immune system function, ultimately converts to various types of killer cells that hunt down pathogens.

Vitamin C also has a role in stem cell production as well as collagen folding. This makes Metadichol very significant in wound healing. Treating and preventing infection and acting in wound repair. It is truly amazing how this one substance can act in so many ways. Collagen is useless without folding of the molecule. Because of the folding of collagen, vitamin C is also very important for building strong bones. Thanks for reading­­–Mark Pegram

More Resources:

https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminC-HealthProfessional/
https://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/the-mystery-of-vitamin-c-14167861
Effects of Vitamin C on Neutrophil Function: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17235150
Other articles about Metadichol and research papers: https://pandemicsurvivor.com/category/metadichol/  

Metadichol as a MRSA Treatment—Case Study

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Antibiotic resistant superbugs have been associated with an excess of adverse health conditions. MRSA, a drug-resistant bacterium, is associated with skin disorders such as abscesses and wound infections. The bacteria are also linked to the onset of pneumonia and can ultimately result in sepsis (bloodstream infections).  MRSA infections account for 18,650 deaths in the U.S. in 2005 (Over 80,000 invasive MRSA infections and 11,285 related deaths per year in 2011).

Once again, Metadichol has been effective in treating a very serious disease.  In the case study, the patient used only Metadichol to treat the MRSA infection.  It took only 21 days for it to be completely healed.  Please fill free to download the case study as a pdf file: MRSA-Final

“Metadichol® and MRSA Infections: A Case Report” PR Raghavan, Raghavan, J Infect Dis Ther 2017, 5:2
Abstract
Metadichol® is a nanoemulsion of long-chain alcohols called as Policosanol and is present in foods such as rice, sugar cane, wheat, and peanuts. Metadichol® acts on Nuclear Vitamin D receptors (VDR) that have a ubiquitous presence in cells and tissues of the body to stimulate the immune system and inhibit a variety of disease processes, resulting from viral, bacterial and parasitic infections. Infectious agents can cause disease by avoiding normal host defense mechanisms or by subverting them to promote their replication. They do so by blocking VDR receptor that is responsible for innate immunity, and this suppression of the immune response leads to persistent infections.

We present a case study of a patient who had acquired MRSA infections and how Metadichol® by its actions on the VDR has resolved the problem of this deadly disease without any side effects.

 You may find all the articles and papers for download about Metadichol and various health conditions on my website.

MRSA is a very serious infection that is very difficult to treat.  I had a community acquired infection that started in February of 2009.  After many rounds of doxycycline, here is photo in the infected area in June (The infection is over an inch across). MRSA Photo 2 The infection persisted until I was on doxycycline for a continuous period from August through October (I don’t even want to think about what that did to my microbiome.).  The infection was very painful.  Unfortunately, there was no other treatment available at the time.   I had the infection for nine months and I was lucky that it did not enter my bloodstream.  I was fully replete in serum vitamin D with a level of over 80 ng/ml, 25(OH)D.  The action of the bacteria blocking the VDR is apparent.  If my level of vitamin D had not been high normal, I would hate to think of the outcome as sepsis was a real possibility.

Thank you Dr. Raghavan for developing this unique nanoemulsion that is basically a food substance in a form that is easily absorbed.  MRSA cases in the US are on decline as hospitals and gyms are more caring about sanitized surfaces that prevent spread of the infection.  In 2009, it was not unusual to see gym members walk away without wiping down equipment.  With new awareness of MRSA, all members at my gym wipe down the equipment before and after use.  Please be aware of areas of possible exposure, especially gyms and hospitals.    –Pandemic Survivor

New Nutraceutical, Metadichol® – Breathtaking Results!

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“One good nutraceutical can wipe out the drugs.” Dr. Stephen De Felice

As a regular reader, you have seen several post of the new form of policosanol as a small droplet emulsion, brand name, Metadichol®. (Historic Breakthrough in Health – A Natural Alternative to Vitamin D) This natural substance appears to present a new model for how healing should occur in the body. As a natural substance formed on sun splashed portions of plants, it appears to act in the body very similar to vitamin D. This is a claim in the one of the many patents covering Metadichol®. As you know, you cannot patent a natural substance; however, the novelty is the small droplet that easily absorbs into the body and blood stream where it can become active in cells.

Some of the claims in the patent for healing are as follows: malaria, acne, eczema, ganglion, lipoma, MRSA, wound healing, fungal infections, psoriasis, hair growth, wrinkles, kidney disease, regulates glucose, insulin resistance, Diabetes type 2, Cholesterol, improved lipid profiles, hypertension, kidney disease, heart disease, reduced protein oxidation or oxidative stress, TNF a – significant immune system function, and increases serum vitamin C.

This product has only been on the market since the last part of 2014 in Southeast Asia. The reports coming from that area are amazing in the variety and healing of many diseases. The amazing thing has been no side effects. Of course, since it can be found of most foods, there should be no side effects. This appears to fall into the first rule of medicine, do no harm. When I was first approach by the discoverer, I thought – yeah, yeah another nut found a way to make money. Now after two months, I am truly amazed at the results from my own experience.

My own experience was first the amazement that the pain from my wife’s shingles went away in just a couple of days. It is interesting to note that her primary care physician had identified the rash as shingles along the C3-C4 dermatome. My wife has experienced shingles before that went on for over six months. After four weeks, there was still some redness and my wife went to see a dermatologist who is a friend of the family (I may have instigated this visit because of my prior communication with the dermatologist about Metadichol®). The dermatologist said that it was not shingles, primarily because it had gone away so fast and the apparent appearance of the remaining rash. She described it as a rash of unknown origin. I suspect this type of healing is unfamiliar to the dermatologist.

As for myself, I had a hemorrhoid that shrank overnight after an application of Metadichol®. Also, I treated a wound that I had received from cutting wood. It healed very quickly without a scab formation which I found extremely interesting. After about four weeks of using Metadichol®, there were red formations on my arm and leg. They appeared to be like large pimples or a formation of a colony of bacteria that looked similar to the appearance of MRSA that I had five years ago. After a few days of treatment with the Metadichol®, the redness disappeared. I now wonder if these areas were not colonies of pathogens trying to escape from the action of the Metadichol®. Also, the lipomas are shrinking on our 13 year old dog. We simply spray a couple of sprays on her food every day. We tried to treat a lick granuloma on the dog’s leg. This appeared to work well for a couple of weeks, but the dog started to lick again and the inflammation still exists. We have not tried to increase the dose for the dog. Also intermittent treatment may be an issue as well.

The mechanisms for how the substance works is not truly understood. Dr. Raghavan, the discoverer believes that there is some form of communication that appears to give intelligence to the action of Metadichol®. He has tried the formulation with synthetic components of policosanol and it does not work. He believes that it may be plant and microbial DNA that gets extracted along with the policosanol. It would be interesting if the Metadichol® is also renewing the health of our microbiome and homeostasis is reached in the body through this symbiotic relationship. The consideration of how it may possibly work because of DNA that comes over is daunting when considering the amounts of GMO foods that we are now consuming.

There are to be publications about Metadichol® that will appear over the next several months. This will include information on how our genome reacts and treatment of some very serious diseases. It will be interesting the response of the medical and research communities. – Pandemic Survivor

“Human subtlety will never devise an invention more beautiful, more simple, or more direct than does Nature— because in her inventions, nothing is lacking— and nothing is superfluous.” Leonardo da Vinci

Treating and Preventing Viral Infections

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Modern medicine has solutions to many things that can be treated with drugs or surgery. However, when it comes to viral infections, medicine takes a back seat to the body’s innate immunity.   We have very effective drugs for treating bacteria and fungus infections. When it comes to viruses the best thing seems to be to prevent the disease. This is typically done through acquired immunization. Sometimes the vaccines are not very effective. Have you ever had the flu vaccine and still got the flu? The many varieties of the common cold virus and its constant mutations have prevented the development of a vaccine.

But what about treatment for really serious viral infections like the flu or the present concern over the Ebola virus. It seems that the best course of treatment for these two very serious diseases is to maintain nutrition and hydration as the disease runs its course. I find it odd that we don’t have a vaccine for many of the common bacterial infections that we treat with antibiotics, but we have vaccines for viral infections that we have no drug for treatment. Is there an economic factor in the development of drugs versus vaccines with different types of infections?   Would it not be great to have a vaccine against the streptococcus bacterium? Of course it would “kick the crap” out of the antibiotic economics because of reduced need. Would it not be great to have a vaccine for antibiotic resistant diseases like MRSA? MRSA diseases do account for about fifteen thousand deaths each year in the US.

When there is not a drug to effectively treat an infection, the best course of action is to assure that your innate immunity or your body’s natural immune system is running at peak performance. So how do you accomplish this peak performance to prevent and treat virus infections? I will tell you how I have gone for ten years without getting a cold or the flu. I had one bacterial lung infection during this period that was most likely caused by not wearing a respirator when entering a very nasty crawlspace under an old home. I also had a MRSA infection that was brought home from a hospital by a family member. It seems that our natural immune systems are much more effective at taking care of viral infections versus bacterial infections. Since I have not had a cold or the flu during this period except for the time I tempted fate by not taking my normal course of vitamins and minerals, we have to believe that proper nutrition and exercise to keep the body healthy is the best course of action against viral diseases.

Vitamin D, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, zinc, and iodine: These vitamins work together for producing many effects in the immune system. This includes boosting your white blood cells and the differentiation into the many types of natural pathogen “killers”. Also vitamin D and vitamin A work together to allow the body to make a very effective pathogen killer called cathelicidin antimicrobial peptides. This family of anti-pathogens is very effective against bacteria, viruses, and fungus. The amounts of these nutrients in the body are very critical to their effectiveness.

I read one story about how during a research project, the serum vitamin D of the subjects was being taken once per week. It was noted that one of the subjects had a 25(OH)D level above 60ng/ml one week and the next week the level had dropped to below 20 ng/ml. The next day this subject came down with the flu. When a viral infection becomes active in the body, the immune system can use up its stores of nutrients very rapidly. To repeat, the amount of important micronutrients is extremely critical. For example, you should increase the amounts of vitamin D, vitamin A, vitamin C, and zinc if an infection is present.

It may be that you need to take 50,000 IU of vitamin D3 for a couple of days or the amount you would make at the beach in the sun for a week. You may also want to consider the amount of vitamin C that you are taking. A good way for short term increase in vitamin C is to take liposomal vitamin C. I do not think that you should take this form on a regular basis as it will be too much. One gram, 1000mg, of liposomal vitamin C may act as taking as much as 20 grams or more IV. Antidotal cases have shown that vitamin C is a very effective disease fighter. On a regular basis, you should get at least 3 to 4 grams per day. Zinc is another disease fighter that you may also want to increase. You might increase your intake to as much as 50 mg/d until the virus symptoms recede. Also, folate from leafy greens or as supplement of methyl folate with vitamin B12 is critical for the methylation cycle for proper genetic expression. All of the above nutrients can be depleted rapidly during disease.

Since there is not an effective method for treating Ebola, I wonder why nutritional techniques are not practiced on a disease where the death rate is 50 to 70 percent and sometimes higher. I guess modern medicine has simply decided to remove these efficacious tools. It seems that they do understand the need for hydration and the replacement of minerals, but what about all of the other nutrients that get depleted.

Protect yourself this winter as common viruses start to invade the population. Be sure that you are getting enough of the important nutrients. – Pandemic Survivor

Further Reading: Linus Pauling Institute Oregon State University – Immunity: http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/immunity.html

Dr. David Brownsteins Blog Ebola: A Scurvy-Like Illness: http://blog.drbrownstein.com/ebola-a-scurvy-like-illness/

List of viral diseases – CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/disinfo/disease.htm

 

Grassroots Health Webinars on Vitamin D

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The scientist, researchers, and doctors at Grassroots Health have been presenting webinars on vitamin D and various topics.  This is a wealth of information about how a given disease works with vitamin D as well as the interaction of calcium.

I highly encourage you to go to the website and watch and listen to the webinars.  There is a new one every Tuesday at 1PM eastern time.  Also after becoming familiar with the information, I encourage you to ask your doctor to watch, if he is giving you a hard time about supplementing with vitamin D.  It is important that you maintain your 25(OH)D level above 40 ng/ml.

If you don’t watch and listen to any of the others, I highly suggest that you watch – Why Test Vitamin D!?  The question is always – How much should I take?  This gives you and understanding that everyone responds differently to amounts.  At the Grassroots Health home page you can find a table of how to start supplementing before testing.     There is also a downloadable chart as a PDF.

Here is the link to the Video Page http://www.grassrootshealth.net/index.php/videos

  • Diabetes & Vitamin D
  • The Sun & Vitamin D I and II
  • Pregnancy & Vitamin D  I and II
  • Upper Respiratory Infections & Vitamin DI and II
  • Ethic Disparities & Vitamin D
  • Premenopausal Breast Cancer & Vitamin D
  • The Cost of Vitamin D Deficiency: In Dollars & Disease
  • Vitamin D & Calcium, Fractures, & Kidney Stones  What do we know?
  • Why Test Vitamin D!?
  • Prostate Cancer Positive Core Biopsies Reduced with Vitamin D
  • Prostate Cancer Lesions Reduced with Vitamin D
  • Vitamin D Stops Breast Cancer
  • Vitamin D & Gene Expression
  • Vitamin D & Treatment of Autism
  • Pregnancy & Vitamin D Interview
  • Alzheimer’s Prevention & Vitamin
  • Interaction of Vitamin D and Calcium
  • Vitamin D Requirements for Breast Feeding Mothers
  • Vitamin D & Breast Cancer
  • Vitamin D & Cardiovascular Disease
  • Vitamin D & The Immune System
  • Vitamin D & Cystic Fibrosis

Be well and stay healthy – Pandemic Survivor

Cooked Pork and the Flu

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I had decided earlier the incidence of the flu would be low in the US this year.  I was wrong.  There has been an early spike in the incidence of the flu that occurred in the southeast starting in mid-October.  This is very unusual for the flu as most of the time the highest incidence starts in the northeast and northwest and spreads across the rest of the country.  The timing was odd as well as normally the spike occurs in January and February.  I was struggling for an explanation and then this interesting thought struck me.

It was the Saturday before Christmas and we had gathered at my youngest daughter’s house to celebrate.  My daughter had just had a baby two weeks earlier and was stuck at home for Christmas because of the premature birth.  My other daughter and her husband and two children joined us as well.  What a great time.  My son-in-law decided to have pork tenderloin; roasted on his shinny new grill.  I love pork tenderloin.

As he started to cook he stated that it would not be long as the pork only needed to get to 145­­ 0F.  Having grown up on a farm where we slaughtered hogs every year I was alarmed.  Surely he understood the warnings in the Old Testament about eating pork to say nothing of the billions of Muslims that also have a prohibition against eating pork.  The reason, I believe, pork has historically caused disease when not being properly prepared.  He also had not been inside of the large slaughter houses that I have seen in Smithfield, VA and Tarheel, NC.  I inquired and was informed that the Government said that 145 degrees was high enough temperature for cooked pork.  I was tense.  It was his house and I did not want to insult him as he seemed very trusting of Government and it bastions of institutions and the scientist.

In came the pork and it was blessed and my mouth was watering as I will say it again, there is no better tasting meat than pork tenderloin.  I cut into the pork and there were the pink centers and that smell of pork that says, “I have not been properly cooked.”  I ate the side dishes, feigned swooning over a grandchild, and left the pork on my plate.  I love pork tenderloin.  As I rocked the baby boy to sleep, I whipped out my smart phone and sure enough in May, 2012 the USDA had changed the cooked temperature to 145.  It stated that expert chefs had always insisted that 145 was the ideal temperature for pork.  You know, I am one of those expert chefs when it comes to cooking pork and I like mine well done.  However, if pork is slow cooked on a grill or smoker, I am just fine with the temperature at 145.  But slow cooking means that the meat is held at that temperature for four to six hours which allows the proteins and fats to convert to that extremely pleasing flavor.  I have gotten up many mornings at four am to fire the hickory down to embers and start cooking the pork shoulders for consumption in the evening.  It usually takes at least eight hours by this method to allow the pork to develop to a proper delightful taste.  Pork roasted on a grill at 300 or above should not be eaten until the pork internal temperature reaches 170.  You have to be careful when using this fast cooking method as it is easy to dry the pork out.

I was struggling yesterday with why the flu outbreak had started in the southeast when that ‘light’ went off in my head.  A quick look at the temperature required to kill the flu virus and I found that most viruses die instantly at a temperature between 163 to 170 0F.  One source said that most flu virus could withstand a 145 degree temperature for thirty minutes or more.  A quick review of the USDA websites and the CDC shows that most bacteria die off at under 140 but for poultry, it is necessary to be sure that poultry reaches 165 so that viral contamination is properly controlled.  WHAT?  All other meats except poultry are required to reach a temperature of 160 according to the USDA.  How could the USDA come to the conclusion that 145 is okay for pork, but poultry must reach the temperature of 165 to make sure all the viruses have died.  Control against the bird flu but not against the swine flu?  Has our GOVERNMENT made the same mistake it made in scaring us out the sun for fifty years?  Swine have long been known to carry many types of viruses that can be easily transferred to people.

Nobody loves their pork better than people from the southeast.  If restaurants are now cooking pork quickly at higher temperatures, then eating pork at a restaurant may be like playing roulette with you health – some is virus free and other may not be.   The USDA and CDC say there is no danger of getting the flu from eating properly prepared pork or poultry.  Could twenty degrees difference in final cooked temperature be the cause of the flu outbreak this year in the Southeast?

Vitamin D will protect you from the flu.  However, when your exposure to virus is extreme, then your increased immunity can still be compromised.  Thank you son-in-law; informing me of the cooked temperature change by the USDA is the best Christmas present ever.  I am wondering now when I went for seven days without vitamin D and contracted a severe cold if eating pork twice that week had anything to do with it. You can bet I will not be eating any pork until the USDA changes the temperature for pork back to at least 160 like the rest of meat.  I will still be enjoying pork, but only pork that I know has been properly prepared.  – Pandemic Survivor

The Great Vitamin D Versus Cold Immune System Experiment

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When there are just you, statistical significance relates only to you.  This is an odd kind of statement, but when you are considering whether to take a measure against something that may happen to you, the only thing that concerns you is whether it happens to you.  Of course you can always commit a type 1 error, or believe that something is present when it is not.  When given multiple possibilities, the one that makes the least assumptions is the correct one – you may know this as Occam’s razor.  My simple hypothesis is that we seldom get colds or the flu in the summer because of exposure to the sun which gives us more vitamin D.

Since I started regularly taking vitamin D in November of 2004, I had only one incidence of the sniffles that could be considered a cold.  Last year, I had the sniffles that lasted approximately thirty six hours and may have been related to my allergy to wheat and not a viral infection.  So had the vitamin D along with the several grams of vitamin C and the 25 mg of zinc that I take per day prevented me from having a cold for over eight years?  The only way to tell was to test.  I stopped taking my normal 10,000 IU of vitamin D3 per day.

It was the first of November and a great time to test as my children and my grandchildren seem to all have colds.  I stopped taking the vitamin D one week before Thanksgiving.  On Thanksgiving Day, my nose started to run.  By the next morning, I was completely stopped up and felt terrible.  It only took seven days without vitamin D3 to get my first real cold in eight years.  As far as I am concerned that was proof enough.  In not having a cold for so long, you forget how miserable you can feel with a viral infection that drags out.  I returned to taking vitamin D, but it was not getting better after three days.  I then decided to ‘take a trip to the beach.’

In the winter time, my escape to the Caribbean Islands is to take fifty thousand IU’s of vitamin D3.  I believe this is the amount that I would make in about two days at the beach with a significant amount of skin surface exposed.  The Sunday after Thanksgiving, I took the fifty thousand IU’s.  I did this until Wednesday or for four days.  Finally the symptoms went away and I could breathe again by Thursday.  I will not repeat this experiment again!

To give consideration to the amount of vitamin D that I missed versus the amount of increase to feel better, review this balance.  I went for seven days without D3.  That was a reduction of 70,000 IU that I would normally have taken.  I then started again at 10,000IU per day but my cold was not getting better.  I then went to 50,000IU per day for four days before I got better.  This represents a ‘make-up’ of 160,000 IU (4 days x 50,000 – 4 x10,000  “my normal intake”) to get my immune system to respond.  So in the fourteen day period, I had 90,000 IU (160,000 – 70,000) more than I would normally have taken.  Once your immune system has gone down, it takes more than normal vitamin D to get it to respond quickly.  This should be a lesson in the design of experiments when trying to give a large dose and then measure whether it is effective over a long period.  Vitamin D works best when received every day with an adequate amount.  CNN – “Vitamin D supplements no help for colds, flu”

Ah, eight days at the beach in the Caribbean and my cold went away.  Since I could not afford to take the time to go to the Caribbean, the one dollar worth of vitamin D that I took was a very easy and cost effective solution.  The formula to prevent colds and the flu:  Per day, 40 IU of vitamin D3 per pound of body weight every day without missing.  If you weigh 150 pounds then 6,000 IU per day.  If you miss a day then make it up by taking twice as much the next day.  Take one gram (1000 mg) of vitamin C per fifty pounds of body weight per day.  If you weigh 150 pounds then three grams per day.  Take 5 mg of zinc per day for every fifty pounds of body weight.  If you weigh 150 pounds then 15 mg per day.

Sounds simple, it is simple.  You may say that taking all those supplements really bothers and you don’t want to do it.  I say fine, go ahead and have colds and the flu and feel miserable.  Meanwhile, I will spend my winters in the Caribbean in the sun.   – Pandemic Survivor

Headed to the Hospital – Fortify with Vitamin D

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You are off to the hospital to have a disease healed only to discover you may be exposed to a more deadly disease.  Hospitals are dangerous places because of the ease of acquiring an infection.  Hospital acquired infections, HAI, are one of the leading causes of death in the US.  There are typically one million seven hundred thousand cases of HAI per year and one hundred thousand deaths.  We have known for a long time that vitamin D, our connection to the sun, is a potent pathogen fighter.  Now it is starting to be promoted as armor against all of the bugs that can easily be transmitted in the hospital.  Dima A. Youssef , Department of Internal Medicine; Division of Infectious Diseases; East Tennessee State University; Johnson City, TN USA, and others have recently published a paper in Dermato Endocrinology: “Vitamin D’s potential to reduce the risk of hospital-acquired infections”   Here is a summary from Medical News Today that may be easier to digest.

Have you ever wonder why you seem to not have colds or the flu during the summer and the infection that you had in your foot healed as the weather warmed.  This is the effect of vitamin D as it works along several pathways in your body to stop infections.  This includes all pathogens whether bacterial, fungal, or viral.  This is a huge advantage over antibiotics as it is not targeted toward a particular pathogen, it raises you innate immune response to all pathogens.

William Grant, coauthor of the paper from Sunlight, Nutrition and Research Center, says that taking fifty thousand IU of vitamin D3 several days before entering the hospital is the best way to fortify.  Be sure it is vitamin D3 and not vitamin D2 and that it is a reliable brand like Bio Tech Pharmacal.  I have also found Solgar Brand to be very effective and is easy to obtain at Vitamin Shoppe or Earth Fare.  During the hospital stay and afterwards, keep supplementing with five to ten thousand IU per day of D3 to maintain a high level of immunity.

It would seem that all hospitals would want to start the practice of giving vitamin D as a way to reduce infection.  But don’t depend on someone else looking out for you. – Pandemic Survivor