COVID-19 Tips: Dietary Supplements Useful For Fighting Off COVID-19 But Beware Of Vitamin IV Drip Scams
Source: COVID-19 Tips Apr 27, 2020 4 years, 7 months, 1 week, 3 days, 3 hours, 43 minutes ago
COVID-19 Tips: More medical and scientific studies are emerging that supplements containing vitamins C and D and other micronutrients, sometimes in amounts exceeding the federally recommended levels, are a safe, effective and low-cost means of helping your immune system fight off COVID-19 and other acute respiratory tract diseases.
Researchers from Oregon State University recently published their research findings in the in the journal
Nutrients.
https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/12/4/1181
Another study report by researchers from the University of Southampton lead by Professor Philip Calder has also juts concluded another study that reinforces the similar conclusions.
https://www.preprints.org/manuscript/202003.0199/v1
Readers are advised about reading media articles that say supplements have no effects on the body’s immune system as most of the time these are often written by ignorant journalist with no medical qualifications or by greedy and unethical doctors that are under the payroll of the big pharmaceutical giants. Readers should also avoid such publications and online portals disseminating misinformation and fake news.
Dr Adrian Gombart of OSU's Linus Pauling Institute and collaborators at the University of Southampton (United Kingdom), the University of Otago (New Zealand) and University Medical Center (The Netherlands) say public health officials should issue a clear set of nutritional recommendations to complement messages about the role of hand washing and vaccinations in preventing the spread of infections.
Dr Gombart, Professor of biochemistry and biophysics in the OSU College of Science and a principal investigator at the Linus Pauling Institute told Thailand Medical News, "Around the world, acute respiratory tract infections kill more than 2.5 million people every year. Meanwhile, there's a wealth of data that shows the role that good nutrition plays in supporting the immune system. As a society we need to be doing a better job of getting that message across along with the other important, more common messages."
Certain specific vitamins, minerals and fatty acids have key jobs to play in helping your immune system, he says. In particular vitamin C, vitamin D, zinc, and an omega-3 fatty acid found in fish, docosahexaenoic acid, also known as DHA, are critical for immune function.
He added, "The roles that vitamins C and D play in immunity are particularly well known. Vitamin C has roles in several aspects of immunity, including the growth and function of immune cells and antibody production. Vitamin D receptors on immune cells also affect their function. This means that vitamin D profoundly influences your response to infections.”
He further added, "The problem is that people simply aren't eating enough of these nutrients. This could destroy your resistance to infections. Consequently, we will see an increase in disease and all of the extra burdens that go along with that increase."
It is one reason why the researchers are urging not only a daily multivitamin, but
doses of 200 milligrams or more of vitamin C (higher than the suggested federal guidelines of 75 milligrams for men and 50 for women) and 2,000 international units of vitamin D, rather than the 400 to 800 recommended depending on age.
Dr Gombart stresses that the stakes are huge. Every year, influenza alone hospitalizes millions and kills several hundred thousand worldwide.
Dr Gombart commented, "A number of standard public health practices have been developed to help limit the spread and impact of respiratory viruses: regular hand washing, avoiding those showing symptoms of infection, and covering coughs. And for certain viruses like influenza, there are annual vaccination campaigns."
One should note that there is no doubt that vaccines, when available, can be effective, but they're not foolproof.
Dr Gombart emphasizes that current public health practices ie stressing social distancing, hygiene and vaccinations are important and effective but in need of complementary strategies. A nutritional focus on the immune system could help minimize the impact of many kinds of infections.
He added, "The present situation with COVID-19 and the number of people dying from other respiratory infections make it clear that we are not doing enough," he said. "We strongly encourage public health officials to include nutritional strategies in their arsenal."
Professor Calder from University of Southampton echoed the same sentiments and added, "The present situation with COVID-19 shows that we cannot just rely on vaccinations to limit the impact of respiratory infections. Improving our nutrition is a very straight forward step that we can all take to help our bodies deal with infections and limit the emergence of new, more virulent strains of viruses. We therefore strongly encourage public health officials to make sure nutritional strategies are included in all their messaging about coping with viral infections."
However on another note, the general public are warned about scams by certain wellness centres and anti-aging clinics promoting so called Intravenous (IV) Vitamin Therapy Or Vitamin Drips to boost their immunity. Some unethical mainstream media have also been accessory in promoting such scams to the general public. There are no medical studies to date that show these expensive overpriced therapies work and in some cases they can actually have long term health effects such as kidney damage etc despite patients being sold dreams by so called unethical and greedy doctors. THE US FDA, EU regulatory bodies and Thai Health authorities have not approved intravenous vitamin drips as a treatment protocol to boost immunity.
https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/new-scam-in-the-medical-industry-:-intravenous(iv)-vitamin-therapy-or-vitamin-drips
For more
COVID-19 Tips and Warnings, keep on logging to
Thailand Medical News
Please help us to support and sustain this site and other research initiatives we are propelling and various other charitable projects we are undertaking by making a donation. You can make a contribution via Paypal. We apologize for “begging” often as despite having millions of views, we have to date only received a 27 donations from a group of kind souls. (Some multiple donations were from the same kind person).We really need help please. Thank You.
https://www.thailandmedical.news/p/sponsorship