Vitamin D - Fights Ageing and Now perhaps the Swine Flu

Vitamin D has been making headlines recently with a host of benefits from helping to slow ageing, lowering cancer risk, dementia prevention and now tests are underway to see if it may also help fight Swine Flu. http://sunshinevitamin.org:80/

The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) has revealed it will be conducting test to check the blood levels of vitamin D of those contracting the ailments of Swine Flu.

An article published in the Toronto Globe & Mail  reported that the Public Health Agency of Canada will measure the levels of vitamin D in the blood of H1N1 patients and compare the levels with those of uninfected people.

"A finding of a link to the vitamin would mean that people could reduce the odds of being harmed by the new flu bug by simply popping a low-cost supplement"

"Scientists have long been wondering about a possible connection between vitamin D and influenza because of the striking observations in both the northern and southern hemispheres that flu is mostly a wintertime ailment.".

Vitamin D is required for the absorption and utilisation of Calcium and Phosphorous. It is important for the normal growth of teeth and bones. It is a fat-soluble vitamin and has properties of both vitamin and hormone. In the treatment and prevention of colon and breast cancer, hypocalcemia, osteoarthritis and osteoporosis this vitamin is very important and is also necessary for normal blood clotting and thyroid function.

D2, or Ergocalciferol unlike D3 (Cholecalciferol) is not produced by the body. It is found in plants in tiny quantity and can be taken as a supplement. D3 (Cholecalciferol) is the natural source of vitamin D. It is the substance made in large quantities in the skin when sunlight strikes bare skin. It is thought to be the most potent form of vitamin D between the two. Unfortunately, where the sun is scarce  people tend to have major vitamin D deficiencies. This is where supplements can help.

The federal health agency cautioned that a causal relationship between not having a lot of vitamin D and the risks posed by the flu remains to be proved, but is said the approach may offer promise in reducing the severity of infections.

A number of university and hospital researchers, in conjunction with the agency, started investigating the possible role of vitamin D and the severity of flu symptoms last year, well before the current outbreak began in Mexico this spring.

But the agency said it has adapted this continuing study to the H1N1 outbreak. As part of the research, the investigators will also look at whether a person's genetic makeup has something to do with the intensity of the flu they experience.

Although not much is known about the ability of vitamin D to mitigate the effects of the swine flu, the agency is citing one tantalizing piece of research suggesting the approach is more than a long shot and actually holds promise in combatting the new pandemic.

In the 1940s, researchers experimenting with mice found that those receiving diets low in vitamin D were more susceptible to an experimental swine-flu infection than those that received adequate amounts of the nutrient, according to the e-mail from the agency.

The reason vitamin D might be able to fight the flu isn't known, but the prevailing hypothesis is that the nutrient is able to strengthen the immune system, allowing those infected to better fight off their illness. Vitamin D has been found, for instance, to offer some protection against tuberculosis.

The evidence is almost overwhelming that vitamin D appears to be making the immune system attack foreign entities better,” said Reinhold Vieth, a professor in the department of nutritional sciences at the University of Toronto.

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