It’s that time of year again. The common cold is making itself more common. If you haven’t been hit by it yet, it seems inevitable that it will rear its ugly head soon enough. For a long time, Vitamin C has been the sweetheart of the nutrition world for fighting off the cold. More recently, Zinc has been shown to help reduce the length of the cold as well.
While these two work very well, we are missing out on a powerhouse vitamin that not only has the ability to help guard against the common cold but has many other fantastic benefits. It also helps with mood; especially the seasonal depression that is really setting in now. This vitamin helps with energy levels and generally makes us feel better. Almost every single cell in the human body has a receptor for… Vitamin D. We are not sure what all of them do yet but the benefits of keeping your levels high are well documented. Guess what Oregonians? Because of where we live, there is no chance that we will get enough vitamin D due to sun exposure and diet…so, we have to supplement.
The FDA suggests that we consume 400 IUs of Vitamin D every day. I suggest that we are closer to 1000-2000IUs per day. If and when I do get that nasty cold, I take Zinc along with 4000-6000IUs of Vitamin D until it is gone and I have seen my 2-3 week long colds reduced to just days.
Getting your Vitamin D levels up has myriad health benefits, some of which we may not even know yet. It is a cheap and easy way to increase your health, especially during the cold and flu season.