How Do You Help Prevent the Flu?

Vitamin D is confirmed to play a very important role in your immune system.  It is actually responsible for making sure your immune system can defend itself against diseases like the flu.

It is known that a deficiency in vitamin D is linked to diseases like cancer, diabetes or even heart disease as well as many others.  But what is a newer discovery is that T-cells need to be activated in order to fight the various diseases and those T-cells definitely need the help of vitamin D. 

As Dr. Mercola reported in one of his articles:

 " When a T cell recognizes foreign invaders like bacteria or viruses, it sends activating signals to the vitamin D receptor gene. The VDR gene then starts producing DVR protein, which binds vitamin D in the T cell.  Then the vitamin D bound and activated DVR produces PLC-gamma1 protein -- which allows the T cell to get started fighting the infection."

He also stated that vitamin D helps in the production of antibacterial peptides which help to protect you against the flu.  That is one of the reasons that in the wintertime, when there is not as much sunshine as in the summer, you tend to be more prone to a vitamin D deficiency.  This, in turn, will generally lead to getting infected with the flu viruses.

Next time the flu season comes around, make sure you are not one of its victims.  Stick to a healthy diet and make sure you have plenty of vitamin D to help you fight off those unwanted viruses.