Dear James,
I’m a long time SurvivalBlog reader, first time responder, and serious prepper. This article by J.F. has some excellent information but there is a glaring omission. In most auto immune diseases, there is an assault on your body that invokes a response by your immune system. At times, such as the case of the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918, your body gets confused by various threats and “brings out the big guns, namely a cytokine storm that effectively neutralizes the threat. Unfortunately, this also does “collateral damage” in the form of severe oxidative stress to surrounding tissue.
Vitamin D3 is well known to be an immuno-regulator, meaning it prevents a harmful over reaction of the killer T-cells sent in to take care of the problem. Vitamin D makes your immune system work smarter, not harder. How much dosage does a person need to properly regulate their immune system? The key is to get your blood level of Vitamin D between 50 and 100 nanograms per milliliter based on a 25(OH)D blood test. For most people this means taking 5,000 international units a day. (Your typical multi vitamin has 400 units.) Some who spend a lot of time outdoors and have certain dietary habits might need a little less than 5,000, but the blood test is the ultimate arbiter.
Optimizing your vitamin D to this level has many other benefits, so we’re not talking about introducing an unnecessary risk. It’s good for you whether or not you’re concerned about pandemics or your immune system. And it’s quite inexpensive, normally 5 to 10 cents a day (US).
For those who don’t want to take my word for it, Dr. John Cannell is arguably the leading authority on Vitamin D’s role in regulating the auto-immune system, so a google search of his name and “auto immune” will lead you to all the authoritative sources you could possibly want. (I just did it and got 668,000 articles.) Best of luck to everyone in the coming times. – Big Blue
JWR Replies: Readers must be warned that Vitamin D is fat soluble. Unlike the water soluble vitamins, excess fat soluble vitamins are not easily excreted by the human body, and can build up to toxic levels. Consult your physician before mega-dosing any fat soluble vitamins for more than just brief periods. (Two or three days.) The acronym KADE should be memorized: Vitamins K A,D, and E are fat soluble, and special care must be used in their dosing. In contrast, the water soluble vitamins are rarely a problem, since the body can easily get rid of any more of them than are needed for complete nutrition and a sufficient immune response.