Nisha Manek, MD, FACP, FRCP (UK).
On March 18, I sent out a newsletter to my family and friends advising them of key action steps to boost immune health in the face of the newly declared COVID-19 pandemic. Personal protective equipment (PPE) was constantly in the news, and strong immunity is like internal PPE. The advice in this column bears out in the field.
Nisha Manek
One element I recommend is vitamin D. Researchers found that the nations with the highest death rates from COVID-19—Italy, Spain, and France — also had the lowest average vitamin D levels. Vitamin D deficiency weakens the immune system. On April 22, Public Health England in the United Kingdom issued a health advisory for everyone to consider Vitamin D supplements in the coronavirus lockdown.
Vitamin D is manufactured by an interaction in the skin to the ultraviolet rays in sunlight. Many Americans are low in vitamin D, but those with darker skin tones are at a disadvantage because melanin inhibits production of the vitamin.
Supplemental vitamin D can jumpstart your immune system’s army. Take 10,000 international units (IU) of vitamin D3 per day for two weeks, then maintain at 5000 IU daily.
Vitamin C plays a central role in directing your immune system’s deployment. Studies show vitamin C shortens the frequency, duration, and severity of the common cold and reduces the incidence of pneumonia.
From the several formulations of vitamin C, liposomal preparation contains the vitamin inside tiny nanoparticles of fat which enable the body to absorb it quickly. Take at least 1 gram (1000mg) daily and double or triple the dose of vitamin C during an acute viral infection.
Selenium, a crucial micronutrient, plays a vital role in our first line of defense against invaders: a tough physical barrier of skin and lining of the lungs preventing virus entry. Selenium is also essential in the immune army’s vast communication lines to activate resting cells to fight at the front lines.
Supplement your diet with selenium 200 micrograms (mcg) daily. Brazil nuts are an excellent source of selenium, and one brazil nut provides, on average, 90 mcg of this mineral.
Zinc works synergistically to help the body’s immune army obstruct viral replication by inhibiting enzymes the virus needs to make more copies of itself. Zinc also stops the virus latching onto the genetic code of the cells in your lungs. A typical daily dose of zinc is 50 mg.
Turmeric, the golden spice, holds important anti-viral properties. Turmeric fine-tunes the central switch of the immune army known as nuclear factor kappa B and marshals the natural killer cells.
The trick to turmeric is taking curcumin, the active component. Look for standardized formulations — the bottle should state “standardized,” which means the product contains 95% curcuminoid fraction.
The usual dose is 750 mg to 2000 mg daily. If you are not able to get the standardized version, take turmeric with a fatty meal to enhance absorption or buy lipid-based turmeric or one with black pepper (piperine).
As you prepare your internal PPE, guarantee its effectiveness by throwing out your junk food. Throw out the soda pop too.
Instead, enjoy tulsi tea. Available from Trader Joes, tulsi is from the basil family and has an essential place in Ayurveda for its anti-viral properties.
One of my favorite beverages is the “corona-bashing-tea”: steep 1-2 inch thinly sliced fresh ginger in hot water. Add fresh lemon juice, honey, and cayenne pepper. Enjoy the spicy, tangy brew.
Other herbs such as dill and oregano also fortify your immunity. Add them to soups. Probiotic foods like sauerkraut, pickles, kimchi, yogurt, and miso will feed the immense immune army in your gut.
If you are unsure which supplement to purchase, ConsumerLab.com is an independent lab that lists supplements and verifies the contents. You can compare supplements before spending your money: https://www.consumerlab.com/.
Next up, your body has an energy pump that primes the body’s army to become super-immune. Together, we will crush the curve.
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Dr. Nisha Manek, who lives in Aptos, is an integrative rheumatologist and an alumnus of Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota. She is the author of “Bridging Science and Spirit: The Genius of William A. Tiller’s Physics and the Promise of Information Medicine.” Visit her at www.nishamanekmd.com.