Dr. Craig Reese, DC, PC

Hopefully your sugar buzz from all that Halloween candy has worn off by now and you have sworn off desserts until Thanksgiving dinner arrives. The sun has come back out and the kids lucked out on Halloween night again this year. How come when my kids were young it rained or snowed every Halloween? Maybe it is just a case of selective memory on my part but I remember some pretty nasty nights taking the kids door to door for their candy fixes.

Sugar and the Immune System

Research has been around for decades showing that sugar suppresses the immune system and makes people more susceptible to infections. With the colder weather and closed up, air-tight buildings, we are exposed to more virus and bacteria in our environment. This is the wrong time to be over-dosing on lots of sugar. At the first sign of a cold or flu, all sodas and junk food should be stopped immediately. Gator-aide is mostly high fructose corn syrup and cheap minerals that many people drink to re-hydrate themselves. Not a good idea anytime but especially when you are sick. Six-eight ounces of water, a pinch of sea salt and a splash of organic juice can be mixed together to create your own re-hydrating drink.

Flu Deaths

We have all heard the news of children dying from the flu who were supposedly healthy otherwise. Healthy people don’t get sick or have cancer so there is a mis-statement to start with but why are these young people dying? From the Star Tribune 10/5/2009:
A recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that of the 36 children who died from H1N1 from April to August, six had no chronic health conditions. But all of them had a co-occurring bacterial infection. The most common co-occurring infection that causes flu-related deaths is staphylococcus aureus. A third of the population carries it, most in their nose or on their skin. The flu causes upper respiratory damage, which allows the staph to make its way into the lungs. "Kids That Die From Swine Flu Have Coexisting Bacterial Infections." Dr. Mercola posted a special report called the Special Swine Flu Report that helps clear up some misconceptions and bad information that is being spread by the government and the media. "Special Swine Flu Update."

Dangerous Interventions

The use of fever lowering drugs like aspirin and Tylenol will keep you sick longer. Fevers help kill the infection and will not get over 105 unless the person gets dehydrated. Research on deaths from the 1918 Spanish flu found that aspirin use was the cause of more deaths because it allowed the patients to develop pneumonia. Lowering fevers allows the infections to get worse and progress into more life threatening illness like pneumonia. Having a weakened immune system from lack of vitamin D in the body makes it tougher to fight off the infection. Ever wonder why the flu season occurs in the fall and winter/ It is because that is when our vitamin D stores are the lowest and we are all breathing the same contaminated indoor air.

Vitamin D

We got an extra hour of sleep this weekend due to the end of Daylight Savings Time. We also now find things very dark by 5 PM. Our skin exposure to the sun is less because of the short days and the colder weather. Even if we joined the Polar Bear Sunbathing Club and laid nude in the snow trying to get our sunlight, there is less UV rays coming through since we are north of the 35% latitude line. You can use the calculator listed talked about on Dr. Mercola’s website to figure our the needed exposure if you want: Dr. Mercola, "How Much Sunshine Does it Take to Make Enough Vitamin D"
The bottom line is that our bodies are not producing enough vitamin D to meet our physiological needs. It is also not abundant enough in our food supply. Fatty fish, eggs and beef liver gives us 15-nearly 1400 IU’s of vitamin D in a normal serving. 20-30 minutes in the sun with 40% of our skin exposed gives us 10,000 IU’s. The Standard American Diet averages 100 IU’s. Fortified milk gives you 400 IU’s of vitamin D2, not the active D3 form, per quart so that is not a great source either. A simple blood test will tell you if your vitamin D levels are between 60-80 ng. If they are not, Dr. Eisenstein has the following recommendations for vitamin D intake:
Dr. Eisenstein's Daily Vitamin D Recommendations for this season's Flu starting in October

Vitamin D, Probiotics and Chicken soup have been effective in combating viral infections like Flu.

1. Get a Vitamin D blood test 25(OH)D
2. Make sure your whole family has adequate blood levels of Vitamin D this flu season (>60-80ng/ml). Most children and adults vitamin D blood level is <30ng/ml.
3. Adult (and children >100lbs) maintenance ............ 10,000 IU daily.
4. Children's maintenance: <100lbs........................... 5,000 IU daily.
5. At the first symptoms of a cold or flu 1,000IU/ lb. daily for 7 days.
Examples:
50lb ...............................................................50,000IU daily.
100 lb daily ......................................................100,000IU daily.
150 lb daily.......................................................150,000IU daily.
200 lb daily.......................................................200,000 IU daily.

6. And of course Chicken Soup
http://homefirst.com/

This may seem like a lot but remember how much vitamin D the body can make in just 30 minutes of sunlight exposure. Since vitamin D protects us against 30 different types of cancer, osteoporosis, the flu, bone and joint pains, heart disease, diabetes, and even depression; don’t you think it might be something worth taking? We can send you for a blood test to get your levels or we can test your nutrition to see how much vitamin D you need to take to protect your health. Either way, most people need to be taking some form of vitamin D this winter.

Office News

I do “tweet” a bit on my Twitter.com/drcraigreese site. Dr. Mercola also asked to link with me so you can see his comments on my site daily as well. There has been a lot of swine flu info on there for the past few weeks.

The office will be closed 11/26 & 27 for Thanksgiving. We will be open Monday through Wednesday before Thanksgiving if you need to get in.