Will the Government Act Before Countless More Suffer Needlessly?
Sen. Orin Hatch, R-Utah, complained for years that the FDA dragged its feet and ignored the science about the need for folic acid supplementation to prevent neural tube birth defects in newborns. Under fierce pressure, the FDA finally admitted the truth and such defects were reduced. Now the FDA is again refusing to tell the American people about another supplement which can save lives, this time in a flu pandemic, but also in reducing heart disease and cancer and other life destroying conditions.
The government has created a web site (www.flu.gov) expressly dedicated to educating the public about flu, including Swine Flu. This site however says nothing about natural forms of prevention and treatment, including even Vitamin D.
We are now asking the CDC, FDA, NIH, and HHS to tell the truth about the immense benefits to be gained from Vitamin D supplementation during the flu season and year round. We are also requesting that HHS update the government’s web site, www.flu.gov to include the incontestable scientific research behind Vitamin D.
There are reliable scientific studies showing a positive correlation between Vitamin D and a decrease in flu occurrence and complications. There is good science explaining this correlation. If the government nevertheless believes more studies are in order, we request that the government sponsor and pay for more trials.
What Can Be Done this Flu Season?
As Bill Faloon of the Life Extension Foundation has pointed out, many doctors are not trained to recognize a Vitamin D deficiency until rickets develop in children or osteomalacia (softening of the bones) develops in adults . Even so, many doctors are now urging their patients to supplement with Vitamin D.
Whether your doctor is up to date or not, you should take the initiative. Have your Vitamin D level checked. If you are below an optimum Vitamin D level, take a supplement. Changing your diet alone cannot create optimal Vitamin D levels. Only supplementation or sufficient exposure to the sun (without sun block and when the sun’s rays are sufficiently strong) can do that.
The blood work that checks Vitamin D status is called the 25, hydroxy vitamin D test. Some experts are satisfied with a minimum reading of 30 ng/ml, but it is doubtful that this is high enough to make your immune system work at optimal levels. While a level of 30 ng/ml defines the bottom of the normal range, Integrative doctors often like to see levels of 70 or 80 (but no higher than 100) ng/ml. Use of the blood test is the best way to prevent over-dosing.
Seniors are especially apt to be vitamin D deficient and have been found to be less likely to succumb to all causes of mortality when they have optimal levels of vitamin D. Young people are also often deficient even though Vitamin D is essential as the body grows and matures.
The most recent Harvard Heart Letter confirms that at least one-third of Americans of all ages are Vitamin D deficient. “Deficient” in this instance was defined as less than 20 ng/ml of 25-hydroxy vitamin D. The Harvard letter stated that supplements are the simplest and safest way to get vitamin D and recommended 800 to 1,000 IU from supplements as a daily goal. The Vitamin D Council recommends 5,000 IU daily, but in conjunction with blood testing. The U.S. government claims to be highly concerned about Swine flu and the general health of the American public, but does not even recommend 800 IU. For the most part, it says nothing.
Imagine for a moment that a drug company announced the development of a new drug matching the preventive and curative properties of Vitamin D. Does anyone think the government would remain silent about such a new drug? Of course not. The government would promote the use of the new wonder drug. This is a scandal. Please join us in asking the government to do its duty to the American people by telling the truth about Vitamin D for flu and for general health. Take Action Here!
For more on the extensive science behind Vitamin D
Read About the Science, extracted from an article by Bill Faloon of the Life Extension Foundation.
Visit Natural Health Science News Vitamin Research, which includes studies that explain how Vitamin D works to prevent flus and respiratory disease as well as to minimize flu symptoms
Vist Vitamin D Council which also features numerous studies on influenza and Vitamin D
For additional discussion on Vitamin D, see any of the following:
Dr. Mercola provides a lecture covering resources, research, and recommendations on Vitamin D in addition to many other articles.
Grassroots Health provides information about a worldwide public health campaign to solve the vitamin D deficiency epidemic through a focus on testing and education with an invite to individuals to join the campaign by getting their Vitamin D levels tested.
Life Extension Magazine also provides additional important articles (shown below), covering the critical role of Vitamin D and an assessment of just how Vitamin D deficient we all probably are.
- Bill Faloon Vitamin D article, 2009
- Life Extension Foundation Vitamin D article, 2009
- Julius Goepp MD, Vitamin D article, 2009
Natural News provides links to more than 200 featured Vitamin D articles.
Please allow Vitamin D (D3) to be used to help alleviate flu-like symtoms!!
Yes, get the general public know about the great benefits of vitamin D, especially at this time of the year.
Every MD in this country SHOULD have their patients achieve a Vitamin D level of 50. But how many are? Likewise, MDs are brutally ignorant of the wave of gluten-caused illnesses.
It is high time the US Government actually did something, by having our Surgeon General issue an order to all physicians, to get smart about VItamin D and other issues they’re ignorant about. It is absolutely crucial that we take care of the huge health-care costs in the USA, by having our MDs (not just naturopaths) do common-sense things to eradicate/reduce illnesses via natural methods, where possible.
I AM SICK OF THE STUPIDITY OF OUR GOVERNMENT.
WHY ARE WE FUNDING THE WRONG END?
WHY AREN’T WE FUNDING PREVENTION WITH SIMPLE HOLISTIC VITAMIN D & VITAMIN C & REAL FOOD?
PATHETIC HOW DUMB ALL THESE HIGHLY PAID MORONS ARE.
HELP US ALL.
Sherry, there is an old adage– “Follow the money.”
If you want to know why preventive medicine is violently opposed by the AMA and the business cartel servicing our 19th century medical care system, the issue is money– they are both invested in, and paid richly by a system providing the least benefit for the patient, but at maximum profit for themselves.
And they will ride this SS Titanic of a system straight to the bottom, hanging on as long as they can.
Our health care “system” is broken– exactly like Wall Street, all over again. The reason none of the bankers came to his senses and said, “This is wrong!” is Wall Street had little regulation by the public, in the public interest.
Instead, Wall Street players already had lobbied for 20 years to repeal financial regulation, and were now making too much money to stop what was killing the rest of the country.
Something should be done about adding vitamin D and also Magnesium to bottled water.
the aerial spraying has to stop. We need the sunlight that is being taken from us. Vitamin D is a great thing but we also need sun. Perhaps the government could break the silence on the vitamin D and do the same with the toxins that are dumped on us daily.
please inform the public about Vit D and it’s wonderful benefits, especially in this flu season !!!
The effort to get the word out about vitamin D3 needs to be accompanied by additional info on the harmful additives that are being added to vitamin D3. Silicon dioxide is now being added to an increasing number of natural supplements with biased propaganda stating that it is inert. If it were inert, then why is used in immunological research to destroy circulating neutrophil, macrophage populations, thus preventing a normal immune response?
Magnesium stearate is a transfat that prevents absorbtion of these supplements too. The special interest groups that are keeping the lid on vitamin D3 are already several steps ahead of you and your goals. Why aren’t you doing anything about it? The published literature is extensive. Wake up and realize that taking vitamin D3 with an immune destroying additive contadicts the effects of vitamin D3. The analogy is similar to putting a high octane additive to boost fuel efficiency and add some sugar water to boot. After awhile, the damage done by the sugar water accumulates and your engine can no longer run or be repaired.
Don’t let the enemy outsmart you so quickly. They are well organized sociopaths that are adept at deceit and illusion! The one thing they don’t have is the foreknowledge of what will occur when they run to their tombs to escape the coming disaster they have minimalized through the media.
Redeem the time left and fight the good fight with wisdom and let truth be authority and not authority your truth.
I have not heard about these two items and I have found them in some good, expensive vitamins we take. Do you have sources for the information above? It sound very important.
Thanks
My husband is 93 and I’m 84. We don’t get flu shots of any kind, but take 2000 IU Vitamin D-3 daily, together with other vitamins and minerals. We don’t get flu either, or any other diseases. To us, it is proof positive of the benefits of vitamins and minerals that are essential to a healthy life.
Emily, did you use a specific brand or manufacturer of the D-3 and was it a capsule or a tablet?
There was a posting about Silicon dioxide is now being added to vitamins, so does the D-3 you
took have any silicon dioxide?
This is important because you are a success study that we the readers could follow. Thank you.
Vitamin D is important and worthy of governmental notice to people regarding the flu.
The medical community has tried to delete Vitamn D from our lives by franticaly sayng the sun causes skin cancer and slathering sun screen all over our bodies. The result is the need for pharmaceuticals and vaccines because of weakened immune systems. Sunsine vitamin D is healthy. How did our species survive for millions of years without SPF lotions.
Govt. is bad for everyone’s Health and they tried to keep Truth hidden about the importance of our vitamins.
I hope that somebody listens to this reasoning, that Vitamin D is essential to health and that there are measurable results with the flu. it is inexpensive, and effective, and not controlled by the big Pharma. It is about time for the government to listen to the facts and the voice of the people and give natural treatments the respect and support that they deserve and QUIT KILLING AMERICAN PEOPLE by suppressing this information and promoting harmful pharmaceudicals.
I join the Vitamin D Council in urging our government to break its silence about this wonder supplement.
Public awareness of the benefits of vitamin D is very important!
Our government organizations ought to be educating all Americans about the importance of Vitamin D in maintaining a healthy immune response, especially in the seasons when there is less sunshine.
It’s unbelievable, the government succumbs to Big Pharma and approves drugs that kill more people than illicit drugs and yet stands silent re: vitamins, herbs and foods that promote health and healing that have been around for thousands of years just because they haven’t been through some drug company sponsored trials that they rig to give the results they want to fatten their bank account and are willing to pay out billions in fines and lawsuits after thousands have been killed and they are eventually pulled, but in the meantime they have made billions more than the penalties will ever amount to and you wonder why our cost of health care is so high. Maybe if they had truthful trials and a ban on advertising like once was the rule, our costs would come down and a lot of families would be spared going to funerals caused by the greed of Big Pharma.
The government should help people instead of keeping them in the dark!
So I am insisting that the government tell the truth about vitamin D.
The American people no longer trust Governmental offices but have a little faith in our legislature, but not much more. Save your jobs by doing what is best for the people not what is pouring billions of dollars into the Medical Mafia and save lives at the same time. Tell the people about Vitamin D and the benefits of the sun, not just fish oil.
Ronald M. Gagne
Master Herbalist
There were heavy clashes between government forces and protesters in Ahwaz during the final week of July. Nutrition Supplement
I was extremely Vit. D defficient (my level was 8) when I was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 45, despite the fact that I ate healthy, worked out at the gym 5 days a week, and maintained a healthy weight and bmi.
The fact that I could have been spared the war of cancer on my body by taking a Vit. D supplement is mind boggling to me.
The government needs to get with the program!
When was young 40 years ago I used to love go out in the sun. It made me feel great. Then the propaganda about skin cancer made me shun the sun. Now I realize it was a huge mistake and I’m begining to love sunshine again and my feelings of youth are returning. It’s no wonder, the sun produces viatmin D which is VITAL (Vita = life).
The decades of harm by the scientifically malicious propaganda about skin cancer from the sun should be reversed with an aggressive campaing by our government to restore the belief on the necessity of sunshine on our skin for vitamin D production and protection against cancer and the flu.
It´s insane that the government does not recommend vitamin D3, but easy to understans, as they sit in the lap of Big Pharma.
It is all a conspiracy against health, from greed and hunger for even more power.
Good luck geting th CDC to give a hoot!! Not to sound paranoid but everytime “we the people” need a new prescription or vaccine to promote, they create a new disease in their little labs and put it out into the public and protest that they actually want to control epidemic situations. I’m All for vitamin D3 and countless “non medical” ways to ward off viruses.
Get the insurance companies on this band wagon: North Dakota (a far northern state) Blue Cross Blue Shield has plastered this state with a great poster: (in large letters) Vitamin D: Your Power Tool for Health. (goes on to enumerate all the prevention and health benefits) Great graphic of a d capsule
The “Bottom Line” motive is a big incentive to prevent illness.
yes, this evil within the confines of our government want you to believe the sun is bad. that the lies are true, that tv is good, that gluttony is good. Every thing the say is opposite. nothing that comes from their mouth is of good will! plz become righteous in our precious time on this planet, think of others over yourself always and the one and only lord will take care of you.
and to worsen matters, the little D3 that is available to the unsuspecting general population, e.g., in cod liver oil and multi-vitamins is nullified by the presence of Vitamin A, so it’s basically a waist to think that you’re getting any unless it is taken separate from A.
Whatever tests are required to provide convincing evidence, I recommend that we conduct them as soon as possible. We need to raise the health level of all Americans, and evidence indicates that Vit. D supplementation is the least expensive method.
I’ve been taking at least 5000 IUs daily of D3 since quitting flu vaccines several years ago and try to let others know about this inexpensive cure. The government’s lack of support for such remedies explains our soaring health care costs and the huge profits of Big Pharma.
The Vitamin D3 issue makes clear we must reform national health care.
Abominably high prices for conventional, reactive medical treatment are the direct result of an industry cartel across medicine– both its practicioners and its regulators (the FDA). That cartel does not bring the benefits of modern medicine to the people who need them desperately.
Instead, our medical care cartel is resistant to reform and improvement, and each industry player fights to protect its own turf, and reinforce the power of the others– which renders them an organized gang.
In contrast, the American people demand a new health care policy, and voted for one. This new policy includes bringing new medical information and treatments to Americans which can prevent disease, and increase life expectancy and patient outcomes. And bring these benefits to all Americans at affordable prices.
This kind of medicine is 21st century, and far better than 19th century reactive (after the disease) care. Clearly, the therapeutic use of D3 and any trial of other new therapies– and new policies to make them affordable– will mean vast cost savings, and improved public health in the long term.
Most of America’s 900,000-plus medical practicioners are not AMA-affiliated, and they do not support multiple-payer, private insurance systems, as now constituted. They understand private insurance operators are middlemen, who contrive for all the profit they can get.
Even if it means shortchanging the patient. While in the early 1990’s, private insurers believed taking only three percent profit on each health care policy premium dollar was an acceptable return, today they insist on Wall Street returns of 20-30 percent, and that money demands higher insurance prices, and leaves less money for the patient.
Generally, medical practicioners like the Medicare model of payment better than the multitude of private approaches for its lower cost of operation, accessibility and a simple, one-source center for all billing.
For that matter, even the private insurance industry now agrees that the current rate of cost increase for medical care is UNsustainable.
Yes, even private insurers agree– we must employ new models for public health care policy and treatment.
It’s good to see the truth about the benefits of Vitamin D coming to light as well as the governmental cover up facilitated by the financially corrupted FDA whose interests lie with their BigPharma cronies and not with the American public.
Certainly the best way to obtain healthy levels of Vitamin D is through responsible, frequent sun exposure–something else we are falsely told will harm us. If sunshine is not available, find a tanning booth that uses electronic ballasts for their bulbs…(if the “hum” don’t use them!)
AVOID VACCINES if at all possible for they contain toxic substances your body was never meant to metabolize.
Vitamin D–get the word out ! ! ! It’s the right thing to do for so many reasons. Our government agencies should be looking out for the best interest of each and every citizen. Vitamin D will help our bodies’ immune responses, our overall health and the health or our pocketbooks!
It’s about time!
As a postmenopausal women in her fifties, I’ve been the pied piper among the women I know about the benefits of Vitamin D, especially African American women as it relates to the flu and to cancer. I know of at least 6 African American women in the 30s who have died from breast cancer in the Philadelphia area, leaving young children to struggle without their mothers. Among my older friends who are Asia, Caucasian, African American, just this year, one has successfully battled breast cancer, another battles colon cancer, a third succumbed to bone cancer and another died from stomach cancer. It breaks my heart. Much of the time my words fell on deaf ears, but now with the increased acknowledgement of by the media, surprisingly the entertainment media, it is getting out despite the government’s silence. A young friend of mine who is in her 30s and a breast cancer survivor is currently being pressured to have her ovaries removed because she has the breast cancer gene, but not once have these professionals mentioned the benefits of vitamin D to her. Fortunately, many of my friends are listening to me as I tell them to go to their doctors and demand the test that will inform them about their Vitamin D status, and to be ready to tell their doctors that “normal” is not the same as “optimal” levels once their results come back.
Spread the word & save lives! However, you’d think someone would have made the connection before this… “Hmm! We don’t get the flu much in summer! I wonder why!?”
(We get vitamin D naturally from sunlight– our body synthesizes it to protect our skin from UV rays. Only problem: increased skin cancer ratio)
Thank you for raising public awareness of this critical health issue.
There is considerable evidence to show that regular use of vitamin D supplements decreases breast cancer risk, and a recent estimate projected that raising vitamin D levels in the general population would prevent approximately 58,000 new cases of breast cancer in the United States and Canada alone.
Ref. Garland CF, Gorham ED, Mohr SB, Garland FC. Vitamin D for cancer prevention: global perspective. Ann Epidemiol. 2009 Jul;19(7):468-83.
I know of 6 people who beat the flu this season by using the vitamin D cure – 1,000IU for each pound of body weight for 3 days in a row. That’s 150,000IU a day for a 150 pound individual.
OK, so we can’t rely on any government to take care of our health. What else is new?
But it is puzzling to me why private insurance companies don’t advise their policy holders to take D3 and other nutrients. Would it not save them a heap of money? They could probably profit from giving it away with every policy.
“But it is puzzling to me why private insurance companies don’t advise their policy holders to take D3 and other nutrients. Would it not save them a heap of money? They could probably profit from giving it away with every policy.
In the beginning they would be heroes for bringing this to the masses. Over time people will no longer be cronically ill and won’t need or want the insurance or will take a much less expensive policy. In the end the insurance companies would lose their customer base…
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