One theory behind this is the cytokine storm – an out-of-control immune response that can be lethal. The Vitamin D Council agrees with you that high quantities (at least 5,000 IU) of vitamin D3 may be good, but they also warn that it may be better to take none at all than to take just a little. So, either take >5,000 IU or stay vitamin D deficient (the latter choice only being a good idea in the case of cytokine storms).

Usually, preventing inflammation is a good thing, but it’s possible that some anti-inflammatory cytokines are actually a bad thing if you get the swine flu.

For more information on which foods and supplements may be a good idea and which may not, see this post: Swine flu and the cytokine storm – what to eat and what not to eat. Keep in mind, though, that it’s more speculation than concrete evidence.

At least green tea appears to be good even for avoiding the swine influenza

- JLL

So they did and both—within about a day and a half in each case—ended up sick in bed for about a week, one was moved to the hospital and came within an inch of his life. Since then one has continued getting shots and the other hasn’t ever, but both have gotten sick every year since then (thank God not nearly as badly as the first time.)

They both regret having those first shots. Maybe they were bad batches?

I personally haven’t gotten a flu shot in my life (maybe when I was five or six)… I’m 26 now and I very rarely get sick. When I do it’s never a big deal; I never take medication (if it was a matter of life and death I would, of course) and I always feel better afterward than I did before becoming ill.

We have both the 50,000 IU caps and the 5,000 IU caps on our site (www.proteinpower.com) in the products section. You can also find them other places online.

Permit me to recommend the column “The Dilemma of Personal Stockpiling of Tamiflu” written by Peter M. Sandman, Ph.D. and Dr. Jody Lanard, M.D. at http://www.psandman.com/col/tamiflu.htm. It discusses the ethical dilemma(s) and considerations of individual “stockpiling” (prescriptions) vs. govt control of antivirals.

Love your books, blogs, and twittering!

Thanks for the long, interesting column.

When you do have a moment to breathe, sure would love to see that info on various Krill Oils. I have great success with NKO, and love it. However, my son has been looking into Superba Krill from Jedwards International. Their CEO’s claims are as follows:

“Neptune, as you know, is also a supplier of Krill Oil and as you mentioned does have a patent, but that patent is on the extraction process that they use not Krill Oil itself.
The krill that we offer is Superba brand Krill Oil, which is manufactured by Aker Biomarine, a Norwegian Company. http://www.akerbiomarine.com/ Honestly our specs are pretty similar to NKO but I think we have typically higher levels of phospholipids, EPA, DHA and omega-3 fatty acids, even though their specs claim otherwise. Our Astaxanthin is lower but this is most likely due to the fact that our material is extracted with ethanol (drinking alcohol) while NKO uses acetone (nail polish remover, which is their patent). ”

The extraction chemicals don’t sound great, but would really appreciate your take on this and possibly other brands/processes, etc.

Thanks

Corky

There are various ways of extracting krill oil from the krill. Neptune has one way, which they have patented, while other companies have other ways. So far, all the published studies on the benefits of krill oil (which are many) have been done using NKO. And NKO has all the certifications for purity, strength, etc from all the various regulatory agencies around the world, which, as of yet, these other companies don’t have. Until I see the studies using the other brands of krill oil and showing positive outcomes, I’m sticking with NKO. I have no affiliation or investment in Neptune Technologies, so I have no self-interest at stake in this.

I was told that I shouldn’t take magnesium and calcium together as the calcium binds up the magnesium. Is that so? I eat some dairy, do I even need calcium?

Love the book recommendations.

Make sure the magnesium is of the chelated variety and you won’t have a problem. You can tell it is chelated if it has an ‘ate’ on the end of it, as in magnesium aspartate or magnesium citramate, etc.

Still, concerning flu hype, the media has willing allies in at least some of the scientists. Your link to the cytokine storm article led me to another article by the same author(s) from about a year ago:
http://scienceblogs.com/effectmeasure/2008/06/beware_indonesian_health_minis.php

wherein the Indonesian Health Minister is slammed for not blaring out news of each H1N1 death as it happens. IOW, if anyone refuses to participate in the hype, then the critics blast you as being an evil idiot. The key element is that the save-the-world types get their social status and sense of superiority from saving everybody, whether anyone needs it or not. Oftentimes, of course, the save-the-world types are also making a living at saving us. What’s maximally important is the personal benefit to the saver. Whatever happens to the supposedly saved is of minimal concern. Facts don’t matter.

To bring everything full circle, that same author also has a blog article describing how wonderful it is that Obama is bringing “hope and idealism” and how his students “want to save the world”. What a riot.

1: affecting or tending to affect a disproportionately large number of individuals within a population, community, or region at the same time

Perhaps the outbreak in Mexico was an epidemic, but I still wouldn’t call this a pandemic yet, global involvement notwithstanding.