Taking vitamin E supplements has been shown to protect the elderly from getting colds that could quickly turn into upper respiratory tract infections, which could often prove to be deadly, particularly among seniors.
Researchers studied 617 residents of a nursing home, all older than 65. The residents who took one vitamin E supplement a day were shown to have far less colds and a 20 percent lower risk of contracting a cold than those who were given a placebo.
It was also discovered that over the course of the one-year study, residents taking the vitamin were able to avoid upper respiratory tract infections better than those in the placebo group. The vitamin did not show the ability to lower the incidents of lower respiratory tract infections.
Experts also stressed the importance of a healthy nutrition plan in relation to keeping a strong immune system.
Yahoo News August 17, 2004
Despite these findings, I would not use vitamin E to prevent colds. Instead, I would rely on the far more effective strategies outlined in this past article.
This, however, doesn't discount the importance getting enough vitamin E, as it is one of the few supplements that most everyone would benefit from. While I don't recommend many supplements, I have believed in the benefits of vitamin E for over 30 years and have been taking it for many of those years. In addition to its powerful antioxidant properties, vitamin E:
If you are interested in more solid and proven solutions for the colds that inevitably seem to come your way I could not encourage you more strongly than to start the Total Health Program. I constantly amazed at how many patients continue to tell me they just don't get sick anymore once they have changed their diet and lifestyle to one that promotes health.
By far it is most effective to be proactive and not get colds in the first place. It seems the major reasons why one gets them to begin with are:
So clearly the first approach is be careful and avoid food choices that will sabotage your health. If you are stressed please consider EFT, which is an amazingly effective tool to address the foundational and core reasons as to how the stress is impairing your immune system.
If, for whatever reason, you have come down with a cold my personal recommendation would be to use zinc lozenges. I have been using zinc in my practice for over 15 years, far before it was popular.
When using zinc lozenges it is important to recognize that they need to be sucked on, NOT swallowed, and smaller doses more frequently seem to work better. I usually advise patients to suck on a quarter lozenge every 30 minutes. If started early, this approach seems to work well for the clear majority of patients.
Two cautions should be heeded though; if the lozenges make one nauseous they should be stopped immediately as that is a sign of zinc toxicity. If you follow this guideline and listen to your body you will avoid the copper imbalance referenced in the study.
Another very powerful and inexpensive tool to use if you do come down with a cold is to rinse your ears with hydrogen peroxide. I can't tell you how or why this works but over 80% of my patients seem to get dramatic benefit from this. And best of all the total cost of this treatment is only a few pennies. You can read more about it on the treat colds with hydrogen peroxide page.
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