Dear Readers,
In light of growing concerns and measures to protect ourselves and our communities from the spread and harm of the coronavirus, I want to use this week’s column to highlight the holistic measures you can take to help protect against transmission and boost your immunity.
Protection:
According to the CDC, the virus is thought to be transmitted through person to person contact, through respiratory droplets passed during coughing or sneezing, and through contact with contaminated surfaces, I will focus on added measures to help mitigate these risks.
4 Thieves essential oil blend is well known in holistic communities for conferring protection against viral and bacterial pathogens. Some research on it can be found here. A study looking into the antiviral capacity of essential oils can be found here. You can purchase it ready made as an essential oil or as a variety of home cleaning products. Or the recipe can be found here.
This essential oil blend is highly antimicrobial and can be particularly protective against respiratory pathogens because you can diffuse it in any enclosed environment. It can also be made into a spray (add it to a bottle of 1:1 water and vinegar) to be sprayed onto surfaces to disinfect them.
You can also safely use vinegar undiluted. Vinegar is a powerful disinfectant. 5 percent acetic acid (white vinegar) destroys 99 percent of bacteria, 82 percent of mold, and 80 percent of viruses. It’s known to work against salmonella, E. coli and other gram-negative bacteria, which can cause pneumonia, meningitis, and wound infections. The David Suzuki’s Queen of Green recommends wiping hard surfaces with vinegar then following with a spray of 3 percent hydrogen peroxide. I know many people use bleach, but bleach exposure is a known toxin. This article describes a study that concluded the use of bleach increased the incidence of influenza, pneumonia, and sinusitis in children. Non-toxic, natural products are far safer, especially if we are repeatedly spraying them in an enclosed environment.
Immunity:
It’s not widely reported in mainstream media, but some Wuhan physicians have begun using IV vitamin C to treat COVID-19. As reported by GreenMedInfo, the doctor overseeing the studies, Dr. Cheng, believes the therapy to be promising because vitamin C counters oxidative stress and it’s believed that oxidative stress ultimately leads to being overwhelmed with cytokines and ARDS, the primary pathology that causes death in viral infections like the coronavirus.
One family reports the therapy saved them.
As of March 3,2020, the Orthomolecular Medical News Service reported that:
“The government of Shanghai, China has announced its official recommendation that COVID-19 should be treated with high amounts of intravenous vitamin C.”
In an official statement from Jiaotong University Second Hospital, the physicians state that:
“..[H]high-dose vitamin C achieved good results in clinical applications. We believe that for patients with severe neonatal pneumonia and critically ill patients, vitamin C treatment should be initiated as soon as possible after admission. . .[E]arly application of large doses of vitamin C can have a strong antioxidant effect, reduce inflammatory responses, and improve endothelial function. . . Numerous studies have shown that the dose of vitamin C has a lot to do with the effect of treatment. . . [H]gh-dose vitamin C can not only improve antiviral levels, but more importantly, can prevent and treat acute lung injury (ALI) and acute respiratory distress (ARDS)." source: Greenmedinfo
Canadians may not realize it, but IV vitamin C therapy was developed by the father of Orthomolecular medicine, the late Dr. Abram Hoffer. He was a prairie boy who grew up to become a biochemist and psychiatrist. I consulted with him regarding my son for schizophrenia and his treatment helped us more than any we have found. This is why I come to study and practice orthomolecular nutrition.
The Orthomolecular Medical News Service has also written recommendations for the prevention of the coronavirus. The editorial staff make the following recommendations for adults:
400mg daily. It suggests divided doses throughout the day. Magnesium is a very common deficiency today because the soil and thus, the food, no longer contain adequate amounts. It’s difficult to determine via blood testing and deficiencies can cause a host of symptoms. To check if you have the symptoms or to learn more about deficiency, you can read this article I wrote on it. It’s hard to overdo it on magnesium because your body will just pass it in the stool. When stool gets loose, it’s time to back off the dose to keep it just under that threshold.
2000-5000IU daily. It suggests starting high then lowering the dose. Many experts believe we need to be supplementing around the 5000-10,000IU per day mark to be optimal. It’s fat soluble so it can build up in the tissues and be dangerous at high doses, so that’s why the recommend such a moderate level in light of what is optimal. Of course, the best way to get vitamin D is from the sunlight, as nature intended! This is a good part of the reason we have such heightened immunity after sunny vacations. I prefer tanning beds to supplements for this vitamin, but I know it’s not a popular opinion. Vitamin D is a very potent antioxidant and plays a strong role in immunity. It could be why so many get sick in the winter months.
20-40mg daily. Zinc is one of those vitamins that can be overdone. It’s best to know your levels if you want to go higher than one dose per day. It’s extremely important for immunity and healing. It plays a role in numerous biochemical pathways. Most clients I see show signs of inadequate zinc in the body.
100mcg daily, but the typical dose is 200mcg daily. Selenium is a very potent antioxidant that it’s common for people to be deficient or suboptimal in. It’s used in many immune building protocols for this reason. Eating two brazil nuts per day is about the equivalent of a tablet.
No specific dose given, except to suggest a tablet with each meal. B complex vitamins come in a variety of doses and forms, but it’s most important to get it in an absorbable form with balanced ratios of nutrients. The B vitamins are essential for healthy nervous system function and for stress responses in the body. The more stress we’re under, the more we need. They are also important for energy and food metabolism. Almost everyone can benefit from additional B’s in their diets. Liver is an exceptionally rich source.
No specific dose given, except to suggest a tablet with each meal. Vitamin A is most potent antiviral when it’s used in the form found in fish liver oils that also contain vitamin D and omega 3 fatty acids! For this reason, Cod Liver Oil is my go to when I feel any virus coming on and it’s part of my daily health routine. Again, it’s fat soluble, so high doses are not recommended unless you are being supervised by a knowledgeable practitioner. And high doses are dangerous for pregnant women.
Frequent, divided doses all day are the best way to get oral vitamin C. It is recommended to take it to bowel tolerance (when you get a loose stool back off). It’s known to be a potent antioxidant and vitally important for good health in that humans don’t synthesize it and need to get from diet. (For a free subscription to the OMNS go here. To read OMNS archives, go here.)
I have put together a list of the above OMNS recommended supplements (professional grade) in my online dispensary if anyone would like to order them. With just a few clicks, they are purchased online and delivered to you, so if you’re in isolation it’s very convenient. The guidelines above are for adults only, as adults are most at risk of harm with the coronavirus. I will send a copy of the supplement list and dosages to anyone who sends me an email with the subject line ‘Vitamin C’.
Homeopathy as Prophylaxis:
I cannot recommend homeopathy as prophylaxis because I am not yet finished my training and licensed as a homeopath, but homeopathy has a long history of success when used prophylactically in epidemics where the symptoms provoked by the virus are strikingly similar. Scarlet Fever is one such example. In these cases those homeopaths who have seen the symptoms intimately are able to identify the remedy they most closely match.
This remedy is then used prophylactically. In India, part of the government has now endorsed this approach as a preventative measure.
Homeopathy is recognized by the Indian government as a National System of Medicine through the Homeopathy Central Council Act and it’s practiced alongside our Western system of medicine in some hospitals, where data on it is collected much the same as for other treatments, validating its use. More than 100 million Indians rely on homeopathy for their primary medical care.
Because they have such a dense population with a lot of internal migration and less centralized healthcare services, India has to use all the measures it has to address this pandemic. As such, the India government's Ministry of AYUSH has publicly endorsed using homeopathically as a preventative measure.
“It has recommended one dose of Arsenicum album 30, daily in empty stomach for three days. The dose should be repeated after one month by following the same schedule in case Coronavirus infections prevail in the community.” Source: Homeopathy Plus
Homeopathy is a very safe form of medicine. For anyone who wants to better understand it, I suggest the documentaries Just One Drop or Magic Pills. They investigate the issues that plague homeopathy in the West and go deep into the debate, travelling as far as Africa and India to see what homeopaths there are doing. They are also both highly enjoyable films. And if anyone is interested in exploring this option, I encourage you to seek out a College of Homeopaths of Ontario licensed homeopath to guide you in finding and using the right remedy.
While social isolation and working from home is optimal, it’s very difficult for those of us whose livelihood relies on going out to work or who work in the service industry. Some of us need to be in contact with others to do our work and continue to provide for our families. In such cases it’s important that we have strong immune systems. The educational information above is aimed at facilitating that. As such, it should not be used to replace medical advice. For medical advice you must go to a licensed physician.
I hope our community will find ways to support one another through this crisis and work together to minimize the exposure to our elders and vulnerable people. Stay safe everyone!
As always, if readers have health questions, I welcome them. Just send me an email. And if you’re looking for more specific health information check out my website and sign up for my free newsletter at nonienutritionista.com. I also offer 1:1 health coaching and several group classes, including a KETO workshop and cooking class, a hands-on fermenting class, and a sugar detox workshop. Upcoming events are posted in the newsletter, as well as delicious recipes that are guaranteed to be guilt and gluten-free!
Namaste!
Nonie Nutritionista
Nonie De Long is a registered orthomolecular nutritionist with a clinic in Bradford West Gwillimbury, where she offers holistic, integrative health care for physical and mental health issues. Check out her website here.
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