Dear Mark, O.K., I know we are all suffering from COVID fatigue and want it to simply go away! FOREVER!! But the truth is that SARS-CoV-2 will continue to mutate, adapt, and form new variants that will wax and wane in their infectivity and severity. The good news is that the answer to truly neutralize this virus, especially the milder Omicron variant, is the same as it has always been – Build a strong immune response. What I am AMAZED about is that despite hundreds of studies in the medical literature attesting to the importance of key nutrients and dietary supplements in helping people survive COVID-19, the medical establishment is stuck on overweighting the importance of vaccinations and expensive drugs with questionable safety and efficacy. I am not getting on a soap box here; I am simply pleading that you follow a plan of supporting the optimal immune function. My feeling is that it’s ultimately the most rationale approach whether you are vaccinated or not. We got lucky with Omicron in that it mutated to be less severe than the Delta variant. The thought is that Omicron was the result of the virus adapting to the mRNA vaccines stimulating antibodies only to the virus’ spike protein. Omicron has over 37 mutations to the spike protein making it essentially a new virus to our immune system. That is why prior infection as well as the vaccines offered incomplete protection. It is not a pandemic of the unvaccinated as it appears even those fully vaccinated are still susceptible to infection and spreading the virus. Yes, there may be some other aspects that vaccinations exert on immune function that reduce the severity of infection and possibly death, but the reality is that Omicron itself appears to be less severe and those who are falling prey to this variant share common comorbidities with those that died of (or with) the Delta variant. Here is something that I know is an absolute, indisputable fact. Whether you are vaccinated or not, ultimately it is how healthy you are and the strength of your immune system that is going to determine how you fare against this virus, all its variants, and the next virus that comes along. O.K., now that I got that off my chest. Let me share with you a couple of new studies on zinc and vitamin A. I have shared previously much information on the importance of vitamin D3 in the battle against COVID-19. But all of the essential nutrients are important to proper functioning of the immune response. Zinc, vitamin A, vitamin C, selenium, and others are all critical to immunity. Zinc is referred to as the “gate keeper” of immune function. If zinc is not there in sufficient levels, the entire immune system is compromised and the risk for infection increases - dramatically. Zinc supplementation has been used in 29 clinical studies in over 50,000 COVID-19 patients. The results are clear, zinc supplementation produces statistically significant improvements for hospitalization, ventilation and death outcomes. A new study adds to this evidence. It was conducted at two university hospitals in Florida, it shows zinc supplementation can “prevent and mitigate” COVID-19 in those at extremely high risk. Zinc was given as zinc picolinate at daily dosages of elemental zinc of 10 mg, 25 mg, and 50 mg to 104 women testing positive for COVID-19. These women also had comorbidities associated with more severe COVID-19, mainly obesity and diabetes. None of the patients getting 10 mg of zinc (picolinate) developed COVID-19 symptoms such as cough, sore throat, low-grade fever, and generalized fatigue. While one person each getting the 25 and 50 mg dosage of zinc groups reported symptoms, in the control group there were nine cases of symptomatic COVID-19 infections, three requiring hospitalization, and one patient died. What these numbers mean is that high-risk women are more than seven times more likely to develop symptomatic COVID-19 infection with the risk of hospitalization and death as a result. These results and results from other trials indicate the importance of zinc supplementation in supporting immune function. And show that dosages of zinc may not have to be above the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of 11 mg a day for men and 8 mg for women. It is a simple recommendation to supplement with zinc, and it just may keep someone not only out of the hospital, but also stay alive. The results with vitamin A from clinical studies in COVID-19 patients are also super encouraging. Next, let’s look at another new study, this one with vitamin A supplementation. After several studies showed that lower blood vitamin A levels were associated with more serious COVID-19 illness, researchers conducted a double-blind study of high-dosage vitamin A supplementation versus a placebo in 100 patients with mild-to-moderate acute viral illness as well as 100 of their contacts. Patients were given vitamin A (a high dosage of 200,000 I.U.) or a placebo for two days. In the patients with a viral infection, vitamin A produced significant improvement in symptoms and shorter duration of illness. But the most important finding was that the placebo group was three times more likely to progress to more severe COVID-19 infection compared to the vitamin A group. In the group of contacts exposed to those with a viral infection, in those who received vitamin A there was a lower number of infections (20%) in comparison to those who received placebo (50%). This indicates higher vitamin A status reduces the risk of viral infection. Warning: Dosages of vitamin A greater than 5,000 IU are not recommended for women at risk of pregnancy. Higher dosages of vitamin A (but not beta-carotene) in a pregnant woman can produce birth defects. Anyway, getting back to my point. I am just AMAZED that two years into this pandemic, physicians and our governmental “experts” are still ignoring the fundamental role of nutrition, dietary supplementation, and effective natural approaches to boost immune function and save lives. I had hoped that the pandemic would lead to a change…and greater appreciation of how important optimal nutrition is to immune function. I believe that it will still happen, but just not as soon as I had hoped. Thanks for listening…And if you have not read my articles on COVID-19, including how 90% of all COVID-19 deaths could have been prevented, please click here. Be well,
Dr. Michael Murray
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