Posted on 01/27/2018 8:35:55 PM PST by blam
We all know that this years flu season is bad. I have been pouring over numbers and reports over the past few days, and its actually even worse than were hearing about. Tens of thousands of Americans are dying. Its now worse than the 2009 swine flu outbreak and is on track with the 2014-15 strain. And its not showing any signs of slowing down.
Despite this, the media is downplaying the severity of the flu and the government makes the statistics pretty difficult to find. Are they trying to avoid a panic? Do they know something we dont?
Heres what you need to know about why this years flu is so dangerous.
This Years Flu Strain Is More Deadly
The dominant Influenza strain this year is H3N2. This particular strain has a history of causing more hospitalizations and more deaths. According to the CDC:
In the past, H3N2-predominant seasons have been associated with more severe illness and higher mortality, especially in older people and young children, relative to H1N1- or B-predominant seasons. Between 1976 and 2007, for example, CDC estimates that an average of 28,909 people died from flu during H3N2 seasons, compared to 10,648 people during non-H3N2 predominant years.
Thats a difference of 18,261 adults each year. And thats in a good year.
In addition to H3N2 producing a more serious infection in general, this years particular H3N2 influenza virus is particularly virulent. The number of deaths due to influenza or complications to the flu, such as pneumonia (a secondary bacterial infection following influenza), varies from year to year.
An August 27, 2010 MMWR report entitled Thompson MG et al. Updated Estimates of Mortality Associated with Seasonal Influenza through the 2006-2007 Influenza Season. MMWR 2010; 59(33): 1057-1062., provided estimates of the range of flu-associated deaths
(snip)
(Excerpt) Read more at theburningplatform.com ...
There really is nothing better than being in the sun under the blue sky. I'm so sick of Winter!
The 10% number was based on Australia’s flu season. Australia typically only vaccinates the elderly and infirm. Those groups don’t respond as well to the vaccine, so the effectiveness number is lower than it would be if the vaccine were more widely used. The media hyped the 10% number.
Lately, I’m seeing the flu vaccine being reported as 30-40% effective. I wonder how many people in the U.S. skipped the vaccine because they heard it was only 10% effective or practically useless. Doctors are also saying that flu is generally less severe in people who have gotten the flu shot if they get the flu.
Thanks for that. You have experienced for real what I try to avoid
Here’s to your continued wellness
Here's why we don't get much Vit D as you would think:
1. Northern Calif gets a regular rain season. Southern Calif not so much, but does get its share of cloud cover;
2. Other than those who work outside, most go from their house to their car to their inside place of work, and back;
3. We have more of the aged and children than any other State;
4. Other than the welfare types, who spend their days hanging out on the streets or yards, most are inside at work, schools, and nursing homes.
My suggestions to avoid the flu or cold viruses:
1. Get the shot;
2. 8000 I.U. of D3, dailey;
3. Readily placement of Purell at home and work and use it often, especially after contact with any public place;
4. Keep your hands away from you face until you've used number. Many people have a habit of rubbing their eyes, lips, and picking their nose. Other than direct inhalation, those mucus areas are where it's mostly spread.
I haven't had the flu in a couple of decades since following the above protocol. Plus, it has also stopped my tendency of catching colds. Or you could live in a gas mask...Haha.
ANYONE taking Vit D3 should also be taking Vit K also...
take Vit K TOO!!!
Ancel.
People in sunny places work INSIDE, avoid the sun with sunscreen, etc....that’s my theory
How much Vitamin K? Is the amount of Vitamin K a person should be taking dependent on the amount of Vitamin D a person is taking?
Vitamin D And K2 Work In Tandem To Slow Arterial Calcification
Below is his statement way into the article...but you should read the whole article.
"Optimize your vitamin K through a combination of dietary sources (leafy green vegetables, fermented foods like natto, raw milk cheeses, etc.) and a K2 supplement, if needed. Although the exact dosing (for oral supplementation) is yet to be determined, Dr. Vermeer recommends up to 185 mcg daily for adults. You must use caution on the higher doses if you take anticoagulants, but if you are generally healthy and not on these types of medications, I suggest 150-300 mcg daily.
By the way, thanks for asking....I needed to know also.
I feel like I got the Tube Neck.
I took the shot, my wife did not. Air travel at Christmas (I know, what was I thinking) and we got the flu shortly afterward.
My case was easy and lasted ten days. My wife went almost to 102 degrees and has still got some cough five weeks later.
Not true. Some are more drawn to any dark conspiracy theory with zero proof. The funny thing is the NY Post just published an article in the last day or two that actually claims the opposite. The article claims the flu is hyped this year, but the difference is it is sourced and reads like good information as opposed to a made up fictional tall tale. The gullible and uninformed are always around, even here.
>>We actually make sure we get both the MK4 and MK7 varieties. They are both bioactive and have slightly different modes of action.
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Thanks for this additional information. I wish I knew that before I threw out my bottles of MK-4 : ( In the article below, Dr. Mercola wrote that MK-4 forms are synthetic. Thanks also to Secret Agent Man, who posted about the importance of magnesium!
Here is part of his article where he goes into more detail, about MK-4 and MK-7, their shelf lives, optimal amounts, synergy, etc. for anyone who may be interested:
“......Now, vitamin K2 can be broken into two additional categories, called:
MK-4 (menaquinone-4), a short-chain form of vitamin K2 found in butter, egg yolks, and animal-based foods
MK-7 (menaquinone-7), longer-chain forms found in fermented foods. Theres a variety of these long-chain forms but the most common one is MK-7. This is the one youll want to look for in supplements, because in a supplement form, the MK-4 products are actually synthetic. They are not derived from natural food products containing MK-4.
The MK-7 these long-chain, natural bacterial-derived vitamin K2 is from a fermentation process, which offers a number of health advantages: It stays in your body longer, and it has a longer half-life, which means you can just take it once a day in very convenient dosing.
How Much Vitamin K2 Do You Need?
The optimal amounts of vitamin K2 are still under investigation, but it seems likely that 180 to 200 micrograms of vitamin K2 should be enough to activate your bodys K2-dependent proteins to shuttle the calcium where it needs to be, and remove it from the places where it shouldnt.
The most recent clinical trials used around those amounts of K2, Rheaume-Bleue says. The average person is getting a lot less than that. Thats for sure. In the North American diet, you can see as little as maybe 10 percent of that or less. Certainly, not near enough to be able to optimize bone density and improve heart health.
She estimates that about 80 percent of Americans do not get enough vitamin K2 in their diet to activate their K2 proteins, which is similar to the deficiency rate of vitamin D. Vitamin K2 deficiency leaves you vulnerable for a number of chronic diseases, including:
Osteoporosis Heart disease Heart attack and stroke Inappropriate calcification, from heel spurs to kidney stones Brain disease Cancer
I talked about vitamin K2 moving calcium around the body. Its other main role is to activate proteins that control cell growth. That means K2 has a very important role to play in cancer protection, Rheaume-Bleue says.
When were lacking K2, were at much greater risk for osteoporosis, heart disease, and cancer. And these are three concerns that used to be relatively rare. Over the last 100 years, as weve changed the way we produced our food and the way we eat, they have become very common.
Researchers are also looking into other health benefits. For example, one recent study published in the journal Modern Rheumatology1 found that vitamin K2 has the potential to improve disease activity besides osteoporosis in those with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Another, published in the journal Science2, found that vitamin K2 serves as a mitochondrial electron carrier, thereby helping maintain normal ATP production in mitochondrial dysfunction, such as that found in Parkinsons Disease.
According to the authors:
We identified Drosophila UBIAD1/Heix as a modifier of pink1, a gene mutated in Parkinsons disease that affects mitochondrial function. We found that vitamin K(2) was necessary and sufficient to transfer electrons in Drosophila mitochondria. Heix mutants showed severe mitochondrial defects that were rescued by vitamin K(2), and, similar to ubiquinone, vitamin K(2) transferred electrons in Drosophila mitochondria, resulting in more efficient adenosine triphosphate (ATP) production. Thus, mitochondrial dysfunction was rescued by vitamin K(2) that serves as a mitochondrial electron carrier, helping to maintain normal ATP production.
The Interplay Between Vitamin K2, Vitamin D, and Calcium
As Ive discussed on numerous occasions, vitamin D is a critical nutrient for optimal health and is best obtained from sun exposure or a safe tanning bed. However, many are taking oral vitamin D, which may become problematic unless youre also getting sufficient amounts of vitamin K2. Dr. Rheaume-Bleue explains:
When you take vitamin D, your body creates more of these vitamin K2-dependent proteins, the proteins that will move the calcium around. They have a lot of potential health benefits. But until the K2 comes in to activate those proteins, those benefits arent realized. So, really, if youre taking vitamin D, youre creating an increased demand for K2. And vitamin D and K2 work together to strengthen your bones and improve your heart health.
For so long, weve been told to take calcium for osteoporosis and vitamin D, which we know is helpful. But then, more studies are coming out showing that increased calcium intake is causing more heart attacks and strokes. That created a lot of confusion around whether calcium is safe or not. But thats the wrong question to be asking, because well never properly understand the health benefits of calcium or vitamin D, unless we take into consideration K2. Thats what keeps the calcium in its right place.
IMPORTANT: If You Take Vitamin D, You Need K2
This is a really crucial point: If you opt for oral vitamin D, you need to also consume in your food or take supplemental vitamin K2.
There are so many people on the vitamin-D-mega-dose bandwagon, taking more and more of vitamin D. And it could absolutely be causing harm if you are lacking the K2 to complete the job to get the calcium where its supposed to be, Rheaume-Bleue warns.
We dont see symptoms of vitamin D toxicity very often. But when we do, those symptoms are inappropriate calcification. Thats the symptom of vitamin D toxicity. And it is actually a lack of vitamin K2 that can cause that
While the ideal or optimal ratios between vitamin D and vitamin K2 have yet to be elucidated, Rheume-Bleue suggests that for every 1,000 IUs of vitamin D you take, you may benefit from about 100 micrograms of K2, and perhaps as much as 150-200 micrograms (mcg).
The latest vitamin D dosing recommendations, which call for about 8,000 IUs of vitamin D3 per day if youre an adult, means youd need in the neighborhood of 800 to 1,000 micrograms (0.8 to 1 milligram/mg) of vitamin K2.
My earlier recommendation was not taking into account people who were doing high dose of vitamin D supplementation, Rheaume-Bleue says. Thats where it gets a little bit more technical. It seems that for the average person, around 200 to 280 micrograms will activate your K2 proteins and do a lot of good for your bones and your heart. If youre taking high levels of vitamin D then I would recommend taking more K2.
The good news is that vitamin K2 has no toxicity. No toxic effects have ever been demonstrated in the medical literature.
The reason why K2 doesnt have potential toxic effect is that all vitamin K2 does is activate K2 proteins. It will activate all the K2 proteins it finds. And if theyre all activated and you take extra K2, it simply wont do that. Thats why we dont see a potential for toxicity the way we do with vitamin A or D, she says.
If You Need Calcium, Aim for Calcium-Rich Foods First
For those who are calcium deficient, Rheaume-Bleue recommends looking to food sources high in calcium, before opting for a supplement. This is because many high calcium foods also contain naturally high amounts of, you guessed it, vitamin K2! Nature cleverly gives us these two nutrients in combination, so they work optimally. Good sources of calcium include dairy, especially cheeses, and vegetables, although veggies arent high in K2.
Additionally, magnesium is far more important than calcium if you are going to consider supplementing. Magnesium will also help keep calcium in the cell to do its job far better. In many ways it serves as nutritional version of the highly effective class of drugs called calcium channel blockers. If you do chose to supplement with calcium, for whatever reason, its important to maintain the proper balance between your intake of calcium and other nutrients such as:
Vitamin K2
Vitamin D
Magnesium
The Importance of Magnesium
As mentioned previously, magnesium is another important player to allow for proper function of calcium. As with vitamin D and K2, magnesium deficiency is also common, and when you are lacking in magnesium and take calcium, you may exacerbate the situation. Vitamin K2 and magnesium complement each other, as magnesium helps lower blood pressure, which is an important component of heart disease.
Dietary sources of magnesium include sea vegetables, such as kelp, dulse, and nori. Few people eat these on a regular basis however, if at all. Vegetables can also be a good source, along with whole grains. However, grains MUST be prepared properly to remove phytates and anti-nutrients that can otherwise block your absorption of magnesium. As for supplements, Rheaume-Bleue recommends using magnesium citrate. Another emerging one is magnesium threonate, which appears promising primarily due to its superior ability to penetrate the mitochondrial membrane.
How Can You Tell if Youre Lacking in Vitamin K2?
Theres no way to test for vitamin K2 deficiency. But by assessing your diet and lifestyle, you can get an idea of whether or not you may be lacking in this critical nutrient. If you have any of the following health conditions, youre likely deficient in vitamin K2 as they are all connected to K2:
Do you have osteoporosis?
Do you have heart disease?
Do you have diabetes?
If you do not have any of those health conditions, but do NOT regularly eat high amounts of the following foods, then your likelihood of being vitamin K2 deficient is still very high:
Grass-fed organic animal products (i.e. eggs, butter, dairy)
Certain fermented foods such as natto, or vegetables fermented using a starter culture of vitamin K2-producing bacteria. Please note that most fermented vegetables are not really high in vitamin K2 and come in at about 50 mcg per serving. However, if specific starter cultures are used they can have ten times as much, or 500 mcg per serving.
Goose liver pt
Certain cheeses such as Brie and Gouda (these two are particularly high in K2, containing about 75 mcg per ounce)
An important thing to mention when it comes to cheese (because this becomes an area of confusion), [is that] because cheese is a bacterial derived form of vitamin K2, it actually doesnt matter if the cheese came from grass-fed milk. That would be nice, but its not the milk that went into the cheese that makes the K2. Its the bacteria making the cheese, which means it doesnt matter if youre importing your brie from France or getting it domestically. Brie cheese, the bacteria that makes brie cheese, will make vitamin K2, she says.
Fermented vegetables, which are one of my new passions, primarily for supplying beneficial bacteria back into our gut, can be a great source of vitamin K if you ferment your own using the proper starter culture. We recently had samples of high-quality fermented organic vegetables made with our specific starter culture tested, and were shocked to discover that not only does a typical serving of about two to three ounces contain about 10 trillion beneficial bacteria, but it also contained 500 mcg of vitamin K2.
Note that not every strain of bacteria makes K2. For example, most yoghurts have almost no vitamin K2. Certain types of cheeses are very high in K2, and others are not. It really depends on the specific bacteria. You cant assume that any fermented food will be high in K2, but some fermented foods are very high in K2, such as natto. Others, such as miso and tempeh, are not high n K2.
Pregnant? Make Sure Youre Getting Enough Vitamin K2
Last but not least, while vitamin K2 is critical for the prevention of a number of chronic diseases listed above, its also vital for women who are trying to conceive, who are pregnant, and for growing healthy children. K2 plays a very important role throughout pregnancy (for the development of teeth for both primary and adult teeth, the development of proper facial form, healthy facial form, as well as strong bones), then again throughout childhood to prevent cavities, and through adolescence as the skeleton is growing, Rheaume-Bleue says.
Here is the link where I read his article:
What You Need To Know About Vitamin K2, D, and Calcium
By Joseph Mercola
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2012/12/joseph-mercola/what-you-need-to-know-about-vitamin-k2-d-andcalcium/
D3 with K1 & K2 from Innate; Sambucol at onset; C-Boost from Bolthouse Farms.
Thanks for the info.
Back in the 1970s the big deal was vitamin C to keep you healthy.
Still good advice, most people are low.
SHHHH!
Indeed. You are not supposed to notice such things.
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