Protecting Yourself from the Flu
Take steps now to enhance your powerful natural immunity!

By Joel Fuhrman, M.D.

As influenza (flu) spreads throughout the United States this winter season, media reports about those who have died from it are spreading fear faster than the flu itself.People are frantic, rushing to get themselves and their children vaccinated, afraid that they or their loved ones will die from this common viral illness.

The Fujian flu is the main strain going around,causing about 75 percent of all cases. This is a new
strain—one that the present flu vaccine does not protect against. Health authorities suspect the current vaccine still may offer a small degree of protection and that flu symptoms may be milder in those vaccinated. Keep in mind that at this point that is still speculation.

Choosing to have yourself and your family vaccinated in hopes of getting protection from the flu or a slight reduction in the severity of its symptoms may seem like a somewhat reasonable approach, but I believe nutritional excellence offers a much stronger degree of protection against contagious disease and the complications of such illnesses.

Nutrition and infection The most effective artillery we have to protect ourselves against the
potential damaging effects of influenza and other infectious disease is nutritional excellence. Micronutrients—Micronutrients meaning vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals—fuel various
host defense mechanisms.These mechanisms include phagocytosis (a process that includes the isolation and destruction of microorganisms), cell-mediated protection by T cells and natural killer cells, and antibody production by B cells. Studies have shown that if you have deficiencies
of virtually any known vitamin or mineral, it will negatively affect these self-defense functions. It also has been demonstrated that when diets are low in consumption of green and yellow vegetables (which are rich in carotenoids), viral illnesses take a more serious form.

Numerous micronutrients, including lutein, lycopene, folic acid, bioflavonoids, riboflavin, zinc, selenium, and many others, have immunomodulating functions—they influence both the susceptibility of a host to infectious diseases and the course and outcome of such diseases.
These micronutrients also possess antioxidant functions that not only up-regulate immune function of the host, but also alter the genome of microbes and viruses, disrupting the mechanisms that can result in more prolonged and serious infection. Viruses are able to
assume a more virulent form and new, more severe infections are more likely to emerge when deficiencies are present. A healthy immune system adequately armed with a symphonic assortment of plant-derived phytochemicals inhibits DNA variation in viruses that could allow them to better evade host defenses.

Unfortunately, most Americans eat a diet that weakens their normal resistance to simple viral infections. They are not alone. In spite of advances in science that reveal the critical importance of thousands of protective micronutrients in the natural plant kingdom, much of the modern world consumes a diet rich in processed grains, oils, sweets, and animal products. In the United
States, for example, less than 5 percent of total calories consumed comes from fresh fruits, vegetables, seeds, and nuts.

Low nutrient intake enables microbes (viruses and bacteria) to spread easily and develop virulent
forms.The fact that this is happening should be of no surprise since ubiquitous consumption of fake foods such as white bread, pasta, oil, and sugar has become the norm.We make matters even worse by combining misuse and overuse of antibiotics with our poor nutritional
habits. This deadly combination of mistakes has created a population ripe to be ravaged by infectious illnesses—both viral (such as colds and flus) and bacterial (such as staph and strep). If we were a healthy, well-nourished population, these microbes would have a negligible effect on our health.

The widespread overuse of antibiotics has caused more virulent forms of bacteria to develop, including strains that are resistant to antibiotics. Antibiotic-resistant strains develop when the bacteria mutates in order to survive in an environment of antibiotic use. These antibiotic-
resistant bacteria can more easily colonize our mucous membranes, multiply,and cause further harm.The repeated use of antibiotics causes other problems aswell. As antibiotics kill harmful bacteria,they kill protective bacteria as well. Protective bacteria block the spread of disease causing bacteria and have positive effects on nutritional and immune function. The destruction of protective bacteria through repeated use of antibiotics reduces your immune defenses over time, making you more susceptible to more serious infections in the future.

Some of the young children who die from the flu develop serious bacterial pneumonia while in the
hospital. While their deaths are blamed on the flu, the causation chain in these tragic cases began before the children were even born. Typically, their mothers ate poor diets during pregnancy. After birth, there was inadequate or total lack of breast feeding.This was followed
by poor diet and inappropriate prescribing of antibiotics. Finally, infection led to a population
explosion of dangerous and more virulent bacteria in their young bodies that culminated in the loss of life. A tragic story, but entirely understandable and, in most cases, preventable. The flu was only one contributor to the deadly chain of events.

Who is at risk?

The medical community acknowledges that certain people are at greater risk of harm and death from the flu. Those with weakened immune systems are at increased risk when they catch an infection of any type. Those at greater risk include the elderly, infants and toddlers under two years of age who were not breast-fed, and a wide variety of people with medical conditions.
This last group includes patients who have chronic medical conditions such as diabetes, cancer
patients, people who have had organ transplants, steroid dependent individuals, and those on other immuno-suppressive drugs for autoimmune illness. People of any age who smoke and those whose food intake is primarily junk food (most Americans) also are at greater risk, since these individuals cannot be expected to have normal immune function and are more likely to suffer complications from all common viral infections.

A powerful but virtually ignored public health measure that can be taken to protect modern society from the flu and other infectious illnesses is the implementation of a program of nutritional education that emphasizes the fact that most diseases are not simply the result of
luck, nor are they predominantly the result of one’s genetic inheritance. Infectious diseases are earned through poor dietary and lifestyle habits.The flu is not a dangerous disease in healthy individuals.

Key facts about the flu

About 10 percent of U.S. residents get influenza each year. About 100,000 people are hospitalized and 36,000 Americans die each year from the complications of the flu. This season is no different.

Symptoms of the flu include high fever,headache,extreme fatigue,and muscle aches. Cough, sore throat, and nasal congestion are also common. Gastrointestinal symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, are more common in children. Severe headaches and muscle aches
are what usually differentiate the flu from other viral illnesses and colds. People stay contagious for about a week after contracting the flu, so if you develop it,plan on staying home for a week.

Diagnostic tests can differentiate influenza (flu) from other viral infections as long as the test is run in the first two or three days. But these tests are only necessary if medications are being considered, to confirm that the correct medication is being given.

How to protect yourself

Viruses are primarily spread via hand to face contact. They also can be spread when a sick person coughs or sneezes, aerosolizing the viruses so others can inhale them. A person
can be contagious the day before they develop symptoms and for seven to ten days after symptoms first develop.So when you are out in public, you should wash your hands after you touch something that other people have touched like a doorknob or gas pump.Keep your hands
away from your face,and wash them as soon as you come home. If you use a public bathroom, use a paper towel to turn off the water knobs and also to open the door to leave the bathroom.These measures help keep your hands clean.

Keep young children at home, away from child-care settings with large numbers of other children with runny noses. Also, the last place you want to be with a sick child is an emergency room or a doctor’s office, because even if you don’t have the flu already, these places certainly will increase your chances of getting it or some other infectious disease.

You can avoid the flu, and if you do get it, you can make sure that it is a mild illness for you and your family. The key is excellent nutrition. The flu is a simple viral illness, one that a healthy body has scores of adequate defenses against. No flu is any match for a well-nourished immune system. A healthful diet should include at least four fresh fruits a day, four servings of vegetables a day, of which two are green vegetables, and some raw nuts and seeds.The same diet of nutritional excellence that affords you protection from heart disease and cancer will protect you against contagious diseases as well.

Antiviral drugs and the flu

Three antiviral drugs, amantadine (Symmetrel), rimantadine (Flumadine), and oseltamivir (Tamiflu) are available in the U.S. for influenza. These medications are only partially
effective and only if they are started within the first two days of symptoms. All are prescription drugs, and all have serious potential risks.These include the more common side effects of nausea, vomiting, dizziness, and insomnia, as well as rare— but serious—adverse reactions such
as depression, suicide, and a potentially fatal reaction called neuroleptic malignant syndrome, which involves a high fever,muscle rigidity, and mental status changes.

I cannot recommend the general use of these medications given their poor benefit-to-risk ratio.
However, these medications would be appropriate in the event of an outbreak in a nursing home or hospital where high-risk people are in close contact with one another.

Is the flu vaccine for you?

All medical interventions have a benefit-to-risk ratio. One has to weigh the potential risks with the supposed benefits. Often, the longterm risks of medications are not clearly delineated, and the supposed benefits are exaggerated by doctors and pharmaceutical companies. After all, medicine is still a business, and in business the goal is to make money. For example, we know that over 90 percent of all antibiotics prescribed in this country are for conditions for which
they have no beneficial effect, such as viral infections. Bronchitis is an example of an infection that is almost always viral in non-smokers, yet it is a condition for which antibiotics are commonly prescribed. It has been shown that overuse of antibiotics results in an increase in allergies, autoimmune diseases, and death from more serious infections,
such as pneumonia.

Vaccines also have benefits and risks. If you read about the flu vaccine in the information supplied by the manufacturer, you will learn it contains formaldehyde and 25 micrograms
of thimerosol (mercury) per dose,used as a preservative.The injection of even this small amount
of mercury year after year in multiple vaccines can cause neurotoxicity (brain damage), which has led the American Academy of Pediatrics and the U.S. Public Health Service to issue a joint statement calling for the removal of mercury from vaccines. Chronic low-dose mercury
exposures may cause subtle neurological abnormalities that rear their heads later in life.

Considering all the vaccines that children get already, adding the flu vaccine to the mix and giving it each year is something I am not ready to recommend for healthy children who are fed a nutritionally sound diet. That does not mean I would not recommend it to an elderly person or one with compromised immune function.

The flu vaccine has not been evaluated for carcinogenic or mutagenic potential and animal reproductive studies have not been performed. Adverse reactions to the vaccine include arthralgias (muscle aches) lymphadenopathy (swelling of lymph nodes), itching, angiopathy,
vasculitis, and other events reflective of toxicity. Allergic reaction, hives, anaphylaxis, neurological disorders (such as neuritis), encephalitis, optic neuritis, and demyelinating
disorders (such as MS) also have been temporally associated with influenza vaccine.

People need to decide the risk to benefit ratio for themselves and their own children because serious complications, including (rarely) death, can occur from a simple viral illness such as the flu. However, keep in mind that this generally happens in cases where the patients are elderly
and frail, have cancer, or are significantly immuno-suppressed (such as patients with AIDS), not in healthy children eating nutritious diets, with normal immune function. If you believe your children eat so poorly that their compromised immune systems place them at such risk, it
makes sense for you to give them the vaccine yearly. I prefer to feed my children in a manner that protects them against all diseases and allows their healthy immune systems to deal with the flu, should they get it.

What if you get the flu?

If you develop the flu, stay home, sip water all day (as opposed to drinking lots at one time), and eat as little as possible. If hungry, stick to light food, mostly juicy fruits and salad.The time to assure a quick and uneventful recovery from illness is before you get sick—by adopting a
program of superior nutrition.Once you are ill,it is important not to overwork your body digesting heavy meals. Anorexia of infection (loss of appetite) is one way the body has of activating a more powerful immune response.

Fever is a protective effort by the body to increase its defenses against viral replication. Unlike with heat stroke, the height of the fever accompanying viral illnesses such as the flu is regulated by the body.This self-produced heat is not dangerous and should not be feared. I recommend
using fever-reducing medication in moderation, typically only when the discomfort interferes with
sleeping comfortably at night.

When to see a doctor

It is important to understand that when a severe flu does occur, the main reason for hospitalization, dire illness, and even death is the complication of pneumonia. The danger sign one should watch for is a sudden worsening of the overall condition.

Symptoms suggesting that medical consultation is necessary are unusually rapid breathing; breathing with grunting or wheezing sounds; labored breathing that makes a child’s rib muscles retract; abdominal pain (more common in children); changes in behavior or mental status, such as disorientation or not being alert; persistent diarrhea or vomiting in children unable to drink sufficient fluids; and persistent fever above 103 degrees for three days.