What Nutrients Backed by Scientific Journal Articles Prevent and Fight Flu Virus, According to Magazine Article?

According to William Faloon's latest article in Life Extension magazine, January 2010 edition, "What to Do If You Contract Influenza, (including H1N1 or the common cold)," the author reveals what has worked for him personally to ward of cold and flu viruses as and what has been validated in scientific literature to be effective. The article elaborates not only on nutrition aspects of what to eat, but also on some aggressive prescription drug strategies to consider.

Faloon's strategies are to not wait until the full-blown illness actually manifests. Most people wait until they are very sick before they seek treatment. Instead, the article notes that the author works with frequent exposure to sick people without himself coming down with a serious cold-flu viral infection for 27 years.

Instead of crediting the supplements he takes daily, his article focuses on what scientific studies substantiate as far as the individual components, of what the supplements do. But with many of the supplements scientists have not yet done the clinical trials to support his total protocol.

What Faloon mentions in his articles are the drugs, nutrients, and hormones. They are used as follows for battling the flu before it manifests itself as a full-blown illness.

1. Cimetidine. He notes this drug is sold over the counter in the dose of 800 mg (and higher) to be taken daily. But what else he notes is that this drug is sold over-the-counter for heartburn. Faloon reports that its beneficial side effect is to boost immune function by reducing T-suppressor cells. The consequence is to keep the immune system in a hyperactive state. The author refers to the medical journal, DICP, 1990, Mar; 24(3): 289-95.

The article discusses cimetidine's side effect to inhibit the production of T-suppressor cells which boosts immune function. How this works is that the immune system is then prevented from turning itself down. Also cimetidine increases natural killer cell activity. It also boots levels of natural immune stimulants interleukin-2 and gamma interferon. Basically, cimetidine fights herpes and viral warts. References to studies are mentioned in the article so you can look them up online.

Faloon's article follows with nutritional supplements and why they work. For example, he mentions as a second strategy high-allicin garlic in a dose of 9,000 mg once or twice daily. Then he reports that this high dose will cause painful stomach esophageal burning if you don't eat food immediately afterward. This strategy is backed by reference to published studies showing garlic has direct virus-killing effects. The reference is to Chinese Medicine Journal (England), 1993, Feb:106(2):93-6.

On the magazine article's reference page, there are 123 listings of medical journal articles that you can look up online to check-out the various studies. Other nutrients or hormones that you can buy over-the-counter mentioned in Faloon's article include the following:

2. DHEA. DHEA, a hormone, in the article is explained as being able to mount a stronger immune response and protect against inflammatory cytokine responses that might occur in response to viral infections. The article mentions a dose of 200-400 mg early in the day. DHEA is another immune-boosting hormone as is melatonin.

3. Lactoferrin. Faloon's article also mentions lactoferrin doses of 1,200 mg a day to kill certain viruses. This is referenced by a scientific study. The article also mentions that lactoferrin is a natural constituent of mothers' milk. It's also found in certain nutritional supplements. The rest of the article explains in detail how lactoferrin works.

4. Zinc. The next recommendation are zinc lozenges in the dose of two 24 mg lozenges every two waking hours. The problem is this is a very high dosage of zinc that's toxic if you take it for a long time. So the article emphasizes to only take it for a few days at most. Why? He mentions zinc has shown the ability to inhibit the ability of cold viruses to hook onto your cells.

The article then goes on to explain published studies of how zinc lozenges work to fight cold viruses by preventing them from lodging in your body. But the zinc has to be taken within 24 hours of the onset of a cold in order to help the symptoms to diminish in severity.

The article details how rhinoviruses work and how zinc inhibits the ability of the cold virus to take hold, if taken early enough. Zinc lozenges reduce the severity and duration of a cold, but won't make the cold go away entirely.

Faloon explains that the key is to suck on two 24 mg zinc lozenges at the very first symptom of a cold and keep doing this for every two waking hours. If you wait until the cold actually strikes at the point when the viruses already bind to your receptor sites, it's too late. But beware than if you keep using zinc, your immune system is suppressed. It goes down.

The warning is for doses over 300 mg daily. Just don't overdose on zinc. It washes out the copper from your body. You don't want a copper deficiency made by zinc, either, with worse symptoms than a cold.

If you actually sucked on two zinc lozenges every two hours you're awake, the amount easily exceeds 300mg a day. So be careful not to overdose on zinc if you have a scratchy throat.

Note that studies for and against zinc working are all over the medical articles. The article refers to the study on zinc and cold germs from Alternative Medical Review, 2007,March;12(1):25-48.

5. Melatonin. Then the article mentions melatonin at bedtime in a high dose of 10-50 mg, when melatonin usually is taken at a very low dose of just 1-3 mg per night. The reason given is that melatonin produces a powerful immune response and deep sleep. The article explains how immune-boosting hormones such as melatonin and DHEA work.

Careful, because you'll probably fall alseep after you take this high dose, if you decide to. And make sure you're not allergic to it or that it doesn't cause you to keep taking deep breaths to feel your diaphragm working right. You never know what kind of response an individual will have. So if you choose this path, test your body first to see how you respond to melatonin. Better yet, talk to a doctor first before you get sick with a virus to find out how your body will react to all these immune-stimulating strategies.

6. Aged Garlic Extract. The author of the Life Extension magazine article mentions a dose of 3,600 mg a day. The article notes unique immune-boosting compounds in aged garlic that work in a different way from high-allicin garlic. Some other sources recommend liquid aged garlic extract for bacteria in the stomach and fro cardio-protection, but be aware that enough of it does thin the blood.

The article notes that Mr. Faloon takes the doses recommended in his article in addition to the supplements he uses daily. You might find helpful the statement by the author that his personal program "closely resembles the Top Ten most important nutrients, hormones, and drugs that Life Extension® recommends to its members plus 5,000 IU of vitamin D3 each day."

7. High-Allicin Garlic. The article then includes a section on the benefits of high-allicin garlic for fighting the common cold virus.

8. Ribavirin. Faloon also mentions that ribavirin is a prescription drug "that has potent antiviral effects." But in Faloon's article, the author notes that in a Chinese study, garlic (in a test tube at least) is more effective than ribavirin in inhibiting viruses that attack the intestinal track. That particular study, garlic worked better at fighting those viruses. References are listed to the studies on garlic as an anti-viral agent.

Faloon's article also warns that ribavirin is "probably a teratogen." That means women even remotely able to become pregnant should beware because it stays in the body up to six months. Beware of reproductive dangers. That means six months after you stop taking ribavirin, it's still in your body. You don't want this in your body if you get pregnant within six months after taking it or are pregnant.

In some people, ribavirin caused anemia. But the article also noted that in people taking certain other supplements, many did not have anemia after taking ribavirin. Be careful with this if you're of child-bearing age.

Dealing with Flu Infections

Faloon's article then turns to dealing with flu infections. He details information on drugs such as Tamiflu, Relenza, and Ribavirin. The article notes that ribavirin is used as an adjuvant treatment for hepatitis C. But in some people ribavirin causes anemia, according to the Life Extension article. Faloon also notes that it's unknown presently whether rivavirin offers any help for the flu. It's possible that if Tamiflu and Relenza aren't working, you could ask your doctor to prescribe ribivirin to see whether it will work against your flu virus.

Vitamin D to Boost Immune Function and Suppress Inflammation

The article has detailed information on how vitamin D works to downregulate too much pro-inflammatory cytokine production. It's possible vitamin D might save someone sick with acute flu viruses. But the article also mentions other cytokine-suppressing nutrients such as fish oil, green tea, borage oil, cucurmin, an extract from turmeric, and the flavonoids. The article also mentions that vitamin D can help to fight staphylococcusbacterial infections. Then the article explains in detail just how vitamin D accomplishes this. (See page 42-43 of the article for the details on this and more information on swine flu therapies).

Beware of online fraudulent H1N1 supplements as reported by the FDA

The article also warns about fraudulent H1N1 supplements reported by the FDA, and includes an FDA news release on illegal web activity. So check out William Faloon's article. It will give you information that's so new the mainstream media hasn't broadcasted it yet, and also includes a great reference page with those 123 medical/scientific journal articles and studies referred to or to check out yourself online or in libraries.