Immunity – Zinc, Quercetin, Viruses, Magnesium, What NOT to Take

In This Issue: 

• • Zinc & Immunity
  • Quercetin & Viruses
  • Magnesium & Cognitive Function
  • What NOT to Take in a Multivitamin
  • In the Woo Woo Corner

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Message from Bernadette Wulf

Greetings!

What a weird time we are living though, right? Most of us have been ordered to to “shelter in place” for who knows how long? We’re visiting friends and family on Zoom. Many of us are wondering how we are going to pay our bills, or even keep a roof over our heads. But at the same time, people are reaching out to share their music, stories, humor, support, and assistance.

All sorts of free options for entertainment and education are popping up on the Internet. There might even be some good things happening behind the scenes (see last post below), but that remains to be seen. All in all, it’s no more business as usual! I call it #globalreset2020

I’m using this time to focus on changes I want to see in the world. Posts about Nature rebounding are certainly uplifting – dolphins in the Venice canals, coyotes roaming the streets of San Francisco, clean air in Los Angeles and China. It all feels like a strange dream sometimes.

Much as I think it’s a really good idea to stay home until the crest of the wave of COVID-19 passes through our health care system, I’m not personally worried about contracting it. I just don’t want to be responsible for passing it on to someone who is immune compromised. So I’ve been gardening and writing, visiting friends and family from a distance, and taking plenty of vitamin C, zinc, and quercetin.

I wonder what you’ve been up to. I hope all my readers have found helpful advice in these newsletters on how to stay healthy and keep their immune systems strong. I wouldn’t want y’all to be stressing out about getting sick, on top of everything else.

If you do get stressed, EFT can be really helpful. Here’s a link to my EFT instruction page.

Hang in there. We’ll get through this. Let me know if I can help.

Have questions or comments? Email Bernadette Please use this link and do not hit reply to this post, because I may never get your message that way.

To your health and happiness!

Bernadette Wulf

HealItAll.com & Plant Based for Life

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Zinc & Immunity

I only discovered the benefits of zinc a few years ago when I started reading the Medical Medium material. Wow! What a difference it made in my immunity.

Before I started taking zinc (in the form of ionic zinc sulfate from Good State), I was catching three or four colds a year from the toddlers I was babysitting. Since I started taking zinc regularly I’ve only come down with one mild 24 hour bug over the past three or four years, even though I was still taking care of the kids. That’s a BIG difference.

I was probably very deficient in zinc, and apparently most people are. Unfortunately our soils have become deficient as a result of our destructive farming practices, so foods are no longer a dependable source. But the good news is that you can easily take a supplement.

Zinc even seems to help our immune system fight off the dreaded COVID-19. From NaturalHealth365.com:

Along with its long list of health benefits, zinc also shows promise in helping you avoid problems with COVID-19.  For example, in a recent YouTube video, Roger Seheult, MD, a pulmonologist and critical care specialist delves into some data from South Korea and whether intracellular zinc may be able to help prevent COVID-19.

The video looks closely at a study done on the way zinc inhibits coronavirus – specifically SARS-CoV – and arterivirus, and offers some insight on how zinc may also help fight COVID-19.

Given that zinc seems to have such a beneficial effect on the immune system, it is one of the top supplements on my list – along with vitamin B12 and vitamin C, in particular.

Read more about the benefits of zinc – https://www.naturalhealth365.com/zinc-covid-19-3339.html

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Quercetin & Viruses

Quercetin may be another great nutrient that can aid us in fighting flu and other viruses. It is found in many plant foods. See list – https://www.superfoodly.com/quercetin-foods/

From NaturalHealth365.com:

But what is particularly relevant – especially now – is quercetin’s ability to boost the immune system and interfere with viral replication.  In a review published in Viruses, the authors concluded that quercetin inhibited viral infections in the early stages – particularly during viral attachment and viral-cell fusion.

Quercetin has already shown the ability to inhibit both the A and B types of influenza, along with the H1N1 and the H3N2 viruses. Some forward-thinking physicians in the US already credit quercetin with being both safer and more effective than Tamiflu, the “gold standard” of medical therapies for influenza.

And, researchers are reporting that viruses seem to be incapable of developing immunity to quercetin – another huge plus.

To boost your own intake of dietary quercetin, opt for healthy amounts of organic unpeeled apples, dark cherries, cocoa, dark leafy greens, green tea and onions. Quercetin is also available as a supplement, with natural healers advising typical dosages of 500 mg twice a day. As always, consult your own integrative healthcare provider before adding quercetin to your immune-boosting routine.

Quercetin has also been used to relieve symptoms of allergies, treat inflammatory diseases, and lower cholesterol. Somehow that bag of frozen dark cherries in my freezer is calling to me now.

Read more about quercetin – https://www.naturalhealth365.com/quercetin-covid-19-studies-3337.html

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Magnesium & Cognitive Function

You probably know that magnesium is great for relaxing muscles and preventing muscle cramps, but did you know it is also being studied as a preventative for dementia? If you know anyone who is losing their mental faculties, you are most likely aware of how frustrating it can be for them and for you. It looks like magnesium could help.

Even if it didn’t help with dementia, it could help in so many other ways. Magnesium is necessary for building strong bones and teeth, converting food to energy, protein formation, repairing DNA and RNA, muscle movement, regulation of nerve signals to the brain, and more than 600 other reactions in the body.

Most people are likely to be deficient in magnesium, due to stress, soil depletion, and/or lack of leafy greens in their diet, so supplementation is often recommended. I like Calm brand, unflavored, or magnesium glycinate.

From NaturalHealth365.com:

Researchers, in a study that was published by BMJ Open, took a closer look at more than 6,000 women within the U.S. between the ages of 65 and 79 and the amount of magnesium they were consuming.  Among those who got between about 257 and 317 milligrams per day of magnesium, they had a significantly lower risk of developing cognitive impairment compared to the individuals who got only 197 milligrams or less per day.

I don’t take magnesium as regularly as zinc and B12, but I always keep it on hand and I take it fairly often, especially for the occasional leg cramps.

Read more about magnesium for brain function – https://www.naturalhealth365.com/magnesium-cognitive-problems-3336.html

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What NOT to Take in a Multivitamin

I’ve been giving you a lot of information about the supplements I like, but what about the ones we should avoid? According to this article, calcium, iron, and copper are at the top of that list and should not be included in a multivitamin, because they can undermine your health. You may wonder why.

Though calcium has been widely recommended for bone health, it turns out that it often ends up lining the arteries which can lead to heart attacks. If you absolutely feel that you need a calcium supplement, make sure it is derived from food and take it with vitamin K2, which will help the calcium go to your bones, rather than your arteries. Collard greens are by far the best source of calcium. Other good sources are other dark green leafy vegetables, beans, sesame tahini, almonds, flax seeds – best absorbed when eaten with acidic foods (i.e. dark leafy greens with lemon juice or tomatoes).

Most people know about iron toxicity, which can arise from getting too much heme iron from meat and fish, or from supplements. Apparently, some people can only absorb the heme form of iron and they may need to supplement. Get your blood tested to make sure before supplementing.

For everyone else, non-heme iron, the type we get from plants, is safest. It is a little harder to absorb, but it does not cause toxicity. Most of us can get all the iron we need from plant foods such as: Collard greens, dark green leafy vegetables, seaweeds, beans, yams, nuts, seeds, prunes and prune juice, and whole grains – iron is best absorbed when eaten with acids, fermented foods, and/or foods high in vitamin C.

Copper toxicity is common, because of our copper pipes, pots and pans, and inclusion in many vitamin formulas. A deficiency is so rare that I wouldn’t advise taking copper as a supplement unless recommended by a health professional who specializes in nutritional deficiencies. You can get plenty of copper from foods such as: nuts and seeds, whole grains, dried beans, and mushrooms.

From NaturalHealth365.com:

The ‘big three’ to avoid are calcium, iron, and copper.  All three of these elements strongly contribute to increased oxidative stress in the body, unless you are clearly deficient in them.

That said, no adult would ever be expected to be legitimately deficient in calcium in their non-bony tissues. A true copper deficiency is a virtual myth as well. Of the three, only iron would ever be expected to be deficient in an adult.

When such a condition has been diagnosed, iron supplementation is appropriate, but only to the point of restoring the deficiency, not beyond. For iron, this usually means the resolution of an iron deficiency anemia while addressing its source, such as excessive menstruation in young women, or gastrointestinal blood loss, as from cancer or ulcer disease, as more commonly seen in older adults.

So check your labels when you buy vitamin supplements and make sure you aren’t doing yourself more harm than good!

Read more abut what not to take in your multivitamin – https://www.naturalhealth365.com/multivitamin-supplement-3334.html

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In the Woo Woo Corner

This video with David Wilcock is going to seem really “out there” for some of my readers, but it might be right up your alley for others. I’m sort of in the camp of, “this is really interesting, but I’m going to wait and see if any or all of it is accurate.” Bottom line – we might lose cell phone and internet connections for three days.

I would love to see the world released from the stranglehold of the old money families. Who wouldn’t? But David has been promising this for quite a few years and we are still waiting. Time will tell.

Meanwhile, you can enjoy watching, or not. It’s really long! The last half hour or so is a nice meditation. You might just want to skip to that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tM3tCnLDPVw