Powerful mineral can keep you from ever getting sick with flu
Imagine making your body permanently invincible to flu — all without going anywhere near a risky vaccine.
For years our government has tried to convince us that rolling up our sleeves was the only way to stay safe from flu. They’ve even spent billions stockpiling the vaccine, even though some years it’s failed more than 90 percent of the time.
But now scientists have proven that a simple supplement you can buy for pennies a day may be the most powerful flu-fighter we’ve ever seen. It actually jumpstarts your body’s own natural defenses and kills the flu virus dead.
And this natural cure won’t just keep you healthy this year. It may keep you from ever getting sick with flu again.
And it has everything to do with how much zinc you have in your bloodstream.
Zinc is one of those minerals we don’t think about much until we come down with a cold — and then we start popping zinc lozenges like crazy.
But researchers from Tufts University have found that keeping your body stocked with zinc all year may be the secret to staying flu-free forever.
They just wrapped up a study on nursing home patients — people who usually have very weak immune systems and often end up dying from flu.
But after just a few months of taking zinc, these folks saw their bodies’ levels of natural “killer T” cells skyrocket. These killer T cells are your first line of defense against flu — and they have the power to kill the virus before it replicates and makes you sick.
How many killer T cells you have circulating determines how serious a case of flu you develop — and whether the flu ends up killing you.
Even better? Earlier research discovered that some people with high levels of killer T cells never get sick from the flu — even when they’re infected with the virus.
“These cells are like hit men of our immune system and they can efficiently eliminate the virus-infected cells,” said Katherine Kedzierska, a professor from the University of Melbourne in Australia.
In other words, if you have enough killer T cells, your body can kill flu before the headaches, fevers, upset stomach and all the other unpleasant symptoms ever start.
In fact, just last year I told you how Big Pharma was trying to develop a lifetime flu vaccine that you’d only have to get once. And I’ll give you one guess how they’re trying to do it — by jumpstarting your body’s production of killer T cells.
Of course, you don’t have to be a human guinea pig or try some experimental vaccine to help your body make more of these natural flu fighters. Zinc actually stimulates your body’s natural production of killer T cells, which can help you beat everything from flu to cancer.
Now lots of us are low on zinc — and that’s especially true for folks with weaker immune systems like seniors, pregnant women, or people getting cancer treatment. And if you’re interested in loading up on zinc, here are a few tips to get you started:
- Try to work more food rich in zinc into your diet. These include oysters, scallops, shrimp, grass-fed beef, pumpkin seeds, mushrooms, spinach, and asparagus.
- If you’re looking to supplement, most docs recommend doses of around 15-25 mg. a day.
- When taking a zinc supplement, don’t wash it down with coffee or tea, as caffeine can keep your body from absorbing the mineral by as much as 50 percent.
- Definitely consider supplementing with zinc if you’re taking blood pressure meds (especially ACE inhibitors or diuretics) and even those popular stomach acid drugs like Prilosec and Pepcid. These have all been proven to drain our bodies of zinc.
Sources:
“Can you boost your immune system with extra zinc?” Joe Graedon, January 28, 2016, The People’s Pharmacy, peoplespharmacy.com
