ONIONS…

Reposted – Originally posted on 02.16.2010:  In 1919 when the flu killed 40 million people there was this Doctor that visited the many farmers to see if he could help them combat the flu...

Many of the farmers and their families had contracted it and many died.

The doctor came upon this one farmer and to his surprise, everyone was very healthy. When the doctor asked what the farmer was doing that was different the wife replied that she had placed an unpeeled onion in a dish in the rooms of the home, (probably only two rooms back then). The doctor couldn't believe it and asked if he could have one of the onions and place it under the microscope. She gave him one and when he did this, he did find the flu virus in the onion. It obviously absorbed the bacteria, therefore, keeping the family healthy.

Now, I heard this story from my hairdresser. She said that several
years ago, many of her employees were coming down with the flu, and so were many of her customers. The next year she placed several bowls with onions around in her shop. To her surprise, none of her staff got sick. It must work. Try it and see what happens. We did it last year and we never got the flu.

Now there is a P.S. to this for I sent it to a friend in Oregon who
regularly contributes material to me on health issues. She replied with this most interesting experience about onions:

Thanks for the reminder. I don't know about the farmer's story... but, I do know that I contacted pneumonia, and, needless to say, I was very ill... I came across an article that said to cut both ends off an onion put it into an empty jar, and place the jar next to the sick patient at night. It said the onion would be black in the morning from the germs... sure enough it happened just like that... the onion was a mess and I began to feel better.

Another thing I read in the article was that onions and garlic placed around the room saved many from the black plague years ago. They have powerful antibacterial, antiseptic properties.

This is the other note. Lots of times when we have stomach problems we don't know what to blame. Maybe it's the onions that are to blame. Onions absorb bacteria is the reason they are so good at preventing us from getting colds and flu and is the very reason we shouldn't eat an onion that has been sitting for a time after it has been cut open.

LEFT OVER ONIONS ARE POISONOUS

I had the wonderful privilege of touring Mullins Food Products, Makers of mayonnaise. Questions about food poisoning came up, and I wanted to share what I learned from a chemist.

Ed, who was our tour guide, is a food chemistry whiz. During the tour, someone asked if we really needed to worry about mayonnaise. People are always worried that mayonnaise will spoil. Ed's answer will surprise you. Ed said that all commercially-made Mayo is completely safe.

"It doesn't even have to be refrigerated. No harm in refrigerating it, but it's not really necessary." He explained that the pH in mayonnaise is set at a point that bacteria could not survive in that environment. He then talked about the summer picnic, with the bowl of potato salad sitting on the table, and how everyone blames the mayonnaise when someone gets sick.

Ed says that, when food poisoning is reported, the first thing the officials look for is when the 'victim' last ate ONIONS and where those onions came from (in the potato salad?). Ed says it's not the mayonnaise (as long as it's not homemade Mayo) that spoils in the outdoors. It's probably the ONIONS, and if not the onions, it's the POTATOES.

He explained onions are a huge magnet for bacteria, especially uncooked onions. You should never plan to keep a portion of a sliced onion.. He says it's not even safe if you put it in a zip-lock bag and put it in your refrigerator.

It's already contaminated enough just by being cut open and out for a bit, that it can be a danger to you (and doubly watch out for those onions you put in your hotdogs at the baseball park!). Ed says if you take the leftover onion and cook it like crazy you'll probably be okay, but if you slice that leftover onion and put on your sandwich, you're asking for trouble. Both the onions and the moist potato in a potato salad, will attract and grow bacteria faster than any commercial mayonnaise will even begin to break down.

Also, dogs should never eat onions. Their stomachs cannot metabolize onions.

Please remember it is dangerous to cut an onion and try to use it to cook the next day, it becomes highly poisonous for even a single night and creates toxic bacteria which may cause adverse stomach infections because of excess bile secretions and even food poisoning.

h/t to Liana Smith

*Although the specific stories above have not been verified, the essence of the information is correct, including onions being a no-no food for dogs.!!

Technorati Tags: onions,food,poisons,bacteria,food chemistry,stomach infections,flu virus,natural remedies,food poisoning

Warning: Swine Flu Shot Linked to Killer Nerve Disease

A warning that the swine flu vaccine has been linked to a deadly nerve disease has been sent by the UK Government to senior neurologists in a confidential letter.

The letter from the Health Protection Agency, the official body that oversees public health, was leaked to The Daily Mail, leading to demands to know why the information has not been given to the public before the vaccination of millions of people, including children, begins.

It tells the neurologists that they must be alert for an increase in a brain disorder called Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), which could be triggered by the vaccine. GBS attacks the lining of the nerves, causing paralysis and inability to breathe, and can be fatal.

The letter refers to the use of a similar swine flu vaccine in the United States in 1976 when:

• More people died from the vaccination than from swine flu
• The vaccine may have increased the risk of contracting GBS by eight times
• The vaccine was withdrawn after just ten weeks when the link with GBS became clear
• The U.S. Government was forced to pay out millions of dollars to those affected

Concerns have already been raised that the new vaccine has not been sufficiently tested and that the effects, especially on children, are unknown.

Watch CBS Videos Online

As mentioned in this article, the 1976 swine flu vaccine campaign caused more harm than good, and there are indications that the current campaign may end up being a devastating repeat or worse.

At that time, one person died from the actual swine flu, while 25 people died from adverse reactions to the vaccine, and several hundred people developed crippling Guillain-Barré Syndrome.

According to The Daily Mail, the British Health Protection Agency sent letters to 600 neurologists on July 29^th, warning them to be on the lookout for cases of Guillain- Barré Syndrome once the swine flu vaccine campaign begins.

Why the warning was not sent out to general practitioners, who will be administering the shot, seems an odd choice if public safety is indeed the main concern.

This confidential correspondence between the British public health agency and neurologists in the U.K. is the first clue that all is probably not well with this fast-tracked pandemic vaccine.

Are You Willing to Let Them Experiment on Your Child?

According to a recent report from CNN, the U.S. is set to receive as many as 600 million doses of swine flu vaccine, enough for 300 million Americans.

Based on the recommendations from the World Health Organization’s (WHO) advisory group on immunization matters, the top priority groups that stand to receive the vaccine first include:

• Pregnant women

• Children over the age of 6 months with chronic health conditions

• Adults with chronic health conditions such as chronic respiratory disease, asthma, or obesity

• Health care workers

However, pregnant women, children, and those whose immune systems are already compromised are also at even greater risk to suffer severe side effects from the vaccine, as the adjuvants in the vaccine are designed to reduce your immune function.

Barbara Loe Fisher of the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) recently warned about the campaign underway to turn schools into virtual vaccination clinics. In many U.S. states, school has already started, so the decision of whether or not to vaccinate your child may become an issue you’ll have to deal with in the coming weeks.

Swine Flu Drug of Choice Causes Side Effects in Half of All Children

In the U.K. the hysteria over swine flu led to flu drugs being offered online, without a doctor’s prescription. This is incomprehensible, considering their risk. Just a couple of weeks ago I reported on brand new study findings that the swine flu drug of choice, Tamiflu, caused one or more side effects in OVER HALF of all children who received it!

Side effects included:

• Nausea – 29 percent

• Stomach pain or cramps – 20 percent

• Neuropsychiatric side effects including inability to think clearly, nightmares, and “strange behavior” – nearly 20 percent

• Sleep problems – 12 percent

The British Medical Association’s lead expert on swine flu went on the record stating that Tamiflu is now being overused.

Keep in mind that, although the swine flu has spread across the world it appears to have decreased in severity. The vast majority of cases are very mild, requiring only a few days in bed.

In fact, the regular seasonal flu is still far worse, and more deadly, than the swine flu.

How Vaccines Can Cause so Much Harm

The intended effect of a vaccination is to help you build immunity to a potentially harmful organism. However, your body’s immune system is already designed to do this in response to organisms that invade your body naturally.

Most disease-causing organisms enter your body through the mucous membranes of your nose, mouth, pulmonary system or your digestive tract. These mucous membranes have their own immune system, called the IgA immune system, which fights off invading organisms at the point of entry, reducing or even eliminating the need for activation of your body’s immune system.

A vaccination, however, delivers either live or attenuated (dead) viruses directly into your tissues and blood stream through injection, completely bypassing your body’s first line of defense. And when combined with an immune adjuvant, your body’s immune system kicks into high gear in response to the vaccination. If your immune system is too weak to deal with the assault, severe side effects can occur.

Injecting organisms into your body to provoke immunity is contrary to nature, and vaccination carries enormous potential to do serious damage to your health.

To emphasize this point further, when ingested, the vaccine adjuvant squalene is actually recognized by your immune system as an oil molecule native to your body. It has antioxidant properties and is found throughout your nervous system and brain.

The difference between “good” and “bad” squalene is the route by which it enters your body. Injection is an abnormal route of entry which incites your immune system to attack all the squalene in your body, not just the vaccine adjuvant.

As a result, your immune system will attempt to destroy the molecule wherever it finds it, including in places where it occurs naturally, and where it is vital to the health of your nervous system.

For more information about squalene, and the hazards it poses when included in flu shots, please review my recent special report on the topic, if you have not already done so.

Is Silver a Good Choice for the Swine Flu?

While I believe colloidal silver does have some merit, there may be significant problems in using it for swine flu. We were initially going to carry one of the finest silver products in our store, but I recently learned of new information that changed my mind.

While silver will likely work to kill the swine flu virus, in many healthy individuals it is likely to elicit a severe cytokine storm reaction. This is basically a severe allergic inflammatory reaction that can occur in your lungs, and could be fatal.

Additionally, silver is a heavy metal and there is no need for it in your body. So when used acutely it may have benefit, but in the long run you will need to eliminate the silver ions in your body with some type of detoxification process.

I am currently consulting with some of the leading experts on a swine flu product that I hope to have by the end of the year that will use completely natural ingredients that build your immune system, and will not result in a potentially fatal cytokine storm.

In the Meantime Consider Vitamin D as it Prevents Seasonal Flu

Just last week I reported on Canada’s decision to investigate the role of vitamin D in protection against the swine flu. This is great, but there are already overwhelming evidence showing that your vitamin D levels play a significant role in your likelihood of getting the flu.

Vitamin D has been a hot research topic these past few years, and has been shown to have remarkable impact on nearly every single disease studied.

Here is a list of four studies published this year, showing an inverse association between respiratory tract infections and 25(OH)D levels. That is, the higher your vitamin D level, the lower your risk of contracting colds, flu, and other respiratory tract infections:

1. A 2007 study suggests higher vitamin D status enhances your immunity to microbial infections. They found that subjects with vitamin D deficiency had significantly more days of absence from work due to respiratory infection than did control subjects.

2. A 2009 study on vitamin D deficiency in newborns with acute lower respiratory infection (ALRI) confirmed a strong, positive correlation between newborns’ and mother’s vitamin D levels. Over 87 percent of all newborns and over 67 percent of all mothers had vitamin D levels lower than 20 ng/ml, which is a severe deficiency state.
   Newborns with vitamin D deficiency appear to have an increased risk of developing ALRI, and since the child’s vitamin D level strongly correlates with its mother’s, the researchers recommend that all mothers’ optimize their vitamin D levels during pregnancy, especially in the winter months, to safeguard their baby’s health.

3. A 2009 analysis of the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey examined the association between vitamin D levels and recent upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) in nearly 19,000 subjects over the age of 12.
   Recent URTI was reported by:

   • 17 percent of participants with vitamin D levels of 30 ng/ml or higher

   • 20 percent of participants with vitamin D levels between 10-30 ng/ml.

   • 24 percent of participants with vitamin D levels below 10 ng/ml

The positive correlation between lower vitamin D levels and increased risk of URTI was even stronger in individuals with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

1. Another 2009 report in the journal Pediatric Research stated that infants and children appear more susceptible to viral rather than bacterial infections when deficient in vitamin D. And that, based on the available evidence showing a strong connection between vitamin D, infections, and immune function in children, vitamin D supplementation may be a valuable therapy in pediatric medicine.

Granted, so far none of the research has focused on vitamin D’s impact on pandemic flu. If your body has never been exposed to the antigens there is chance that vitamin D might not be enough.

However, there’s no evidence suggesting that vitamin D supplementation would cause you any harm or make your illness any worse.

On the contrary, if you are coming down with flu-like symptoms and have not supplemented with vitamin D, Dr. Cannell, one of the world’s leading vitamin D experts, recommends taking 50,000 IU’s a day for three days to treat the acute infection.

Some researchers, including Dr. Cannell, believe the dose could even be as high as 1,000 units per pound of body weight for three days.

Ultimately, your best bet is to maintain healthy levels of vitamin D around 60 ng/ml year-round. Please note that this is far higher than most doctors will refer to as “normal.” Rather it is the optimal level you’ll want to maintain for disease prevention.

I strongly recommend you watch my one-hour free vitamin D lecture along with my video on vitamin D’s role in flu prevention for more in-depth information about vitamin D’s role in flu prevention.

Taking care of your health to reduce or eliminate your risk of contracting the flu is always going to be your safest bet. In addition to optimizing your vitamin D levels, this past article details my other recommendations for avoiding the flu naturally, and I strongly urge you to start incorporating these changes into your life today.

Educate Yourself Further

The CBS video above was originally aired on August 12, 2009, featuring CBS News Medical Correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton and NVIC's Barbara Loe Fisher. Here they discuss the possible dangers of the swine flu versus the H1N1 vaccine. Both provide sensible information and guidelines on this issue. I can’t stress enough how important it is for this type of information to make it into the conventional media.

Interestingly the swine flu vaccines are going to be available in the US around the time the finest vaccine conference in the world will be held. If you want to learn the absolute latest and best strategies for swine flu, then Washington DC is the place to be October 2-4. I will be sharing my strategies live at the event.

So join me at the International Vaccine Conference in Reston, Virginia (Near Washington, D.C.). It is the best vaccine conference in the world, and is only held about once every five years.

It is relatively inexpensive to attend, and highly recommended. But you’ll need to hurry to reserve your seat, as there is only room for 1,000 and the seats are going quickly.

This conference includes the best of the best speakers on this topic and I am VERY excited about attending. Plus, Washington DC is absolutely delightful in the fall and all the world-class museums there are free.

It is only $195 for the weekend and the hotel rooms are severely discounted. So even if you are only considering going, you should register for the hotel as there is no charge to cancel your reservation.

Dr. Mercola

Posted: TrueHealthIsTrueWealth – Cross Posted: Marion’s Place

Flu Drugs Inappropriate for Healthy Adults

The flu drugs Tamiflu and Relenza may not be worthwhile to treat seasonal influenza in healthy adults, British researchers reported on Friday.

"Recommending the use of antiviral drugs for the treatment of people presenting with symptoms is unlikely to be the most appropriate course of action," wrote Jane Burch of the University of York and colleagues.

Their study, published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases, supports an advisory from the World Health Organization that says healthy patients who get H1N1 swine flu without suffering complications do not need to be treated with antivirals.

Tamiflu, made by Switzerland's Roche under license from Gilead Sciences Inc., is a pill that can both treat and prevent influenza A viruses of all kinds. Zanamivir, made by GlaxoSmithKline under license from Australia's Biota and sold under the brand name Relenza, is an inhaled drug in the same class.

WHO strongly recommends both drugs for pregnant women, patients with underlying medical conditions and children under 5, as they are at increased risk of more severe illness.

Burch's team reviewed many different published studies on Tamiflu and Relenza. "We present the results for healthy adults and people at-risk of influenza-related complications," they wrote.

Both drugs shaved about half a day, on average, off the time patients were ill, they found. Influenza usually affects people for about a week.

The drugs worked a little better in people who have a high risk of complications, such as patients with diabetes or asthma, with Relenza cutting sickness by almost a day and Tamiflu by three-quarters of a day, on average.

This suggests the drugs should be reserved for people who need them the most, the researchers concluded.

Copyright Reuters

Flu Facts - For the Yound and the Old

Flu Vaccine Puts Kids at Risk

Flu vaccine does not help children stricken with influenza stay out of the hospital, but instead, increases their risk of being hospitalized, compared with those who have not had shots, according to a new study.

In fact, the risk triples, according to the study at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minneapolis.  

The new study aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of the flu vaccine (trivalent inactivated flu vaccine, or TIV) in children, especially asthmatic children, study leader Avni Joshi, M.D., told Science Daily.

The relative benefit of the vaccine is of paramount importance in light of the recommendation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics to vaccinate all children between 6 months and 18 years every year, a recommendation that the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program endorses.

The Mayo Clinic study spanned eight consecutive flu seasons and involved 263 children ages 6 months to 18 years. All of the children had laboratory-confirmed influenza between 1996 and 2006. Researchers verified which children had or had not received the vaccine, which were asthmatics, and which had to be hospitalized with flu-related illnesses.

The study showed that children who had been vaccinated had three times the risk of hospitalization of children who had not been vaccinated. Asthmatic children who received the vaccine had a “significantly” higher risk of being hospitalized than asthmatic children who had not received it. No other factors, such as the severity of asthma, appeared to have an effect on the risk of being hospitalized.

The findings do not implicate the flu vaccine as the cause of hospitalizations, Joshi said, adding that they do, “raise questions about the efficacy of the vaccine.”

Source: Reuters / NewsMax Online

---

Elderly May Have Greater Swine Flu Immunity

Older people may have some kind of immunity to swine flu, U.S. health officials said Thursday, as the number of confirmed and suspected cases of H1N1 virus rose again around the country.

More than 64 percent of U.S. infections have occurred among patients between the ages of 5 and 24, with just 1 percent of flu victims 65 or older, according to a study at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

One possible explanation is that "older adults might have been in contact a long time ago with a virus related to the one that we see now," said Anne Schuchat, interim deputy director for science and public health programs at the CDC.

"Adults might have some degree of pre-existing . . . antibodies to the H1N1 virus, especially older adults over 60 or 65," she said.

"The presence of pre-existing antibodies may be due to previous exposure to (influenza) infection or vaccination."

Health authorities around the world have been surprised that, with the number of cases of swine flu now topping 11,000, including 85 deaths, many of those infected have been younger people.

The CDC's study suggests that children and teens may be particularly vulnerable to contracting the disease — a worrying prospect as officials brace for the possible return in a few months' time of a more virulent strain of the H1N1 virus.

The flu outbreak is far from over in the United States, where the tally of confirmed or probable cases is now 5,764, Schuchat said.

Schuchat offered a scrap of upbeat news, noting that flu-related visits to doctors and hospitals are dropping across the United States.

Source: AFP

Related Articles and Resources:

• The Great Swine Flu Scare: Here We Go Again 
• Vaccine Madness: Private Profits from Health Hysteria
• Don't Panic: 7 FACTS About 'Swine Flu'. . .
• Critical Alert: The Swine Flu Pandemic – Fact or Fiction
• Fight Swine Flu With Mushrooms
• HPV Vaccine Dangers
• Can My Pet Catch Swine Flu?
• 32 Girls Have Died
• The Drug Story
• Western Medicine - Forbidden Cures
• The Neglected Nutritional Research of Dr. Weston Price, DDS
• Big Red Juice
• Sanoviv Medical Center

Posted:  True Health Is True Wealth

Fight Swine Flu With Mushrooms

The ordinary white button mushroom can help you beat the swine flu with an immunity boost, researchers at Tufts University say.

This lowly fungus, which was thought for many years to have no medicinal or nutritional value, actually bolsters immunity systems, the researchers say.

The Tufts study, published in The Journal of Nutrition, showed that grocery-store button mushrooms have as much antioxidant oomph as more exotic Asian mushrooms, long-prized for their ability to heal and to prevent disease. Common button mushrooms also contain polysaccharides and ergothioneine, along with other substances that jump-start the immune system. And they raise levels of cytokines, which are hormone-like proteins that help defend against viruses and tumors, the study found.

How many mushrooms are enough, and how should they be prepared? Holistic health counselor Margie King suggests one-half cup serving a day for full health benefits. You can add them to stews and soups or just put them in tossed salads, she says.

Dietitian Glenn Cardwell calls mushrooms one of nature’s “true superfoods” and says, “While it is always tempting to reach for a quick fix vitamin or medical supplement, real food alternatives, such as the mushroom, are a healthier long term choice.” 

Related Articles:

• The Great Swine Flu Scare: Here We Go Again
  
• Vaccine Madness: Private Profits from Health Hysteria 
  
• Don't Panic: 7 FACTS About 'Swine Flu'. . .
  
• Critical Alert: The Swine Flu Pandemic – Fact or Fiction
  
• Can My Pet Catch Swine Flu?
  

The Great Swine Flu Scare: Here We Go Again

I was in the military during the first swine flu scare in 1976. At the time it became policy that all soldiers would be vaccinated for swine flu. As a medical officer I refused and almost faced a court martial, but the military didn’t want the bad publicity. Despite the assurance by all the experts in virology, including Dr. Sabin, the epidemic never materialized. What did materialize were 500 cases of Gullian-Barre paralysis, including 25 deaths — not due to the swine flu itself, but as a direct result of the vaccine. At the time President Gerald Ford, on advice from the CDC, called for vaccination of the entire population of the United States. Today, some 33 years later, we are hearing the same cries of alarm from a similar lineup of virology experts. The pharmaceutical companies are busy designing a vaccine for the swine flu in hope that this administration will make the vaccine mandatory before another vaccine-related disaster can ruin their party. And as before, a number of equally qualified experts are calling for calm, based on a number of carefully conducted studies. To no one’s surprise, they too are being ignored by the media and government planners. According to science reports, this current strain of flu is H1N1. It can be forcibly inoculated into pigs, but it has been shown not to spread among the pig population. This means that the danger of a swine-based epidemic is small. There are several strains of this flu virus however, including H1N1, H1N2, H3N1, H3N2 and H2N3. What the science has shown is that when the virus passes through the pig, it becomes less virulent — that is, it is less likely to cause serious disease in people. With each passage, it becomes even weaker. Since this is not the answer that the pseudo-scientists wanted, they next announced that it is “possible” that the pigs could be infected with both the bird flu (strain H5N1) and the swine flu (strain H1N1), resulting in a mutant, highly virulent strain that could lead to a pandemic. Note this is pure speculation and that no scientist has ever performed this trick. It is purely hypothetical — like global warming. CDC virologists claim that in the past they performed a similar virological trick, but they never published their results and thus have kept the data close to the vest. In science, especially medical science, speculation is taboo. But, politicized scientists perform this bit of smoke and mirrors all the time. So, you may ask, "What about all the people dying in Mexico?" Overcrowding, poor nutrition and overall poor immunity, all of which are indigenous to Mexico, are a certain prescription for death from almost any infection. [Note that despite 46 cases of this very same flu in the United States there have been no deaths. This is because Americans, comparatively, have better nutrition and medical care.] Like SARS and bird flu before it, this swine flu scare is a lot of nonsense. Just take your high dose vitamin D3 (5000 IU a day), eat a healthy diet and take a few immune boosting supplements (such as beta-1, 3/1, 6 glucan) and you will not have to worry about this flu. By: Russell L. Blaylock, MD - Newsmax Related Articles: Vaccine Madness: Private Profits from Health Hysteria  Don't Panic: 7 FACTS About 'Swine Flu'. . . Critical Alert: The Swine Flu Pandemic – Fact or Fiction HPV Vaccine Dangers Can My Pet Catch Swine Flu? 32 Girls Have Died

Avoid Flu Shots - One Vitamin Will Stop Flu in its Tracks

“Why expose yourself and your family to the dangers of an ineffective vaccine when the solution is right outside your door?” 

Avoid Flu Shots With the One Vitamin that Will Stop Flu in Its Tracks  Avoid Flu Shots With the One Vitamin that Will Stop Flu in Its Tracks

 Another influenza season is beginning, and the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will strongly urge Americans to get a flu shot. In fact, the CDC mounts a well-orchestrated campaign each season to generate interest and demand for flu shots.

But a recent study published in the October issue of the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine found that vaccinating young children against the flu appeared to have no impact on flu-related hospitalizations or doctor visits during two recent flu seasons.

At first glance, the data did suggest that children between the ages of 6 months and 5 years derived some protection from vaccination in these years. But after adjusting for potentially relevant variables, the researchers concluded that "significant influenza vaccine effectiveness could not be demonstrated for any season, age, or setting" examined.

Additionally, a Group Health study found that flu shots do not protect elderly people against developing pneumonia -- the primary cause of death resulting as a complication of the flu. Others have questioned whether there is any mortality benefit with influenza vaccination. Vaccination coverage among the elderly increased from 15 percent in 1980 to 65 percent now, but there has been no decrease in deaths from influenza or pneumonia.

There is some evidence that flu shots cause Alzheimer’s disease, most likely as a result of combining mercury with aluminum and formaldehyde. Mercury in vaccines has also been implicated as a cause of autism. 

Three other serious adverse reactions to the flu vaccine are joint inflammation and arthritis, anaphylactic shock (and other life-threatening allergic reactions), and Guillain-Barré syndrome, a paralytic autoimmune disease.

One credible hypothesis that explains the seasonal nature of flu is that influenza is a vitamin D deficiency disease. 

Vitamin D levels in your blood fall to their lowest point during flu seasons. Unable to be protected by the body’s own antibiotics (antimicrobial peptides) that are released by vitamin D, a person with a low vitamin D blood level is more vulnerable to contracting colds, influenza, and other respiratory infections.

Studies show that children with rickets, a vitamin D-deficient skeletal disorder, suffer from frequent respiratory infections, and children exposed to sunlight are less likely to get a cold. The increased number of deaths that occur in winter, largely from pneumonia and cardiovascular diseases, are most likely due to vitamin D deficiency.

Unfortunately, now, for the first time, flu vaccination is also being pushed for virtually all children -- not just those under 5.

This is a huge change. Previously, flu vaccine was recommended only for youngsters under 5, who can become dangerously ill from influenza. This year, the government is recommending that children from age 6 months to 18 years be vaccinated, expanding inoculations to 30 million more school-age children.

The government argues that while older children seldom get as sick as the younger ones, it's a bigger population that catches flu at higher rates, so the change should cut missed school, and parents' missed work when they catch the illness from their children.

Of course, this policy ignores the fact that a systematic review of 51 studies involving 260,000 children age 6 to 23 months found no evidence that the flu vaccine is any more effective than a placebo.

 

Back in 2005, The Federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommended that all children between 6 months and 5 years old receive flu shots each year. Now they have expanded their guidelines to include children up to 18 years, which means everyone except those between the ages of 19-49, who are in good health, are urged to get a flu shot.

It should come as no surprise to find out that a majority of the ACIP members who came up with these guidelines have financial ties to the vaccine industry, and stand to gain personally for every additional person getting a yearly injection. It’s actually the only explanation that makes any sense for recommendations as insane as these.

Three Reasons to Reconsider Flu Shots

There are three major reasons why this government push to vaccinate 84 percent of the U.S. population with a yearly flu vaccine is so incomprehensible: 

1. The majority of flu shots contain 25 micrograms of mercury; an amount considered unsafe for anyone weighing less than 550 pounds! And which groups are most sensitive to the neurological damage that has been associated with mercury? Infants, children, and the elderly.

2. No studies have conclusively proven that flu shots prevent flu-related deaths among the elderly, yet this is one of the key groups to which they’re pushed.

3. If you get a flu shot, you can still get the flu (or flu-like symptoms). This is because it only protects against certain strains, and it’s anyone’s guess which flu viruses will be in your area.  

So why would you take a flu shot – EVERY YEAR -- that has NEVER been proven to be effective, that can give you the very illness you’re trying to prevent, and has potential long-term side effects that are far worse than the flu itself?

The powers that be have done an excellent job of instilling fear into the population so they believe that they must get a shot to stay healthy, but the simple reality is it’s doing you more harm than good.

And, even if the flu vaccine could effectively prevent the flu, there have been several examples in past years where government health officials have chosen the incorrect influenza strains for that year’s vaccine.  In 2004, the National Vaccine Information Center described how CDC officials told everyone to line up for a flu shot that didn't even contain the influenza strain causing most of the flu that year.

Two-Thirds of This Year’s Flu Vaccines Contain a Full-Dose of Mercury

According to Dr. Donald Miller, MD, two-thirds of this year’s flu vaccines contain 25 micrograms of thimerosal. Thimerosal is 49 percent mercury by weight.

Each dose of these flu vaccines contains more than 250 times the Environmental Protection Agency’s safety limit for mercury.

By now, most people are well aware that children and fetuses are most at risk of damage from this neurotoxin, as their brains are still developing. Yet the CDC still recommends that children over 6 months, and pregnant women, receive the flu vaccine each year.

In addition to mercury, flu vaccines also contain other toxic or hazardous ingredients like:

• Formaldehyde -- a known cancer-causing agent
• Aluminum -- a neurotoxin that has been linked to Alzheimer’s disease
• Triton X-100 -- a detergent
• Phenol (carbolic acid)
• Ethylene glycol (antifreeze)
• Various antibiotics: neomycin, streptomycin, gentamicin – which can cause allergic reactions in some people

The Evidence Against Flu Vaccines

For those of you who are still unconvinced, know that there’s plenty of scientific evidence available to back up the recommendation to avoid flu vaccines – if nothing else, then for the simple reason that they don’t work, and don’t offer any real benefit to offset their inherent health risks. For example:

• A brand new study published in the October issue of the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine found that vaccinating young children against the flu had no impact on flu-related hospitalizations or doctor visits during two recent flu seasons. The researchers concluded that "significant influenza vaccine effectiveness could not be demonstrated for any season, age, or setting" examined.
• A study published in the Lancet just two months ago found that influenza vaccination was NOT associated with a reduced risk of pneumonia in older people. This supports a study done five years ago, published in The New England Journal of Medicine. 
• Research published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine last month also confirms that there has been no decrease in deaths from influenza and pneumonia, despite the fact that vaccination coverage among the elderly has increased from 15 percent in 1980 to 65 percent now.
•  Last year, researchers with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and the National Institutes of Health published this conclusion in the Lancet Infectious Diseases: “We conclude that frailty selection bias and use of non-specific endpoints such as all-cause mortality have led cohort studies to greatly exaggerate vaccine benefits.”  
• A large-scale, systematic review of 51 studies, published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews in 2006, found no evidence that the flu vaccine is any more effective than a placebo in children. The studies involved 260,000 children, age 6 to 23 months.

Might Influenza be Little More Than a Symptom of Vitamin D Deficiency?

Vitamin D, “the sunshine vitamin,” may very well be one of the most beneficial vitamins there is for disease prevention. Unfortunately it’s also one of the vitamins that a vast majority of people across the world are deficient in due to lack of regular exposure to sunshine.

Published in the journal Epidemiology and Infection in 2006, the hypothesis presented by Dr. John Cannell and colleagues in the paper Epidemic Influenza and Vitamin D actually makes a lot of sense.

They raise the possibility that influenza is a symptom of vitamin D deficiency!

The vitamin D formed when your skin is exposed to sunlight regulates the expression of more than 2,000 genes throughout your body, including ones that influence your immune system to attack and destroy bacteria and viruses. Hence, being overwhelmed by the “flu bug” could signal that your vitamin D levels are too low, allowing the flu virus to overtake your immune system.

How to Prepare For Flu Season Without Getting a Flu Shot

I often find that some of the simplest explanations are the truest, and this sounds about as simple as it gets. And, getting appropriate amounts of sunshine (or taking a vitamin D supplement when you can’t get healthy amounts of sun exposure) is one of my KEY preventive strategies against the cold and flu, as it has such a strengthening effect on your immune system.

Interestingly, last week the American Academy of Pediatrics doubled its recommended dose of vitamin D.  Unfortunately this is still a woefully inadequate recommendation as the dose should be TEN times larger. Rather than going from 200 to 400 units per day, it should have increased to about 2,000 units per day.

For most of you reading this it is “vitamin D winter,” which means there simply isn’t enough sunshine to make significant amounts of vitamin D, so you will need to use a tanning bed or take oral supplements.

Although supplements are clearly inferior to sunlight or safe tanning beds, I am becoming more convinced of the value of vitamin D supplements as they are less potentially toxic than my initial impression, and they are certainly more convenient and less expensive than a tanning bed.

For those in the winter with no or very limited exposure to sunshine, 4,000-5,000 units per day would seem appropriate for most adults. If you are very heavy you may need to double that dose, and for children the dose can be half that.

The key though is to make sure you monitor your vitamin D levels by blood testing, to make sure your levels are therapeutic and not toxic.

I advocate getting your vitamin D levels tested regularly, but as I reported recently, you now need to beware of where you’re getting your test done. For an in-depth explanation of what you MUST know before you get tested, please read my updated article Test Values and Treatment for Vitamin D Deficiency.

You can also use vitamin D therapeutically to TREAT the flu. But please understand that if you are taking the above doses of vitamin D the odds of you getting the flu are VERY remote.  The dose of vitamin D you can use would be 2,000 units per kilogram of body weight (one pound is 0.45 kg).  The dose would be taken once a day for three days. 

This could be a very large dose if you were very heavy (2-300,000 units per day)  This is the dose that Dr. John Cannell, founder of the Vitamin D Council, has been using very successfully for a number of years.

I have not received a flu shot nor had the flu in over 20 years. Here are the other “secrets” I use to keep the flu (and other illnesses) at bay:

• Eat right for your nutritional type, including avoiding sugar
• Eliminate sugar from your diet
• Eat garlic regularly
• Consume a high-quality krill oil daily
• Exercise 
• Get adequate sleep
• Address emotional stress 
• Wash your hands regularly (but not excessively)

Another useful supplement you could try, should you come down with a case of the flu, is olive leaf extract, which you can find in most any health food store.

Olive leaf extract has been found to be a potent broad-spectrum antiviral agent, active against all viruses tested, including numerous strains of influenza and para-influenza viruses.

Dr. Mercola