Natural Strategies Against COVID-19
When you have even a small amount of just one of these vitamins, your risk of dying—even in the most severe cases—drops like a rock.
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- Your immune system is your best defense against COVID-19. This works best when it is properly fed. Vitamin C is an effective, quick-response strategy that can be used to change your diet.
- Vitamin C can strengthen your immune system and kill pathogens (including viruses) when taken in high quantities.
- Vitamin D, magnesium, as well as zinc, are important immune-boosting nutrients.
- A Korean doctor who’s giving patients and hospital staff 100,000 IUs of vitamin D and 20 to 24 grams of vitamin C by IV reports that virus-infected patients are getting well in a matter of days.
- If you own a sauna, now’s the time to put it to regular use. Your body will be more effective at eliminating pathogens by increasing your core body temperature (which is what happens when you have fever).
This interview features Dr. Andrew Saul (repeat guest), editor-in-chief at the Orthomolecular Medical News Service. He discusses what we know so far about vitamin C (ascorbic acids) and its role in the prevention and treatment for novel coronavirus COVID-19.
Saul pointed out that a lot of information regarding vitamin C and COVID is coming from China. In the meantime, nutritional advice in the United States is being censored. “fake news.”
At the time of this interview, March 17, 2020, COVID-19 has triggered mass hysteria—in the United States, at least. The United States is not the only country that has been implementing curfews and closing borders to quarantine people.
However, this is mostly a preventive strategy. Are people infected? Yes. Are people dying? Yes. But we’re talking about deaths in the thousands, not hundreds of thousands or millions, as in pandemics of the past (think the 1918 flu pandemic, for example, which killed tens of millions around the world).
Saul made this observation. “We may have a very large number of people … that are carrying the COVID-19 virus and having no symptoms whatsoever. And I would argue that if they eat right and take their vitamins, that’s going to stop it from spreading.”
I have no doubt that more people will be killed in car accidents than from COVID-19 in America.
I believe the media has given a horribly distorted picture of this pandemic, creating unnecessary fear. The entire world is now rapidly heading toward economic collapse, and the question is why, seeing how the death toll doesn’t seem to warrant it.
More than likely, we’ll end up with a COVID-19 vaccine that will be added to the list of mandated annual inoculations. The problem with that is that even if the vaccine works well, it will only confer limited immunity to a virus that’s going to mutate anyway. It is much more desirable to develop natural immunity. Saul noted:
“When you have natural exposure, whether you get sick or you don’t, you have not only immunity to that [viral strain]You have broad immunity to all viruses. There’s nothing like being sick to keep you from getting sick, which sounds a little bit weird but that’s the way the human body works.
“When we were children we got measles, mumps, chicken pox—you name it, we got it. We were home for two weeks, we watched daytime TV, we went back to school and we have lifetime immunity …
“The fact of the matter is that natural immunity really does protect you very well, and your own immune system is the only way you fight any virus. And, the way to make your immune system strong is not, unfortunately, by vaccinating or taking a drug.”
The reason why recovering from infection confers lifelong immunity while vaccination does not has to do with the fact that your immune system has two branches—the cellular (T-cells) and the humoral (B-cells)—and both need to be activated for long-term immunity to be secured.
Your humoral immunity is stimulated by a vaccine. The vaccine does nothing to stimulate T-cells. It is possible to be mildly or completely symptomatic with a strong immune system.
Even Dr. Fauci acknowledged the virus They will not be eradicated It would be necessary to control herd immunity. The best way to optimize your immune system and metabolism is to do so in general. COVID-19 is an example of this. We will all be exposed eventually. As we all know, the rapid-tracked vaccine was not guaranteed to be successful or safe.
Although several attempts at vaccinating against Coronavirus have failed, they were made in the past. Although COVID-19 can cause severe illness, it is not fatal.
“I agree with that,” Saul says “because we’re automatically going to be exposed to it and a lot of people aren’t going to show symptoms. Some people will have a light case; in fact, quite a few people who get it will have a very light case … The danger is the escalation to SARS and pneumonia, and this is the biggest threat for immune-compromised people and the elderly. This is where we have the fatalities; this is the biggest concern.”
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With everything currently happening, and the media increasing readership and profits by blowing things out of proportion, it’s very easy, even rational, to be afraid and anxious, which will dysregulate your autonomic nervous system.
A simple technique that can help activate your parasympathetic nervous system, thus calming you down, is the Neuro-Emotional Technique’s First Aid Stress Tool, or NET FAST, demonstrated in the video above. FirstAidStressTool.com also provides an excellent printable summary with visuals of the technique, (1) which even a young child can do. This is the summary of FAST:
- When you are thinking about a problem, hold your right wrist up to your left hand. Your left hand should be placed onto your right wrist so that you can feel your pulse.
- Place your right hand open on your forehead. While you are focusing on the problem, gently inhale and exhale several times.
- Switch hands and go through Steps 1 and 2 again.
Saul also offers a stress-relieving technique that he learned directly from a Native American. You can simply go outside, lie down on the ground, and lean against a tree.
Your own immune system is the best defense against COVID-19 at this time. There’s no vaccine, and even if one is fast-tracked, there would be cause for caution, as we’d have no proof of effectiveness or safety.
“Your immune system is infinitely adaptable. This is how nature made us,” Saul notes. “However, your immune system works better when it’s fed right.” Although changing your diet may be a longer-term solution, vitamin C is an immediate-response strategy.
“Vitamin C is going to strengthen your immune system. This is in every nutrition textbook ever written, so we start with that,” Saul said. “The RDA in the United States is about 90 milligrams; in Korea and China it’s 100 mg; in the United Kingdom it’s a miserable 40 mg a day and we are sometimes not even getting that.
“Studies have shown that even 200 mg of vitamin C a day will reduce the death rate in elderly people with severe pneumonia by 80 percent. Studies have shown babies with pneumonia, when they get 200 milligrams of vitamin C—the adult equivalent of about 2,000 to 3,000 mg—they have an improvement in their oxygen levels in less than a day. The incidence of mortality drops and the severity of the disease is reduced.
“Now, it is not coronavirus per se that actually kills people, it is the pneumonia and the SARS, the severe acute respiratory syndrome, that can follow it. The majority of people who get coronavirus will experience mild symptoms. However, some people will not show any symptoms. We don’t even know how many those people are because they have no symptoms.
“Those who get COVID-19 that actually are sick are going to have the flu and it’s going to be a nasty flu—it’s going to be miserable. A few people may be sick for up to a week. The elderly and immune-compromised are most at risk.
“The media sort of skirts around this but this is where we have to start because the fear is based on dying. And when we have even a small amount of vitamin C, our risk of dying—even in the most severe cases—goes down.
“It is pneumonia and SARS that kills people and vitamin C has been known to be effective against viral pneumonia since the 1940s when Dr. Frederick Robert Klenner published a series of papers and was able to reverse viral pneumonia in 72 hours. Now, Klenner was a board-certified chest physician. He was a specialist and he published over 20 papers on this. The media has been silent on this therapy.”
Paul Marik recently demonstrated that patients suffering from severe sepsis can be saved by intravenous (IV), vitamin-C with hydrocortisone, thiamine (vitamin A1) administration. Since sepsis is one of the reasons people die from COVID-19 infection, Marik’s vitamin C protocol may go a long way toward saving people’s lives in this pandemic.
This protocol, which calls for 1,500mg of ascorbic acid each six hours, appears to be remarkably effective. If you are taking liposomal vitamin, however, I recommend that you consume even more. You can take higher doses of liposomal vitamin C without causing loose stool.
Liposomal vitaminC can be taken upto 100g per day without complications and you will experience high blood levels.
I discourage people from taking mega doses of vitamin C regularly if they’re not actually sick, because it is essentially a drug—or at least it works like one. Saul says:
“What I suggest, and have for some 44 years of professional life, is to take enough vitamin C to be symptom free, and when you’re well, that isn’t very much. I know of one lady who took 500 mg of vitamin-C daily and she was perfectly fine. [Another person] She needed 35,000 mg daily because she had multiple chemical sensitivities. Any less and she wasn’t fine …
“And, while we’re [on this topic]A nice, little charity note: 50 tons of vitamin-C have been donated by the Dutch State Mines (DSM) of the Netherlands. [the city of] Wuhan [in China]—106 million vitamin C tablets. Three studies are being conducted in China on high-dose vitamin A therapy. They are mainly focusing on intensive care patients.
“I’m in contact with Dr. Richard Cheng. Cheng is a Chinese American physician … He was in Shanghai for Chinese New Year visiting his family when all of this exploded.
“So Cheng has stayed in China and has been talking to hospitals and Chinese physicians who are showing tremendous interest in using vitamin C as prevention and cure. He’s been so effective that the government of Shanghai has issued official recommendations that vitamin C should be used for treating COVID-19.
“They are testing up to 24,000 mg a day by IV. Some of us think that’s a little on the low side for people that are in the ICU. I would like to see 50,000 mg a day and there is a doctor … who has used 50,000 mg [on] quite a few people and we’re getting more reports as we go.
“We can’t get this into the mainstream media quite yet, but it’s probably going to break and possibly by the time this report airs, it’ll be all over the U.S media. [Editor’s note: The New York Post, the fourth-largest newspaper (2) in the United States, broke this news March 24, 2020.] (3)
“I would like to see that, but real doctors are using vitamin C right now. They’re also doing it in Korea. Right in the center of the outbreak in Korea, we’re in contact with a doctor who has a small hospital and he has given a single shot of vitamin D—a big shot of about 100,000 units to each patient and every staff member—and also about 20 to 24 grams (24,000 mg) of vitamin C by IV. And he’s reporting that these people are getting well in a matter of days.”
Chinese researchers also used traditional Chinese medicines along with vitamin C.
For more information, Saul suggests perusing the Shanghai government’s website using an online translator (as the website is in Chinese). You will find relevant web links at the Orthomolecular Medicine News Service Website (4), which has published 12 reports about various research findings within the past six week.
“We’re constantly updating and we have references to the literature and also links to the studies in China, and the names of the doctors doing this. If you go to my website, DoctorYourself.com, you can click over and sign up for a free subscription to the peer-reviewed, noncommercial Orthomolecular Medicine News Service …
“We even have the Orthomolecular Medicine News Service releases on this available now in French and Italian … and German, and some are now available in Korean and Chinese and Japanese. It’s also available in Spanish. So this information is worldwide and it’s been everywhere except on the United States television set,” Saul speaks.
Saul says that vitamin C in very high doses is an effective antiviral. It kills viruses. However, an IV is usually required to obtain this amount. How does vitamin C kill viruses? Some believe vitamin C’s antiviral potential is the result of its anti-inflammatory activity.
Inflammation is a contributor to the massive cytokine chain that can prove fatal. However, that’s not the whole story. Saul explains:
“Dr. Robert Fulton Cathcart from California is more knowledgeable about the subject than I will ever be. So I always visit him. And Cathcart wrote in his papers—a number of which I have at DoctorYourself.com so people can read them—[that] vitamin C is a non-rate-limited free radical scavenger …
“He and Dr. Thomas E. Levy also emphasize … that vitamin C is donating electrons and reducing free radicals, and this is primarily what’s going on. There are exceptions to this rule. When vitamin C gets into a cancer cell, it actually acts as if it were a pro-oxidant and that’s because of the Fenton reaction. You can see it.
“And vitamin C will kill a cancer cell because cancer cells are different. They absorb vitamin C because it’s very similar to glucose, it’s almost the same size … With viruses, it’s the same idea. Cathcart’s view is that you simply push in vitamin C to provide the electrons to reduce the free radicals, and this is the way Cathcart and Levy look at vitamin C’s function (at very high doses) as an antiviral.
“At modest doses, normal supplemental doses … vitamin C strengthens the immune system because the white blood cells need it to work. White blood cells carry around in them a lot of vitamin C … So vitamin C is very well-known to directly beef up the immune system through the white blood cells.”
Personally, I don’t think this is the whole story, either, as vitamin C is a relatively weak electron donor. NADPH is my opinion the best electron donor in the body.
It is important to increase your NAD+, NADPH and inhibiting NADH Oxase (also known as NOX) for good health. This information is available here “Glycine Quells Oxidative Damage by Inhibiting NOX and Boosting NADPH.”
NOX is what your white blood cell enzymes use to produce chemicals that kill bacteria or viruses. NADPH is used up in the process. So while inhibiting NOX can be useful, increasing NADPH will be key.
G6PD deficiency is a genetic condition that causes your body to not make NADPH. In this case, high dose vitamin C should be avoided.
“At the Riordan Clinic, founded by Dr. Hugh Riordan, one of my mentors some years ago, they do screen for this,” Saul speaks.
“And the Riordan clinic has actually said in their protocol—which I have in its entirely as a free download at DoctorYourself.com, that people who have G6PD [deficiency syndrome] can take some vitamin C, and they have had safe success at around 15,000 mg a day. Dr. Suzanne Humphries, a nephrologist and internist, has also said that for short periods of time it’s not an issue.”
Vitamin D is another important nutrient, which may even be more important than vitamin A. It depends on how much sunlight you receive.
I’ve not taken oral vitamin D for over a decade, yet my level is right around 70 nanograms per milliliter, thanks to daily walks in the sun wearing nothing but a hat and shorts. It is best to get tested to determine your own dosage and to take any dosage that you need to maintain a vitamin-D level between 60 and 80 ng/mL all year.
The video below shows Dr. Roger Seheult, a pulmonologist, discussing the importance of vitamin D in the prevention of COVID-19. While there are no clinical trials investigating vitamin D for coronavirus specifically, there’s plenty of data showing it’s an important component in the prevention and treatment of influenza (5) and upper respiratory tract infections. (6)
Seheult points out that although vitamin D doesn’t seem to have an effect on virus itself, it can strengthen immunity function which allows the host body to fight the virus better. (7)
It also inhibits inflammation. All of these factors make vitamin D potentially quite effective against COVID-19.
Seheult explained that a healthy immune system is essential for the body to fight the virus. But, overactivation of the immune system can lead to cytokine-related death.
“What we want is a smart immune system—an immune system that takes care of the virus but doesn’t put us into an inflammatory condition that could put us on a ventilator,” Seheult says.
He goes on to cite research (8) published in 2017—a meta-analysis of 25 randomized controlled trials—which confirmed that vitamin D supplementation helps protect against acute respiratory infections.
Studies have also shown there’s an apparent association between low vitamin D levels and susceptibility to viral infections such as influenza. According to GrassrootsHealth, 99% of those with a vitamin level above 40 ng/mL were less likely to get a cold.
Magnesium is an important immune booster. Epsom salt (magnesium-sulfate), baths can also be used to increase magnesium intake.
“This is a wonderful way to relax,” Saul speaks. “At the end of the day, have a nice hot Epsom salts bath. You do get absorption through the skin. Plus, it feels good, calms you down, it’s inexpensive, and no one can tell you that you’re going to overdose on Epsom salt [through bathing] … So an Epsom salts bath is a very pleasant way to get some magnesium.”
Another way to get magnesium is by taking molecular hydrogen pills. These tablets are made of metallic magnesium. When they are dissolved in water, they become ionic elemental magnesium. They then form molecular hydrogen gas which you can then drink.
Each tablet can provide approximately 80 mg of ionic elements magnesium. This is quite a bit. Because of its poor absorption, 400mg of oral magnesium supplement may only provide 40 mg. Magnesium oxide is the most absorbent form of magnesium, with a rate of only 5 percent. Saul suggests avoiding this type.
You probably already know that zinc lozenges can be used to treat a sore throat or cold.
“Just last night—again, this is the 17th of March—CBS Evening News in Chicago, Illinois, had a short segment on nutritional prevention of coronavirus, recommending you take vitamin D, vitamin C, and zinc. So we have finally, after seven weeks, gotten past the accusation of false information and fake news, and now it is on CBS.”
Remarkably, prominent physicians have been paraded in the media saying it’s impossible to strengthen your immune system to beat this virus. It’s hard to fathom this kind of ignorance still pervades our medical system—and that they can get away with criticizing people who offer proof to the contrary.
Aside from nutrients, if you own a sauna, now’s the time to put it to regular use. You can increase your body’s ability to kill pathogens by raising your core temperature.
By taking a daily sauna you can prevent any lingering infections. That’s a very useful strategy and something I do pretty much every day I am home. Saul also agrees:
“Nearly 100 years ago, Jethro Kloss, who wrote ‘Back to Eden,’ One of the earliest health books recommended artificial fevers. They would bundle people up and put them in a hot bath … because fever can be that beneficial.
“Or you can do what the Native Americans did and do … a sweat lodge, kind of the genuine American version of a sauna. One suggestion. When you pick the rocks that you’re going to superheat, make sure they are all igneous rocks and not sedimentary rocks, because if they have the layered sediment, they will explode, and that is bad!
“So make sure you have volcanic rocks, igneous rocks … they glow a nice red. It takes a long time to get the glow going, but then it lasts a long time as well. And while they are heating, you can build the lodge. This is a group activity. You’re going to need help to build the lodge.”
If you’re in the market for an electric sauna, do your research, as many (if not most) emit very high electromagnetic fields (EMFs). Many saunas that advertise low-EMF saunas still emit high magnetic fields. This is just as harmful.
When Saul says, “I agree with Saul.” “We have to get the word out to people that prevention is working; vitamin C is working and we haven’t heard about it.” For example, in Korea, where the death rate for the COVID-19 virus is below 1 percent, they’ve disseminated information about vitamin C.
You can educate yourself about preventive measures that you can do from the comfort of home. Resources from where you can find more information include Saul’s website, DoctorYourself.com, which is free, noncommercial, and peer-reviewed.
“It’s been up for 21 years now,” Saul said. “DoctorYourself.com has a very good search engine and it is not a Google search engine. You can use it as a site search and find whatever you’re looking for. Without even scrolling down, the screen will show you a series of articles on COVID-19—nutritional protocols with references to the doctors and the parts of the world where this is being used successfully right now.
“You can also go to AndrewSaul.com, which is my commercial site. That’s where I have my tuition-based courses that I offer, called the Megavitamin Formula Course. And you can go to the Orthomolecular Medicine News Service … and sign up free of charge.
“This is peer-reviewed, and I’m happy to say that Dr. Mercola is a member of our 42-member editorial review board. So when I say peer-reviewed, we really mean it and I love having association with doctors who use, recommend, and live good nutrition.”
Originally published Nov 28, 2022, on Mercola.com.
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