During our horribly long winter, I posted many articles on vitamin D and its growing evidence of multiple health effects. Here’s another well designed study (Vitamin D3 Supplements in Winter May Help Protect Against Influenza A) which had two groups of schoolkids and gave one group vitamin D3 and the other group nothing extra. The results showed a 42% reduction in infections of seasonal influenza. It’s a small study but well designed and also consistent with many other studies, and it should be encouraging to parents that next season their children may benefit from vitamin D supplements. Most pediatric academies are already recommending year-round vitamin D supplements for children, for multiple reasons, but the overall supplement rate is still fairly low. Hopefully, studies like this will increase its use.
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The Chinese brand of infant Vitamin D3 which BJU carries is pretty bad. Not only do they combine it with Vitamin A, limiting the dose of D to a low low 400 IU per day (does prevent rickets but not enough to really help the immune system imo), the carrier oil is PEANUT OIL. Now let's just sit back and wait for that rare anaphylactic allergic response… this can be life threatening to a baby who is allergic to peanuts. And worse, early exposure like this can actually cause an allergy by sensitizing the baby too early!
I get Vit. D drops on Iherb.com. NOW brand says the oil is "MCT" medium chain triglycerides which I found out is pharmaceutical grade coconut oil. 400 IU per drop. Carlson's has one type with 2000 IU per drop, and this is what I currently use for our whole family (less so when we're out and about in the sunshine regularly, like now). Oh here is a promotional code for 5 bucks off your first Iherb order. URI094 Choose China EMS and it comes addressed in Chinese in 4-5 days. Shipping is cheap. 4-8 dollars depending on weight. Keep it under 6 pounds (they calculate the weight for you) and it has no customs or taxes. It's great. I got my 6th box of stuff the other day. Dr. Bronner's pure castile liquid soap, Badger natural sunscreen, vitamins, breastfeeding teas, herbs, Bach flower essences, really, tons of great stuff. (I do recommend you check personal care items like shampoos, soaps, makeup, sunscreen etc. at the databasehttp://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com for individual items' toxicity, iherb carries lots of stuff which is popular and says it's "natural" or "organic" but actually contains toxic chemicals….like JASON brand, Kiss My Face brand, etc.)
Liora