A few years ago a physician on the West Coast made an unexpected discovery. All the patients that he was treating in a closed environment escaped contracting the flu during the 2005 flu season. The rest of the patients in the other open wards suffered such a high rate of infection by the flu that they had to be quarantined. He treated his patients with high doses of vitamin D, because he knew that they would not be exposed to the amount of sunlight required for their bodies to synthesize vitamin D on their own. He was aware that vitamin D plays a critical role in helping the optimal functioning of the multiple systems in our bodies. The immune system is one of those systems; it is the one that prevents our bodies from becoming infected with the flu.

More recently in the Midwest, similar results were observed during H1N1 flu outbreak in June of 2009 when most of the folks who had adequate levels of vitamin D avoided the flu. This successful result was repeated in September 2009 during a widespread H1N1 outbreak in the Southeastern US. It is very likely that these folks were protected from infection by the H1N1 flu, because vitamin D supports that part of the innate immune system that is active in the tissues that line our air passages. This is good news for seniors, because they can avoid contracting the H1N1 flu, provided they get an immune system boost by increasing their intake of vitamin D.