Supplements for Viral and Immune System Support

All right, so I know I’m going to get asked this next, which is what supplements did I put in my cold and flu pack when I designed it based on the research. Again, not designed for the coronavirus at all. It was actually designed for viruses like influenza and the Rhinovirus. Those are the two I found the most research on when I kind of poured through the literature. I did look at hundreds of studies and there were 27 key studies that helped me craft what I have as my cold and flu pack. So one overall really great viral support supplement that I have leaned on pretty heavily is something called Viracid, and that’s why a company called Ortho Molecular. I love it because it has nutrients that are key to supporting the immune system like vitamin C, has some Zinc, has an A, has some B vitamin, but it also has really good herbal support.

It has things like Elderberry and Echinacea, and Andrographis for example. So I really love that one. Unfortunately it’s currently out of stock. Supposedly some will be in stock in March and then another fleet is coming by the end of March rather, and then another fleet is coming in June. There are other supplements we can use to kind of make up the ingredients similarly to that one. And then there’s a whole other host of supplements that I add to the cold and flu pack as well. I will actually add some additional Vitamin C because there is good data on it. I will add some extra Vitamin D for a short time. If someone’s taking the Viracid pack, it does have a good amount of Vitamin A in it, it and will not add extra A on top of that. If you’re not able to take Viracid, I will suggest that there’s some additional Vitamin A be added.

These are all temporary by the way. Please do not take supplements without doctor supervision for prolonged period of time because you can actually get toxic in certain ingredients. Especially Vitamin D, Vitamin A and Zinc. Now a word on the Zinc. Zinc is generally good and supportive of the immune system. But if you look at the actual research on what it does for viruses, it’s really Zinc lozenges that has the most data, the most studies on. And that’s because it actually works directly on the mucus membranes that are affected by the virus. So just kind of an FYI there. I know there are no zinc lozenges of any kind in stock currently. Hopefully they’ll be back soon. 

But there’s also some other great general support supplements like curcumin is one of my go-to’s. It is anti-inflammatory, it’s immune system modulating.  It works via about 11 different mechanisms in the immune system and so it’s really powerful. I actually have a lot of my autoimmune disease patients on it. I also use it for pain and inflammation as well. So it’s another really good one. And then of course there are some really strong antioxidant support that I will give, like glutathione, which is your body’s main antioxidant and detoxifier. It is good at not only helping you kind of detoxify what’s going on now, but it’s also good at protecting your cells from further damage. And then there’s other supplements that are, I would call them basic as in a lot of people already have them in their supplement regimen and those are things like probiotics and prebiotics. And that’s to help with gut health. Of course, you know 80% of your immune system is located inside your gut.

So that is really, really important. Then there’s some other additional ones that I’ve added on that just make sense. And one of them is a silver nasal spray and that’s by a company called Argentyn 23 and it’s a silver hydrosol. It’s got a nano particle, very low counts, like 23 parts per million of the silver. And again that’s because the way you get the virus of any kind is through the mucus membranes – eyes, nose, mouth. And so maybe providing some protection through the nose. And then the other thing I really like is by Bio-Botanical Research. It’s something called Biocidin throat spray, same concept, spraying in the throat, the mucus membranes. Hopefully it will help decrease the level of attachment of the virus to the mucus membranes. They actually did do a study on it, the company and it does increase the immunity back there by, I think it was like 30 to 33%. increases your secretory IgA, which is your mucosal immune system.

So I think you know that’s also a worthy one. And then of course if there’s any type of sinus involvement, then there’s another additional supplement that I will add called Sinatrol, is also by Ortho Molecular and it has some kind of really good mucus clearing type ingredients in there that helps. Again, I really advise not taking any nutritional supplements without checking with your provider because in certain conditions like liver and kidney dysfunction or if you’ve got certain allergies, there are some ingredients that you might not want to take. Obviously the goal here is to do no harm. And again, just to reiterate in some previous videos, do things that are potentially helpful but not harmful.

Check out the other parts of this series below.

Part 1: COVID-19 Statistics

Part 2: What We Can Do To Prevent The Spread Of The Coronavirus

Part 3: Who’s At High Risk At Contracting The Coronavirus?

Part 4: Major Symptoms of Coronavirus COVID-19

Part 5: The Functional Medicine Approach to the Coronavirus