Cold and Flu season

With cold and flu season approaching, nutrition plays an important role in helping prevent or reduce the incidence and severity of seasonal illness. Research shows that a good multivitamin and extra vitamin E can reduce the incidence of upper respiratory tract infections, especially in the elderly.

Respiratory illnesses, including the common cold, can be debilitating and lead to complications and death in the elderly. A study published in the August 18, 2004, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association found vitamin E to be protective against upper respiratory infections.

Four hundred fifty-one individuals aged 65 and older at 33 long-term care facilities completed a course of 200 IU of vitamin E per day or a placebo from April 1998 to August 2001. In addition, all of the subjects received a multivitamin that provided 50 percent of the recommended daily allowance for essential vitamins and minerals. The incidence of lower respiratory infections, such as acute bronchitis and pneumonia, and upper respiratory tract infections, including cold, influenza, sore throat, middle ear infection and sinusitis, was documented over the course of the trial.

The subjects who received vitamin E acquired fewer respiratory tract infections than those who did not receive the vitamin. Participants who received the vitamin experienced a 20 percent decreased risk of acquiring the common cold, which accounted for 84 percent of the upper respiratory infections reported. In addition, participants taking vitamin E had fewer colds per person. Although vitamin E showed no significant effect on lower respiratory tract infections, the protective effect of vitamin E supplementation on upper respiratory tract infections observed in this group merits further investigation and suggests important implications for the well-being of the elderly.

If you want to get a good source of vitamins and minerals, please take a look at USANA. USANA offers 100% guaranteed potency on all their vitamins. Please contact us, if you would like to purchase USANA products.

Cells in lung tissue activate vitamin D and increase immune function

A recent issue of the Journal of Immunology reports that vitamin D, which is primarily activated by the kidneys, is also converted to its active form in lung tissue. This conversion is essential for the beneficial activity of the vitamin in the body.

Researchers studying human lung tissue samples found that an enzyme called 1 alpha-hydroxylase helps convert vitamin D stored in the cells of the lungs into the active form of the vitamin.

The team also found that activated vitamin D increased the activity of a compound that destroys bacteria, as well as producing a protein that assists cells in their ability to fight infections.

The researchers noted that controlling inflammation through vitamin D is important because too much inflammation can cause problems related to sepsis (blood poisoning) and contribute to certain autoimmune diseases.

USANA essentials have all the vitamins at the right amounts that your body needs. To purchase products, click here. To become a USANA distributor, click here. To contact us, click here.

Please, visit our website www.karolynas.com or www.karolynas.usana.com for further information.

Supplements for Asthma?

According to its etiology, asthma is a chronic disease that affects your airways. The airways are the tubes that carry air in and out of your lungs. If you have asthma, the inside walls of your airways are inflamed (swollen). The inflammation makes the airways very sensitive, and they tend to react strongly to things that you are allergic to or find irritating.

According to its pathophysiology, when the airways react, they get narrower, and less air flows through to your lung tissue. This causes symptoms like wheezing (a whistling sound when you breathe), coughing, chest tightness, and trouble breathing, especially at night and in the early morning.

Doctors say that, "the key in truly helping patients with asthma is to rebuild their natural antioxidant defense system and natural immune system back to optimal levels." USANA can help, by the following nutritional recommendations.

Optimal Recommendations

Essentials Breakfast-1, Lunch-1, Dinner-1
Active Calcium Breakfast-2, Lunch-2, Dinner-2
Proflavanol Breakfast-2, Dinner-1
Poly C Breakfast-1, Lunch-1, Dinner-2
Optomega Breakfast-2 tea spoon
BiOmega 3 Breakfast-1, Lunch-1, Dinner-2

Minimal Recommendations

Essentials Breakfast-1, Lunch-1, Dinner-1
Proflavanol Breakfast-1, Dinner-1
Active Calcium Breakfast-1, Lunch-1, Dinner-2

Myron Wentz, Ph.D. (immunology and microbiology), founder and chairman of USANA Health Science, hypothesizes that foods with high peroxide values, especially proccessed, fatty foods, generate "free radicals" that in turn damage healthy cells. Researchers believe that supplementary antioxidants are necessary for combating these free radicals in addition to the body's normal defense.

Disclaimer: "If you have asthma, consult your physician for a medical treatment. USANA should only be used as homeophatic holistic approach to asthma."

If you are ready to try USANA products to help you, then click here. If you are ready to become a distributor, click here. Please join our team, to spread Dr. Wentz vision of a world free of diseases and the healthiest family on earth.

Visit our website www.karolynas.com or www.karolynas.usana.com