Your lungs are your most vulnerable organ.
I’m not just talking about the effects of the flu or coronavirus.
Your lungs are your number one predictor of death.
That’s how sensitive they are…
But some people are doing better than others.
In my clinic, we give elders the strength and power in their lungs they remember from their youth.
I’m happy to tell you thatyou can restore lung power as you get older, so you can stand up to COVID-19 without fear or concern.
We have a 3-part system for finding out how old your lungs really are… and how much immune power you have to fight off infection.
Today, I’ll show you part one.
You’ll discover the critical nutrient that keeps your lung immunity in top condition.
The Best Predictor of Your Health and Longevity
Lung power is the number one predictor of how long you’ll live. How well you breathe determines how long you’ll stay active and healthy.
It also determines how vulnerable you are to dangerous respiratory infections — and how quickly you’ll recover if you pick up one of these nasty bugs.
In fact, the Buffalo Health Study — an ongoing research project involving 12,000 people in western New York State — found that the stronger your lungs are, the less likely you’ll die of any cause.1
Influenza-related pneumonia —
the most common and dangerous complication of seasonal flu —
kills around 56,000 Americans every year, making it the eighth leading cause of death in the United States after diabetes.2
Unhealthy lungs also tax your body, making you more vulnerable to invasions of disease-causing pathogens. You see, dangerous viruses and other harmful germs settle much more easily into people whose lungs are impaired.
COVID-19 can have an especially damaging effect on your lungs. Here’s why.
When you breathe, your alveoli — millions of tiny and fragile air sacs at the end of the bronchial tubes deep inside your lungs — stretch to draw in oxygen and transport it into your blood.
But when you exhale, your alveoli shrink and this forces carbon dioxide out of your body.
But starting around age 50, the elastic fibers around these alveoli can begin to degenerate, impairing their ability to hold air. This eventually results in a phenomenon called “alveolar dead space,” causing a massive decrease in oxygen flowing through your lungs.
Damaged alveoli are also targets of common influenza strains and other viruses – especially among seniors.3 The good news is damage to your alveoli can be reversed.
Get Extra Lung Immunity With This Vitamin
To give your lungs an immunity jumpstart, I recommend boosting your vitamin D3 levels.
Vitamin D3 keeps your immune system running smoothly and helps it ward off infections, including colds, and influenza — especially when they impact the lungs and respiratory health.
Studies show that your airways, alveoli and bronchial tubes are packed with vitamin D3 receptors, whose actions produce and support a range of immune fighter cells in your lungs — including antimicrobial peptides, alveolar macrophages, as well as T and B cells.
Here are ways to boost your vitamin D3 levels:
- Get some sun. With 30 minutes of daily sun exposure (without sunscreen) during the summer months, your body is capable of producing 50,000 IU of vitamin D3 over the following 24 hours. Get out and catch some rays at least a few times per week — if not every day.
- Eat vitamin D-rich foods. Next to sunlight, cod liver oil has the most concentrated natural source of this disease-preventing vitamin. Just one tablespoon of cod liver oil contains nearly 1,400 IU of vitamin D3. The best food sources of vitamin D are wild-caught fish, like salmon and tuna, and small fish like herring, sardines and anchovies. Other great food sources include organic eggs and cheese.
- Take a D3 supplement. Make sure the vitamin D supplement you take is vitamin D3. It’s the same vitamin D3 your body produces. Just be sure to avoid the synthetic form of vitamin D2 that’s found in most multivitamins, because it is less potent and less absorbable. I recommend at least 2,000 IUs a day from a good supplement — preferably in the morning. That leaves plenty of room for you to get additional vitamin D from other sources. Doses of 5,000 IU to 8,000 IU may be needed depending on your individual needs. Having your D3 levels checked by your doctor is the best way to know for sure.
To Your Good Health,
Al Sears, MD, CNS
1. Schünemann JH, et al. “Pulmonary function is a long-term predictor of mortality in the general population*.” Chest. 2000;118(3):656-664.
2. CDC. “Leading Causes of Death.” Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/leading-causes-of-death.htm
3. Short KR, et al. “Influenza virus damages the alveolar barrier by disrupting epithelial cell tight junctions.” Eur Respir J. 2016;47(3):954-966.