I came across a guy named Dr. Alex Vasquez, among others, that has really shaped my views and some of my current "best" practices. With the current world wide coronavirus or Covid-19 scare, now is good time to write down what I think is a game plan.
First order, control what you can, try not to worry about the rest.
Understand that contracting a virus has Five steps. These five steps can be influenced.
1. Acquisition: Exposure, Penetration. Penetration is often ignored. (no drug exists to influence this process.) This is metabolism and nutrition.
2. Replication. It will start to grow exponentially from my understanding.
3. Immunity: immune response at the cellular level. This is your body mounting an attack.
4. Systemic Consequences: Cellular and systemic consequences. (cell support) What does the virus do to you.
5. Resolution. This is self directed. Homeostasis. You are hopefully all better.
Knowing the 4 steps that leads to the 5th, or resolution, you can do your best to address each one.
1. Barrier defense, sanitation and neutralize particles. The number one best practical solution is hand washing with soap. Why soap? Soap has the ability to break the cell membrane of the virus, it basically then spills out and ceases to be. This takes time though, hence the 20 seconds. If soap isn't available, there needs to be an alcohol solution of 60% or greater.
Cover all sneezes and coughs in your elbow. A sneeze has the ability to travel. The smaller version of Covid 19 can cover up to 30 feet. The larger one, 7. The flu particles can linger in the air up to 8 minutes. I have not heard about the coronavirus. I'd assume similar.
2. Inhibition of replication. This will be a nutritional step. As I will write later. Nutrition isn't a drug that targets one thing. Solid nutrition will have carryover effects on many of the steps.
3. Immune response. Optimize immune response and remain balanced. It takes energy, nutrients and hydration to mount a strong response and fight an infection.
4. Protection and recuperation. Need to protect Mitochondria. Mitochondria play a key role in modulating viral replication. They are also damaged by viral infections. So it's a negative feedback loop when it isn't addressed.
These are the supplements that seem to have some really good research. I highlighted in bold the ones I think are the most important.
NAC. N-acetyl Cysteine. This is the supplemental form of cysteine. 1200-1800 for prevention. 2g-4800 grams if you are fighting something. There are some really great research on this supplement in preventing and fighting a virus.
Basic minerals for enhancement of the NAC
Glycine 3-9 grams ( I take this in the form of collagen)
Glutamine 6-27 grams
Selenium 200-800 mpg (perhaps just eat a few brazil nuts)
Riboflavin 50-400mg
Niacin 50-1500mg
Magnesium 600mg
coq10 50-300
Vitamin D 4000plus
Vitamin A. use cautiously and for short time, as this can become toxic.
Zinc 25-50 mg day for limited time ( a limited time because this requires copper )
Melatonin 3-6mg
Whey 10-30 grams.
Vitamin C 2-5 grams
Mushrooms also have some really interesting research behind them. Reis
hi, Chaga, Turkey Tail. All can be immune modulators. Paul Stamets has written the book on bringing this back to the public. It is something I think can be a huge part of the prevention strategy.
I recently came across a study that showed children that drank more green tea then their classmates were less likely to get influenza.
One of the big differences between influenza and coronavirus is the incubation period. It apparently seems the flu is 1-2 days. Coronavirus is 5-7. This in itself is a big problem. Covid 19 doesn't seem to pose a big risk for kids. The hardest hit seem to be elderly that are fighting something like cardiovascular disease or diabetes.
So far, this is what I've been doing and what I have found out. Hope this helps bring some more clarity to your own game plan.
