I recently received an email about the FDA and FTC crack down on supplement companies making false, unsubstantiated or medical claims. This directed me to the FDA’s campaign to stop supplement companies from advertising products that might help stop or prevent the H1N1 infection:
FDA Increases Enforcement Efforts, Warns Internet Marketers About Swine Flu Claims
While I in general agree that some type of regulation should be applied to prevent unscrupulous companies from exploiting this frightening situation (BIG PHARMA has a monopoly on this), I think it is wrong to suggest that vitamins, herbs or supplements are useless or could be more dangerous than the allowed medicines.
We should use anything in our arsenal to protect ourselves and our families and not wait years for published double blind placebo studies and FDA approval. Should we rely solely on vaccines which have not been tested either for efficacy or long term health effects, especially since those at greatest risk and those required to take mandatory injections are pregnant women? How could the FDA or other government agencies possibly guarantee safety? I heard an unsubstantiated report the other day that the pharmaceutical companies producing the vaccines are advising their employees not to take them. I’ll report further when I get more details.
Apparently the cause of death in the H1N1 infection is similar to that of H5N1; a cytokine storm. This means the virus triggers an abnormal and dysregulated response by your immune system and ultimately causes your own defense system to destroy lung tissue, leading to death. All of the usual pro-inflammatory mediators (TNF-a, IL-6, IL-1b, IFN-g) are implicated. R-lipoic acid has been shown to suppress over activity of these cytokines and may be able to prevent death without having any direct effects on the virus, although there is some evidence that LA may prevent replication of some types of viruses.
(see Spisakova et al; Ethacrynic and alpha-lipoic acids inhibit vaccinia virus late gene expression. Antiviral Res (2009) F81(2):156-65).
Should we sit back and wait for the government to decide what is best for us? If any infectious disease researchers or physicians are willing to test my theory then please contact me for a supply of RLA for oral use or injection to prevent the tissue damaging effects of the cytokine storm.
Apparently, I’m not the only one that thinks such an approach is worth investigating. Dr. Ely believes ascorbic acid could be of great benefit; Ascorbic Acid Role in Containment of the World Avian Flu Pandemic Deryabin et al, found that a nutrient mixture was as effective as anti-viral drugs with the added benefit of preventing late stage viral replication.
Friel and Lederman have also indicated how a nutrient combination could affect many aspects of viral infection;
“Key mediators in these processes include selenium, vitamin E, NAC/glutathione, resveratrol, and quercetin. Taken prophylactically, and throughout the duration and recovery of an H5N1 infection, the nutritional supplement formula may aid humans infected with H5N1 influenza to survive with a reduced likelihood of major complications, and may provide a relatively low-cost strategy for individuals as well as government, public-health, medical, health-insurance, and corporate organizations to prepare more prudently for an H5N1 pandemic. Some evidence also indicates that the supplement formulation may be effective as an adjunctive to H5N1 vaccine and anti-viral treatments, and should be tested as such”.
A nutritional supplement formula for influenza A (H5N1) infection in humans
Surprisingly, to my knowledge there are no government sponsored studies investigating this approach anywhere in the world. Since sodium R-lipoate (NaRLA) has a significantly greater oral bioavailability than any of the nutrients mentioned, it could be more beneficial, fast acting and non-toxic
Read more: Swine Flu Influenza Type A/H1N1 Protection for Health Care Practitioners and Their Patients