If you have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema, you can breathe easy now. Because what I’m about to tell you may provide you with some much-needed relief…
Instead of taking a dangerous drug, fraught with deadly side effects, you should instead consider a simple, daily vitamin. Because according to a new study — COPD patients who took this vitamin slashed flare-ups or attacks nearly in half.
I’ll tell you all about that powerful study — and the vitamin in question — in just a moment. But first, let’s talk about why COPD is such a huge problem in America today…
The government led us down the wrong road…again
By now, we’re all used to hearing about breakthroughs and ways to improve cancer survival. But in my view, improving COPD survival should also be given a fair amount of attention. Especially since lung diseases — which include COPD and lung cancer — are the number two health problem in America today.
Of course, 35 years ago, the politically correct bureaucrats at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) decided to proclaim that COPD and lung cancer are purely behavioral problems caused by smoking.
And they ignored all the science showing that some people have a genetic susceptibility to inhaled smoke. At the time, I argued for giving these genetically susceptible people regular screenings and early interventions for COPD and lung cancer.
In fact, as part of my undergraduate research scholarship, I had worked on the development of a simple blood test that would screen for this genetic variant. And it accurately predicted which smokers would be more susceptible to COPD and lung cancer.
We found most people don’t carry this genetic variant. In fact, it’s typically less than 10 percent of the population.
But the bureaucrats wanted to control everyone’s behavior. So, they promoted smoking cessation and prevention programs for everyone, whether they were susceptible or not. As a result, this fateful decision put a halt on new research and treatments into lung cancer and COPD for decades.
Of course, the government’s attacks on smokers didn’t stop big pharma — which knew it could make a bundle selling drugs to people with COPD. In fact, just about any time I turn on the news (“fake” or otherwise), I seem to come across an ad for a dangerous COPD drug.
But those drugs simply don’t work, as I’ve warned before. Plus, you have a much safer, effective option, as this new study shows…
One vitamin provides a 45 percent decrease in lung attacks
For the new study, researchers analyzed vitamin D levels in 469 people with COPD from three clinical trials in Belgium, the Netherlands, and the U.K.
They also tracked COPD lung attacks, known as exacerbations. Often triggered by viruses and upper respiratory infections, these exacerbations can send people to the hospital. And they can also prove fatal.
But the researchers found that correcting one simple vitamin deficiency dramatically reduced the number of these dangerous exacerbations…
Of course, they gave the patients vitamin D — the so-called “sunshine vitamin.”
As I often report, vitamin D protects you against just about every chronic disease out there. Including COPD.
In fact, for this study, the researchers found that giving vitamin D supplements to people with low vitamin D levels resulted in a 45 percent decrease in lung attacks.
That’s a huge improvement. Especially when you consider the number of people with COPD worldwide who are deficient in vitamin D.
For this study, the researchers considered vitamin D blood levels below 25 nanomoles/liter (nmol/L) as deficient. And they said about 20 percent of people in the U.K. with COPD fall into that range.
But in my view, the problem is much larger. Because you should really aim for vitamin D blood levels between 50 and 75 nmol/L. Especially if you have COPD.
As always, I recommend everyone supplement with 10,000 IU of vitamin D daily. And especially at this time of year, when the sun isn’t high enough in the sky to trigger vitamin D production in the skin.
Of course, that dosage goes above the typical, measly recommended daily allowances (RDAs) from the government.
But remember — that the RDA for vitamin D is determined based on how much is needed to avoid bone disease. But as this — and many other studies — suggest, you need much more vitamin D daily to avoid chronic disease…and certainly to achieve optimal health.
In addition to vitamin D supplementation, there are many other natural ways to treat COPD, without the use of harmful drugs. In fact, I talked about one of these natural alternatives in the May 2013 issue of my Insiders’ Cures newsletter (“Ancient cure for COPD and asthma symptoms could make inhalers and drugs obsolete!”). Not a subscriber? No problem. Click here to learn more or sign up today.
Of course, there’s much more when it comes to naturally preventing and reversing lung diseases, the nation’s second leading cause of death. And I’m currently gathering all my research to complete a brand-new, online learning protocol about that exact topic. As always, you’ll be the first to learn about it, right here. So, stay tuned!
Source:
“Vitamin D to prevent exacerbations of COPD: systematic review and meta-analysis of individual participant data from randomised controlled trials,” Thorax (thorax.bmj.com) 1/10/2019