People with low levels of Vitamin D are 36 percent more likely to develop an upper-respiratory infection.
The peak season is just beginning for upper respiratory infections. Right, Alphas?
Low levels of Vitamin D turn out to be increasingly common, and it's undermining our immune systems. Sunlight gives us plenty -- but not if you slather on sunscreen, as all the dermatologists have been telling us to do for decades now.
If you live in the northern part of the US or in Canada, you can't make any Vitamin D from sunshine till next April anyway. The sun's just too low in the sky. (That's true in Boston, Milwaukee, and Portland (either Oregon or Maine), for some examples.
I take supplemental Vitamin D, specifically D3 or cholecalciferol, which is cheap, readily available and 3 or 4 times more effective than other kinds. How much do you need? The officially-recommended levels are being reconsidered as much too low. Experts all over are recommending 1,000 to 2,000 IUs per day, but they're doing it "unofficially," presumably in fear of the FDA or somebody.
For perspective: Your body makes 20,000 IUs a day if you spend 20-30 minutes exposing yourself to the sun, and you're light-skinned. (Dark-skinned people, especially African-Americans, take much longer to produce the same amount.)
Here is an expert opinion.