Enhance Your Health

Health Tip of the Week: Zinc

A lot of discussion over the past 7 weeks has been about the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine. Hydroxychloroquine is the drug that President Trump suggested would be a game changer treating CoVid-19. Recent studies with hydroxychloroquine have had disappointing results in CoVid-19 treatment, including a number of deaths associated with the drug. Both control groups in the study had almost the same case resolution rate of just over 80% resolution in 28 day’s time.

That being said, evidence in the drug trial has turned up some interesting news that can be applied to natural ways of fighting CoVid-19 and other flu viruses. It turns out that hydroxychloroquine acts as a zinc ionophore.

This means that hydroxychloroquine transfers zinc into your body's cells. Zinc is an important mineral that among other functions, serves as a vital immune system builder. Past research has shown that zinc can lessen duration of colds and viruses.

It has been suggested that hydroxychloroquine has been beneficial in treating CoVid-19 because of its ability to send zinc into the cells and assist with immune system function. My take-away from reading these reports is that the drug hydroxychloroquine is not the answer, but zinc in the body is what causes the major benefit to the drug treatment.

That being said, supplemental zinc is essential during this viral outbreak and during any flu season. So, the next question is what can we use as an ionophore to push zinc into our body's cells that is not a potentially deadly drug?

Further investigation reveals that quercetin, a natural compound found in a variety of foods (apples, onions, tea, tomatoes and other vegetables) is a powerful immune system booster and broad spectrum anti-viral. It is one of three natural substances that can inhibit Sars-CoV2-proteins.

Most importantly, quercetin is a zinc ionophore. It helps push zinc into the body's cells. This is really good news as the combination of zinc and quercetin seems like a really good idea to add to your anti-viral supplement list. Maybe this is one of the reasons the old saying "an apple a day, keeps the doctor away" has lasted so long in time.

Here is a recommendation to help you keep your lungs strong. Deep breathing exercises. On a daily basis, sit down in a chair with your hands on your lap. Breath in deeply as far as you can through your nose, hold for one second and breathe out through your mouth until your lungs are completely empty. Repeat 10 times. Rest and breathe normally for 20-30 seconds and then repeat with another 10 deep breaths. Perform three to five sets of ten deep breathes. Once finished sit and relax for a minute or two before standing (to avoid lightheadedness).

For the spiritual and meditative among us, in between breaths you can say short prayers or positive affirmations to help you connect your mind, body and spirit.


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