Editor’s note:  What can we do to prevent flu?   Should we count on flu vaccine?   We publish below an article from a reader.   It’s a translation work and statements are opinions of the original writer.

How to prevent flu?

The weather is getting cold and the flu season is near.   What can we do to prevent influenza? Get flu shots?

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the only way to prevent flu is to get flu vaccine.    And it says all children age 6 months and 19 years need to receive flu shots every year.

There are some speculations:

1) Vaccines are useless.   Many experiments showed inoculation of flu vaccine is not so effective in preventing influenza. I received flu vaccine in the past and the efficacy varied from one year to another. Flu vaccine is based on three most possible viruses (two strains of virus A and one strain of type B).   But if the outbreak is triggered by a strain that is not contained in the vaccine, the vaccine is useless.

2) Side effects of flu vaccine: I felt bad a few times after I got flu shots.   Read http://www.jktd.org/Article/128.html for information on side effects of flu vaccine.

3) Flu vaccine is toxic.   Flu vaccine is grown on eggs.  Formaldehyde, a cancer causing agent, is used to eliminate viruses.  Aluminum compounds are used to boost the activity of antigen.  Aluminum is a neurotoxin and can cause aging-related brain disease.   Some other substances used to make the vaccine can also cause allergy in some people.   From 2008 to 2009, two thirds of flu vaccine contained thimerosal, a chemical that contains 49 percent mercury. This preservative has been suspected by many to cause autism in children because it is a neurotoxin.   Research showed formaldehyde, aluminum and mercury in combination can result in brain disease like Alzheimer's in elderly people.

Avoid flu vaccine!  Then what can you do to prevent flu?  The answer is "take high doses of vitamin D".

Vitamin D plays an important role in calcium absorption. But it plays many other roles.   After all, it is a hormone.

Vitamin D can help calcium balance and absorption and help normalize the cellular proliferation and prevent carcinogenesis.   It boots immunity against bacteria and viruses, preventing seasonal flu.   It can also affect the secretion of insulin and has something to do with autoimmune disease.   It can also lower blood pressure.

Let us take a look at its preventative effect against flu viruses.

The flu outbreaks occur often in the winter or the raining seasons when exposure to sunlight is limited.   Ultraviolet rays are blocked from shining on human skin and production of vitamin D declines.

Vitamin D regulates more than 1,000 genes including macrophages in the immune system, which kill viruses.   Vitamin D can also lead to production antibiotics, which differ from artificially made antibiotics in that the antibiotics made in the body can kill viruses while the artificial antibiotics cannot.

Flu viruses exist in all seasons. But only when exposure to sunlight is restricted do they cause flu. The biggest reason for this is lack of vitamin D.

But is a high dose of vitamin D toxic?

Harvard Health Newsletter suggests that people should take 1,000 international units of vitamin D daily.   The Academy of Science recommends 2,000 IU per day is the upper limit.   Some doctors suggest that people need 10,000 IUs a day.

People with light skin may make 20,000 IU a day when they expose themselves to sunlight for 20 minutes a day, but not anymore.   People with dark skin may need 6 to 10 times longer time to get the same amount of vitamin D. That is why people with dark skin are more likely to die from flu and vitamin D related diseases.

Can we just drink milk to have enough vitamin D?

One needs to drink 200 glasses of milk to get the amount of vitamin D obtained by 20-minute exposure to sunlight.   If you want to get 2000 IU, you need to drink 20 glasses.

In comparison, four ounces of salmon may provide the amount of vitamin D a person needs for a day.

Vitamin D in foods is limited and the best way is to take oral vitamin D supplements.

Other things that need to be considered:

Eat less sugar, which suppresses the immune system.   Avoid omega-6 vegetable oils, which strongly suppress immunity.   Daily multivitamins may help, so does garlic.   Stress management an exercise and plenty of sleep all help boost immune responses.   Also wash hands often to avoid viruses.