With the H1N1 flu pandemic expected to flare up this fall and no vaccine available until next month, nervous Coloradans are seeking all kinds of possible remedies.
A story in this week’s Denver Post by Nancy Lofholm details many of the natural remedies that folks are seeking to either ward off the flu or at least lessen its severity. They range from garlic and goji berries to “swamp tea” and duck liver dilutions.
The Internet, according to Lofholm’s story, is buzzing with various concoctions.
In Canada, the elixir of choice is swamp tea, a drink first made by aboriginal people from an herb that grows in cold climes, she wrote.
In France, it is a homeopathic dilution of duck liver that has been made there for nearly 70 years and is sold under the name oscillococcinum.
While those remedies may make people feel more protected, they’re not going to halt the virus.
Some people swear by the natural remedies, saying they’ll lessen the severity of the flu if taken early enough. But how do you know? It’s almost like President Obama’s claim that the $780 billion stimulus package will create or save millions of jobs. It’s impossible to quantify how many jobs are saved. Why not just claim to have saved all the jobs that still exist?
One natural form of protection, however, likely does exist, and that’s vitamin D. Recent research has shown that vitamin D, not C, does more to boost a body’s immunity and to ward off illness. We can get a good dose of D just by getting out into the sunshine, which we’re blessed with more than 300 days a year in Colorado.
Of course, if you truly believe in them, all of these alternative remedies can at least do one good thing, and that is put your mind at ease.
If you’re downing duck liver, and feeling immune from H1N1, chances are your stress level will be lower. And doctors do say that stress can make you more susceptible to illness.
So order a double of swamp tea if it makes you feel better.
But you also might want to follow the most common advice being doled out this flu season: Wash your hands thoroughly and often. Spritz them with anti-bacterial gel when possible. Cough into your sleeve, not your hand.
And get vaccinated if you can.
