NOV. 5, 2009 — Another study now suggests that higher vitamin D levels will lower your risk of colds and flu.

“We want to be careful not to say vitamin D is this wonder drug. But there’s a solid foundation for some of these hypotheses, at least in the laboratory.” Dr. Ardit Ginde, an emergency room physician and instructor at the University of Colorado at Denver, told the Canadian news service CanWest in an article that ran Canada-wide. The next step, he says, is to do more work with people.

Ginde published a report earlier this year showing how the government’s own data now show that vitamin D deficiency in the United States has skyrocketed to 77 percent of the population today, verses less than half of the population 15 years ago.

According to the CanWest story, “Study participants with the lowest vitamin D blood levels — under 10 nanograms per milliliter of blood — were about 40 percent more likely to report recent colds or flu than those with vitamin D levels above 30 nanograms. That’s not proof of cause and effect, but the study authors say it’s a strong ‘association,’ or scientific connection.”

To read the CanWest story click here.