What Can I Do to Boost My Child's Immune System Naturally?

Our question today is: How can I naturally boost my child's immune system? Or, put another way, what can I do to strengthen and improve the health of my child's immune system? This is a fundamental question because, as parents, we face a serious problem.

How Can I Boost My Child's Immune System Naturally?ImmuneStrong Kids

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That problem is that it's becoming increasingly common for children to be sick more often and have more severe cases of cold and flu. Flu season kicks off in the fall and lasts until the spring. The highest number of flu cases is usually in February, and then flu season usually tapers off in March.

We spend a lot of time thinking about this question here at ImmuneStrong Kids because our mission is to help parents raise healthy kids with strong immune systems who don't get sick often and recover quickly when they do.

What can we do that will naturally boost and strengthen our children's immune systems?

One of the most important things you can do is vitamin D. Vitamin D is "The Immune System Vitamin." We know that vitamin D is essential for many functions throughout the body. Virtually every cell in your body has vitamin D receptors, meaning that vitamin D influences the function of almost every cell, organ, and tissue.

"The Immune System Vitamin." Vitamin D is essential for every facet of your immune system, from regulating inflammation to helping to defend your body against cancer and, in particular, protecting against infections in the Viral Respiratory Tract Infections category (VRTI).

Respiratory means breathing. Your respiratory system includes your mouth, nose, throat, and lungs. Examples of VRTI include the common cold, flu, H1N1, bird flu, and SARS. We hear about these in the news and think they are unique and scary, but they are all simply examples of VRTI.

Vitamin D shines exceptionally bright regarding VRTIs. Many studies show that vitamin D is particularly important in defending against Viral Respiratory Tract Infections. One small example that hightlights how Vitamin D protects against VRTIs is the epithelium that lines your lungs, a physical barrier between what you breathe in and the inside of your body. Vitamin D is crucial for maintaining that epithelium and protecting you.

Once you grasp that vitamin D is crucial for immune system function, you must understand that its protective value lies in having an optimal vitamin D level. The optimal blood vitamin D level for humans is 40 to 60 nanograms per milliliter (ng/ml).

If those numbers don't mean anything to you, that's okay. I encourage you to read this article that explains the numbers. If you don't know if a blood Vitamin D level of 40 ng/ml is good or bad, that article can help clarify.

The optimal range is 40 to 60 ng/ml. Unfortunately, the average North American, Canadian or American, has a vitamin D level of 26. The average North American has about half as much vitamin D floating around in their bloodstream as they should. Studies and surveys show that 90% of people have below-optimal vitamin D levels.

This includes kids. This means 90% of the people you care about and 90% of your children have below-optimal vitamin D levels. This means 90% of the population is at an increased risk of sickness and disease, like cold and flu, and not getting all the benefits vitamin D offers.

The key concept here is that having an optimal vitamin D level is the key to maximizing vitamin D's many benefits.

How do you know if you're fully protected? You have to get tested. A blood test tells you where you're starting. It tells you how you're doing in your vitamin D strategy. A blood test tells you if you're doing vitamin D right or if you're doing vitamin D wrong. And if you're not in that optimal range of 40 to 60 ng/ml, you're doing vitamin D wrong.

You have options for getting a vitamin D test. You can go to a lab and get a blood draw or ask your primary care physician for one. We offer a home vitamin D test, which is convenient, easy to use, and affordable. Home test kits are typically less expensive than a lab and require less blood. A lab will often require drawing an entire vial of blood, while a Vitamin D Home Test involves only a couple of drops.

The key takeaway is that vitamin D is The Immune System vitamin, and the most benefit and protection come from having an optimal vitamin D level of 40 to 60 ng/ml. If you haven't had a Vitamin D test in the past six months, I'd recommend getting tested. If your children are old enough to do a Vitamin D test, I'd recommend finding out their Vitamin D level. You can learn more about our Vitamin D Home Test here.