Medical Studies On 10 Immune Boosting Supplements You Should Know About

There is a lot of information, and unfortunately a lot of misinformation, about using natural supplements to boost your immunity. Many supplements have anti-viral properties and are being extensively studied this very moment for their effectiveness in the face of our current pandemic, and I am going to link you directly to these studies below.

I wanted to give you direct links to the studies in the medical literature so that you can read it for yourself, as well as look at all the current clinical trials being conducted for each supplement.

Here are the top 10 most medically studied immune boosting supplements, in order of most studied to least studied.

Here we go:

10 Most Studied Supplements

To Support Your Health During This Pandemic:

1. Vitamin D

By far the most studied supplement, with the clearest benefit, is Vitamin D.

Here’s a list of medical studies that show why:

• The role of vitamin D in the prevention of coronavirus disease 2019 infection and mortality

• Vitamin D Concentrations Are Lower in Patients With Positive SARS-CoV-2 Infection

• Potential Role of Vitamin D in the Elderly to Resist COVID-19

• Evidence That Vitamin D Supplementation Could Reduce Risk of COVID-19 Infections and Deaths

• The Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Vitamin D

• Vitamin D3: a helpful immuno-modulator

• Vitamin D supplementation to prevent acute respiratory tract infections

• Antimicrobial implications of vitamin D

• Vitamin D Supplementation Improves Cytokine Profiles

• Vitamin D Deficiency Is Associated With Inflammatory Cytokine Concentrations

There are currently 18 ongoing clinical trials testing Vitamin D out for it’s therapeutic value in covid19 infections… you can take a look at those clinical trials right here.

2. Vitamin C

Coming in as the second most studied supplement is Vitamin C. Easily available in fresh citrus fruits, boosting your intake of Vitamin C can boost your resiliency.

Here’s why:

• Intravenous vitamin C for reduction of cytokines storm
• Vitamin C can shorten the length of stay in the ICU
• Effect of Vitamin C Infusion on Organ Failure and Biomarkers of Inflammation and Vascular Injury in Patients With Sepsis and Severe Acute Respiratory Failure
• The effect of Vitamin C on infection of tracheal organ cultures by coronavirus
• Vitamin C intake and susceptibility to pneumonia
• Vitamin C and SARS coronavirus
• Vitamin C and Coronavirus
• Ascorbic Acid and the Immune Response
• High-Dose IV Vitamin C on ARDS by COVID-19

There are now at least 24 ongoing clinical trials looking into Vitamin C’s role in coronavirus infection — you can read those here.

3. Probiotics

Medical research is looking into the possible role of using probiotics as well… here’s more:

• Using Probiotics to Flatten the Curve of Coronavirus Disease COVID-2019 Pandemic
• COVID-19 and the digestive system
• Probiotics for preventing acute upper respiratory tract infections
• Probiotic prophylaxis of ventilator-associated pneumonia
• The small intestine, an underestimated site of SARS-CoV-2 infection: from red queen effect to probiotics
• Probiotics to address Covid19

And right now, there are 5 ongoing clinical trials testing to see if taking probiotics has a clinically beneficial effect in covid19 patients… you can read those here.

4. Melatonin

The next most studied supplement to help protect your health is melatonin. Melatonin may play a role in the cytokine storm cascade during viral infection, here are some studies looking into this further:

• Melatonin protects against acute lung injury
• COVID-19: Melatonin as a potential adjuvant treatment
• Can melatonin reduce the severity of COVID-19 pandemic? (Hint, their answer is YES)
• Melatonin: Roles in influenza, Covid‐19, and other viral infections

Right now there is one ongoing clinical trail, looking at melatonin supplementation to protect front line healthcare workers from contracting coronavirus infection — you can read about that here.

5. Zinc

Much publicity has been made about the possible role of zinc in boosting immunity. Several medical studies have been published looking at zinc and immune function, and showing positive results:

• Antioxidant effect of zinc in humans
• Zinc supplementation decreases incidence of infections in the elderly
• Zinc Inhibits Coronavirus and Arterivirus RNA Polymerase Activity in Vitro
• Does Zinc Supplementation Enhance the Clinical Efficacy of Chloroquine/Hydroxychloroquine to Win Today’s Battle Against COVID-19?
• Zinc and immune function

There are currently 13 ongoing clinical trials looking at the efficacy of zinc in preventing or treating Covid19 infections — you can read those here — along with this interesting study testing IV zinc for coronavirus infection treatment.

6. Black Cumin Seed Oil

Here is a lesser known but incredibly interesting supplement that has been shown in several medical studies to effectively decrease Covid19 replication: black cumin seed oil, also known as Nigella sativa.

Here are some new medical studies looking into the antiviral properties of Black Cumin Seed oil:

• The effects of Nigella sativa on the replication of coronavirus
• Identification of Compounds from Nigella Sativa as New Potential Inhibitors of Covid19
• Nigella sativa for promising COVID-19 treatment

There is enough encouraging results from black cumin seed oil that there are now two ongoing clinical trials testing the use of Nigella sativa against coronavirus infection — you can read those here.

7. Quercetin

Quercetin is a sort of “natural antihistamine” that I’ve long recommended to my patients who have seasonal allergies, as it helps decrease reactivity to allergens. So it makes sense that quercetin may play a role in decreasing the hyper-reactivty that lungs have in response to infection.

Medical studies looking at quercetin include:

• Quercetin as an Antiviral Agent
• Coronavirus (COVID-19), First Indication of Efficacy of Quercetin in SARS-CoV-2 Infections
• Inhibition of SARS-CoV 3CL protease by flavonoids (quercetin is a type of flavonoid)

Currently there is one ongoing clinical trial looking at quercetin’s role on preventing and treating covi19 cases — which you can read about right here.

8. Curcumin

Curcumin is one of my favorite anti-inflammatories of all time. So it makes me so happy to see that curcumin is now being investigated as a therapeutic agent to keep the hyper-inflammatory response to of the body at bay.

Here are some great medical studies you can read:

• Potential effects of curcumin in the treatment of COVID ‐19 infection
• Effect of curcumin on circulating interleukin-6 concentrations
• Immunomodulatory Effects of Curcumin
• Curcumin interaction with covid19
• Antiviral potential of curcumin
• A Novel Combination of Vitamin C, Curcumin and Glycyrrhizic Acid Potentially Regulates Immune and Inflammatory Response Associated with Coronavirus Infections

Unfortunately there is currently only one single ongoing clinical trial looking at a combination treatment (that includes curcumin) to treat patients with active covid19 infections — you can read that here.

9. Echinacea

There are a few medical studies looking at the anti-viral properties of echinacea… but no current clinical trail as of yet. Studies that may interested you include:

• The Pivotal Role of Vitamin D, Vitamin C, Zinc, and Echinacea in Three Main Immune Interactive Clusters
• In vitro antiviral activity of Echinacea purpurea against highly pathogenic MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV
• Effect of an Echinacea-Based Hot Drink Versus The Prescription Anti-viral drug Oseltamivir
• Echinacea as an antiinflammatory agent
• Echinacea—A Source of Potent Antivirals for Respiratory Virus Infections

No current Covid19 clinical trials.

10. Glutathione

Ever since news that this New Yorker seems to have massively improved after taking large does of glutathione during her illness, there have been a lot of talk over glutathione’s role, if any, in preventive care.

Unfortunately, the medical studies on this supplement are slim and there are currently no ongoing clinical trials investigating it’s role in covid19 therapy.

• Efficacy of glutathione therapy in relieving dyspnea associated with COVID-19 pneumonia
• Improvement of acute respiratory distress syndrome through increasing intracellular glutathione

No current Covid19 clinical trials.

On The Radar:

Recent Medical Studies On Silver:

• This article, published in 2005, showed that live coronavirus dropped to levels that that were undetectable after exposure to silver.

To boosting your resilient and innate health… naturally!

xoxox, Laura