Cold and flu protection
BY Sharon Labi Freelance Journalist
The dreaded cold and flu season is back – and arming your immune system is more important than ever. Exercise, diet and understanding the latest flu vaccines will help you stay on top, but don’t forget that natural remedies are nothing to sneeze at either…
It’s the time of year when you’re most unmotivated; when the prospect of an extra hour under the doona wrestles with the intention of an early morning jog and a warm, carb-loaded dinner is far more comforting than a crisp salad.
But exercise and good nutrition are vital to keeping your immune system strong through the winter months, when we’re most vulnerable to the 200 varieties of virus that cause cold and flu.
Vaccination is the most effective defence against the flu, but it only covers three main strains and offers no protection against a head cold that can leave you feeling just as ill as a mild flu. And vaccination is just part of a package that includes good hygiene, exercise and diet.
Health authorities believe H1N1 – the notorious “swine flu” that brought the nation to its knees in 2009 but caused only mild illness in most affected individuals last year – will cause Australia’s biggest headache this winter, when emergency departments traditionally fill with flu-ridden patients.
“H1N1 will be back and it will be back worse than last year,” predicts Professor Robert Booy, head of clinical research at the National Centre for Immunisation Research & Surveillance. His warning follows reports of “disproportionately severe” disease from pandemic swine flu this winter in the UK and Europe, while the Department of Health and
Ageing reports that influenza A (H3N2) and influenza B made up for 80 per cent of circulating strains in North America.
Here in Australia, the Department says influenza causes epidemics of respiratory disease between May and October and for those with other health conditions, the flu can be deadly.
In some cases doctors will prescribe a five-day course of anti-viral medication to those at risk of complications, but most of us will recover within a week, drug-free. Because cold and flu are caused by viruses, antibiotics are useless, though they may be prescribed if a secondary infection, such as an ear infection, develops.
Let food be your medicine
Want to ease symptoms and cut recovery time? Naturopath Claudette Wadsworth recommends the Russian herb rodiola, or a mix of echinacea and andrographis. Meanwhile, it’s the perfect time of year to cook up a healthy roast. Aloysa Hourigan, senior dietitian with Nutrition Australia, says you must have enough protein in your diet to enable the body to respond to infection, while iron, zinc, vitamin C and amino acids such as lysine (found in beef and poultry) also bolster immunity. “If you have good levels of those things to start with, then you’d have pretty good resistance to infection,” she says. “Boosting your diet is a better way to go than supplements.” Vitamin C helps the body absorb iron, so if you’re tucking into a steak – which ticks the three boxes of being high in protein, iron and zinc – have some tomato and capsicum on the side.
While cold and flu might be our worst enemy, plenty of other viruses do the winter rounds. Clinical Professor David Smith, a virologist at the University of Western Australia, says Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), which causes pneumonia and chest infections like bronchiolitis, is common and usually accounts for most hospital admissions of young children in winter.
Other winter lurgies to watch out for include parainfluenza (which causes croup), rhinovirus (runny nose), rotavirus (diarrhoea), adenovirus (pneumonia, diarrhoea, conjunctivitis), coronavirus (common cold) and pneumococcal and meningococcal infections. “Sometimes I think ‘how do we survive winter each year?’ but there’s lots we can achieve by bolstering our immune system and practising sensible hygiene,” says Professor Smith.
Most people take the right precautions, says Professor John Mackenzie, an infectious diseases expert from Curtin University, but those most vulnerable to winter sickness are the young, the elderly, the immuno-suppressed, chronically ill and smokers, who shouldn’t think twice about being vaccinated.
Even if you had a flu jab last year, get it again because it only lasts 12 months and the extra antibodies will provide protection even if the viruses have mutated a little.
And if you do get sick, keep your distance, stay home, don’t do anything strenuous, rest up, eat well and you should be back to normal within days.
Read our fact sheet on influenza.