Flu: Health tips to prevent or reduce the impact of illness this Christmas

There is already a 350% increase in flu cases in hospital compared to the same week last year. With Christmas parties under way and family gatherings looming, the figures are going to get worse.

On top of vaccination, what can we do to support our immunity in the long term and are there any quick health hacks we can do right now to reduce flu symptoms?

Just like Covid, flu affects people differently. Some people just get a couple of days sniffles and others end up in hospital with severe respiratory distress - or worse! In general, being overweight, smoking, being sedentary, or having concomitant medical conditions such as diabetes, hypertension and airways disease will all increase the risks of more serious flu consequences.

These factors can only be improved by long-term changes in healthy behaviour such as exercising more, maintaining a normal weight, adopting sleep hygiene practices, stopping smoking, and eating less processed meat and processed sugar.

What health hacks can we do now to help fight flu?

Over-the-counter remedies and dietary tips are widespread on social media; some can help and others have no scientific basis. Here is a discussion of the pros and cons of the most ubiquitous:

Gut health

It’s clear, from scientific studies, that people with depleted strains of healthy gut bacteria such as lactobacillus are more vulnerable to flu. Poor gut health lowers immunity but at the same time increases inflammatory dysfunction which can damage the joints, lungs other tissues making flu symptoms even worse.

Tips to improve gut health include exercise, quitting smoking, cutting down on processed meats and sugar and ramping up the prebiotic intake of mushrooms, beans, nuts and seeds.

It’s important to introduce more foods into the diet which have live healthy bacteria such as fermented, pickled foods, live yoghurt, kefir, miso soup, tempeh and Kimchi. At a Christmas party, try one of the newer kombucha drinks rather than one packed with gut-harming sugar or sweeteners. In the busy world we live in, a well-made supplement, can be a convenient way to increase prebiotic and probiotic intake. Of the hundreds available very few have been tested for effectiveness, the exception being Yourgutplus which, in a national double blind study actually reduced Covid symptoms and prevented post-viral syndrome.

Hot and cold showers

Several well conducted studies have shown that hot and cold showers enhance immune efficiency. Cold water causes blood vessels to constrict and then dilate when you warm up, which improves blood flow and overall circulation. Even brief exposure to cold water can trigger the short-term release of stress hormones like norepinephrine, which enhance immune responses. Cold water emersion even for a minute a day has been shown to increase white blood cells and natural killer cells - part of the immune system - which in a study involving 3,000 people from The Netherlands reduced the work days missed from flu by 30%.

Phytochemical-rich Foods

Phytochemicals provide the colour and aroma of edible, generally tasty, plants but also have enormous health benefits. Most fruit and vegetables have good quantities but higher levels are found in ginger, turmeric, pomegranate, chamomile, other teas, herbs and spices. They have direct antiviral properties by reducing replication and blocking the spreading of the virus.

Phytochemicals also have the ability to dampen excess inflammation, which explains why they help reduce inflammation-associated joint pains, a common flu symptom. But, unlike aspirin and ibuprofen, they actually protect gastric mucosa and reduce nausea.

The typical western diet is often deficient in phytochemicals, meaning we need to think about eating a lot more of them. Ideally, we should aim to have two or more vegetables, fruit or other phytochemical rich foods with every meal of the day. Whole food supplements can boost the daily intake of phytochemical especially those which have specifically demonstrated an viral activity. One blend which came out of recent Covid research, now known as Phyto-V, contains a blend of chamomile, resveratrol, citrus bioflavonoids, pomegranate and turmeric and did show a significant reduction in viral-related symptoms.

Vitamin D

Studies confirmed that people with below-normal levels of vitamin D had higher risks of hospitalisation following flu. This relationship was confirmed by the massive prospective UK Biobank study. Over the winter months, unless you have the luxury of one or two holidays in the sun, it would be sensible to take a vitamin D3 supplement at a dose of around 1000IU (25 micrograms) per day. More recently, it has been discovered that vitamin D also acts as a prebiotic which supports the growth of healthy bacteria. Healthy bacteria also improve the absorption and bioavailability of the vitamin, which is why the most effective vitamin D supplements are mixed with probiotics. There may also be some benefits of mixing vitamin D with K2.

Vitamin C

This essential vitamin does have an important role in immunity and tissue repair. Published studies, however, generally show that taking vitamin C regularly does not significantly reduce the risk of getting the flu for the general population who have a good diet. However, if someone is vitamin C deficient they will have an increased risk of any infection. Vitamin C deficiency, scurvy, is still common in some isolated and particularly elderly populations. As a rule, try to eat more citrus fruits, berries, vegetables and nut on a daily basis.

If you don’t eat these regularly, a vitamin C supplement at a sensible dose of about 100mg/day) would be a good idea. No study has actually shown that high dose vitamin C is better at reducing flu, or any disease, for that matter.

Essential minerals

Studies have demonstrated that boosting essential mineral intake can shorten flu symptoms. This does not just apply to zinc and magnesium but all the essential minerals.

Minerals are essential for the normal function of the body including formation of oxidative enzymes and immune factors.  Dietary tips which help improve the diversity of mineral intake include increasing the intake of seafood, pumpkin, seaweed and nuts. There are hundreds of varieties of supplements available over the counter, it’s difficult to find one which contains the optimal blend. Many omit essential dietary metals such as iodine, which is now commonly deficient in the UK diet, or have inadequate quantities of other minerals so would have little impact on body levels.

Others have far too high a level of one or more minerals, so with long-term use could lead to harmful excess levels. The brand called PhytoMineral stands out because it sticks to precise daily requirements only of all the most important essential minerals. Uniquely it also contains organic ginger which bio-enhances mineral absorption and bioavailability.

In conclusion, keeping away from people with flu, and getting vaccinated are still the best ways to stop getting flu but fortunately there are clearly some evidence-based self-help strategies which can help us fight flu and certainly help us get back on our feet earlier.