While most people know that the key to a strong immune system is maintaining good nutrition, exercise, and rest, a new study has found a more specific role for Vitamin D levels.
Sunlight helps the body naturally produce Vitamin D, a process which occurs in the liver. According to the new study, conducted in Israel and published in Hepatology, Vitamin D specifically helps to prevent liver disease while also repressing viruses, including Hepatitis C, which affects the liver.
Interferon, which naturally occurs as part of the body’s immune system, is also used to treat Hepatitis C medicinally. Good Vitamin D levels seem to encourage the body to naturally produce interferon.
Always talk to a doctor before starting a new diet—too high levels of fat soluble vitamins, like Vitamin D, can actually be a bad thing. Vitamin D levels may become a means to improve treatment for Hepatitis C and other viruses, but it likely won’t be enough by itself.
Not everyone exposed to Hepatitis C contracts the disease; when it does become chronic there are no obvious symptoms and so chronic liver disease can become a serious side effect.
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