Mega D for a Mega Immune System
Getting sick is never good. It interferes with your training, job, and social plans. Depending on the severity of the illness, it may take days and even weeks to fully recover. Today, we are more cognizant than ever of contagious illness and our immune system. No longer do we take our health for granted, in fact, this is a time in history when more attention is being drawn to the human immune system than ever before.
Despite all that doctors, scientists, and medications can do for us, none of them can do more for our health than a strong immune system. We know that a healthy diet, healthy body weight, exercise, sleep, and stress management are essential for maintaining a healthy immune system, but did you know that, despite doing all these things we can still be missing some vital nutrients for our natural immunity?
Vitamin D Deficiencies
Many people walk around with a vitamin D deficiency and are not even aware of it, but this deficiency can have a big impact on our ability to fight off illness. Common symptoms of vitamin D deficiency can often go unnoticed, but can include fatigue, muscle weakness, cramps, and pain, as well as depression and mood changes. If you wonder whether you might be vitamin D deficient, here is a list of individuals who are often low on vitamin D.
- Older individuals
- Weightlifters or competitive athletes
- Dark-skinned individuals
- Those with autoimmune disease
- People located in areas without enough sunlight (such as Ohio in the winter)
- People who regularly use sunscreen
Not to worry, however, Max Effort Muscle has a product that can help you with your vitamin D levels and boost your immune system strength. Max Efforts Mega D contains the following ingredients:
- Vitamin D (cholecalciferol)
- Boron
- Vitamin K2 (Menaquinone)
Not only does Mega D contain Vitamin D3, but two other ingredients that are essential for strengthening the immune system. Let’s further investigate these 3 ingredients.
Why is Vitamin D Important?
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that we can get it in two forms, one can be ingested through the food we eat, and it is known as D2 or ergocalciferol and the other is D3, or cholecalciferol, and is formed when our skin comes in contact with sunlight or through taking a vitamin supplement. Vitamin D3 is much more potent than D2 and it also converts (in the body) to 25 hydroxyvitamin D or Calcitriol, which is the physiologically active form of vitamin D.
Many individuals with low vitamin D levels have difficulty acquiring vitamin D and they are also low on the physiologically active form of vitamin D, serum 25 hydroxyvitamin D. However, by adding the supplement Boron (which is found in Mega D), serum 25 hydroxyvitamin D levels increase even in vitamin D deficient individuals, which will help strengthen their immune system response. This is especially important for many of us who, despite a healthy diet, run low on vitamin D levels.
Because vitamin D is fat soluble, it will stay in our system much longer than water soluble vitamins, so the concern by many in the medical community has been developing vitamin D toxicity if you take too much. Vitamin D toxicity results in excessive quantities of calcium in the blood stream (hypercalcemia) which can cause a multitude of health issues. For many years, it was suggested that people not take vitamin D because of this concern over vitamin D toxicity.
So how can we take Vitamin D and receive all its benefits without suffering from toxicity? Simple answer, take the recommended doses of vitamin D and take it in combination with vitamin K2 (menaquinone). Vitamin K2 is found in animal products, fermented foods, and is manufactured by our gut bacteria (or you can take Max Effort’s Mega D). Vitamin K2 activates matrix GLA protein which binds with a moves calcium away from soft tissue (arteries, joint tissue), while at the same time activating Osteocalcin which moves calcium into bones. Therefore, when taken in conjunction with vitamin D, vitamin K2 moves calcium out of the blood stream and into our bones. This prevents hypercalcemia or toxicity and removes the concern of taking vitamin D.
Vitamins D3 and K2 work synergistically to accomplish numerous health benefits throughout our body, such as improving bone and muscle health, cardiovascular health, and immune system function.
Vitamins D3 and K2 activate immune defenses by triggering the activation of T cells, which are specialized white blood cells that both identify and destroy foreign invaders such as bacteria and viruses. Even more interesting is that studies show that vitamin D promotes T helper cells called TH 2 cells, that enable T cells to fight pathogens, but suppresses TH 1 cells that promote inflammation, thereby reducing inflammation, which can be very detrimental to the immune system response. Additional studies have proven that, when vitamin D levels are low, T cells are not as active so they cannot stop foreign pathogens, and inflammation increases which further promotes the propagation of foreign pathogens.
The combination of vitamins D3 and K2 assist our Innate Immunity and our Adaptive Immunity. Our Innate Immune system is the system that quickly recognizes bad pathogens and eliminates them, while our Adaptive Immune system reacts to new foreign pathogens, quickly responds and eliminates them, and remembers these foreign pathogens so it can respond quickly in the future.
The Innate Immune system is our first line of defense against foreign invaders, and it works by quickly identifying foreign pathogens and destroying them. Vitamin’s D and K2 assist this immune response by regulating a defense peptide (protein) called Cathelicidin, which kills foreign pathogens and plays a role in future immune response against similar pathogens.
Vitamins D3 and K2 assist the Adaptive Immune system by binding to receptors on immune cells (white blood cells which include T cells) and triggering these cells to respond to and destroy foreign pathogens. The more quickly the Adaptive Immune response is to foreign pathogens, the less severe an illness will be. In a great study involving 800 Finnish military recruits, the soldiers with low vitamin D levels missed many more days due to illness than those with recommended vitamin D levels. This is evidence of the effectiveness of vitamins D3 and K2 at strengthening the Adaptive Immune system.
D3 + K2 Combo
Recently, the vitamin combination of D3 and K2 has been the focus of many in the medical community as a result of the Covid 19 virus. Many studies are very promising, not only for the vitamin D3 and K2 combination, but also for Boron. In one European study on Covid patients and vitamin D3, it was discovered that Covid patients with low vitamin D levels had a much greater likelihood of a poor outcome. Also, some studies show that individuals with sufficient vitamin D levels have a greater likelihood of experiencing less severe Covid symptoms and shorter duration of illness.
This is more evidence that the Max Effort Muscle – Mega D supplement can be extremely beneficial for you. Not only does this supplement protect your health, but it is a great supplement for muscle and joint health as well. Just one capsule a day will keep you training, healthy, and making progress.
