They are thought to be interchangeable. Ergocalciferol is made by irradiating mushrooms with UV light; like people, they “tan” and produce vitamin D. Cholecalciferol is derived from the rich waxy lanolin “waterproofing” in sheep’s wool.

I’ve long recommended that people take D3, in the belief that it is somewhere around 50% more bio-available than D2. If that were the sole knock on ergocalciferol, one could simply take more of the D2 version and get comparable results. But there’s more to the story.

Some dyed-in-the-wool (excuse the pun) vegans prefer D2 because, not only do they not eat meat and poultry, or even wear leather, but they also prefer to eschew any product derived from what they view as animal exploitation, for ethical reasons.

Most over-the-counter supplements contain D3, but many prescription forms of vitamin D deliver ergocalciferol. For example, Drisdol, a high-dose formulation of D (50,000 IU) designed for short-term weekly administration to rapidly restore D levels in seriously-deficient patients, is ergocalciferol. Frequently, hospitals stock mostly the D2 kind.

Why It Matters

A recent review (“The case against ergocalciferol (vitamin D2) as a vitamin supplement”) summarizes:

“Pharmacopoeias have officially regarded these two forms as equivalent and interchangeable, yet this presumption of equivalence is based on studies of rickets prevention in infants conducted 70 years ago.”

The authors argue: 

“The case that vitamin D2 should no longer be considered equivalent to vitamin D3 is based on differences in their efficacy at raising serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D, diminished binding of vitamin D2 metabolites to vitamin D binding protein in plasma, and a nonphysiologic metabolism and shorter shelf life of vitamin D2.”

Their verdict: “Vitamin D2, or ergocalciferol, should not be regarded as a nutrient suitable for supplementation or fortification.”

Even More Reason to Take D3

Now a new study provides additional justification for preferring D3. 

Researchers at the University of Surrey, UK, performed a meta-analysis of 11 previously published, randomized-controlled trials on vitamin D supplements, with a total of 655 participants.

They found that D2 supplementation actually lowered levels of body-ready vitamin D3. In many of the studies, the vitamin D3 levels were lower in people taking vitamin D2 than they were in control groups not taking any vitamin D supplements!

This is a never-before reported finding. Moreover, new research suggests D3 and D2 may have qualitatively different impacts on immunity. The D3 kind is said to uniquely stimulate the body’s interferon defense system, that provides a bulwark against bacterial and viral infections. 

With winter coming, and the threat of seasonal illnesses looming, it behooves health authorities to make sure that the millions of Americans at risk for vitamin D insufficiency have access to the reliable, preferred source—vitamin D3.

NTFactor® with Vitamin D3/K2 combines all the benefits of D3 with the cell-restoring power of patented NTFactor® phospholipid blend, in a tasty chewable vanilla wafer.

Festival flu can encompass a range of illnesses from simple summer colds to more serious infections like bronchitis. Sometimes, festival flu isn’t caused by a virus or bacteria, but by environment and activity. According to Dr. Cedric “Jamie” Rutland, a pulmonary and critical care medicine physician and spokesperson for the Lung Association, “It’s usually not a specific illness but a combination of lack of sleep, lack of nutrition screaming, shouting and dehydration.”

The symptoms are as you’d expect: coughing, sneezing, nasal congestion, and watery eyes, and can also include more troublesome symptoms like body aches and fever. Not the way one wants to spend their sunny summer days and nights! 

So, how can you prevent “festival flu”? Here are five tips for staying healthy throughout the summer gathering season:

Start with self-care. When it comes to illness, often the best defense is a good offense. Prioritizing your health on the days you aren’t socializing can go a long way toward helping your body mount its best defense against “festival flu” on the days you are. Both lack of sleep and poor nutrition can have a negative impact on your immune function, while exercise is an immune booster! If you have a busy summer ahead, incorporating healthy habits like proper sleep (7-8 hours per night), regular exercise (30 minutes, 3-5 times per week), and a healthy diet with plentiful fruits and veggies can help ensure your body is functioning at its best when you do encounter environments that put your immune system to the test!  

Supplement ahead of time. While maintaining healthy habits can go a long way toward keeping you well, targeted supplementation provides extra, much-needed protection for your respiratory system. And don’t wait until the day-of! Be proactive in making respiratory support part of your daily routine during the summer months and get ahead of the season’s plethora of allergies and irritants. Quercetin and other bioflavonoids, like those found in BreatheClear with NTFactor®, are key ingredients in reducing inflammation and your body’s allergic response. Quercetin helps to open respiratory passages and reduce sinus congestion, while also lowering the body’s response to histamine to reduce the inflammatory cascade that causes so many of our troubling allergy symptoms. The inclusion of the patented NTFactor lipid blend also fights fatigue naturally by targeting its source: your mitochondria! By providing vital lipids to help maintain your mitochondrial membrane, BreatheClear helps your body generate energy more efficiently, so you can enjoy your summer activities to the fullest! 

Drink up! (No, not like that.) It should go without saying that it’s important to stay hydrated if you’re outside in the summer heat, but quenching your thirst at the beer tent or soda stand can actually have a detrimental effect on your hydration. Both alcohol and caffeine can result in dehydration—especially if you’re already sweating in the sun! Stick with water or electrolyte-laden sports drinks to replenish your body. Not only will staying hydrated help prevent overheating, it also keeps your throat and nasal passages from drying out, and helps replenish the mucus you need to trap and clear inhaled irritants and invaders.

Wash your hands. While proper handwashing (lathering up for at least thirty seconds with soap and warm water) isn’t always an option at outdoor events, it’s still important to keep your hands clean. Hand sanitizer should be amongst your festival essentials—many brands even offer small bottles or cases with clips that attach easily onto a purse or belt loop, so it’s always available when you need to de-germ. And remember, not all sanitizers are created equal; make sure your brand of choice is at least 60% alcohol.

Avoid environmental irritants. This can be one of the hardest factors to control, especially at outdoor venues where folks are more likely to smoke and environmental irritants like pollen abound. Try to choose a spot where you can avoid inhaling others’ smoke—and smoking yourself—as much as possible. Smoke can aggravate and dry out delicate respiratory tissue, making you more vulnerable to coughs even if you don’t have existing respiratory concerns. If you suffer from asthma or allergies, breathing in smoke can be even more dangerous.

Keeping these tips in mind should help you avoid the dreaded “festival flu” this summer, but if you do happen to come down with an illness, be sure to take time to rest and recover. Continue to prioritize your rest, hydration, and nutrition while you recuperate, and consult your physician if symptoms don’t improve or last longer than a week. Fight the temptation to resume your summer fun before you’re feeling fully recovered, both for your own sake (your immune system needs a chance to recharge before you expose yourself to another concert or festival) and for the sake of others (after all, someone passed that festival flu to you!).

When it comes to foods that help you get or stay healthy, most people’s first thoughts turn to the old standards: orange juice and chicken soup. But your options don’t end there! You can work immune-supportive foods into each meal of the day with just a little bit of planning.

Start your day with the aforementioned orange juice—or consider a tropical fruit smoothie. Fruits like papaya and kiwi are packed full of nutrients including vitamin C (double your daily dose in a single papaya), folate and potassium. Papaya provides the added bonus of the digestive enzyme papain, which has anti-inflammatory effects on the body. Mix in a scoop of NTFactor® Lipids Powder to help maintain healthy cellular function and provide a powerful energy boost.

Pair your smoothie with a bowl of plain Greek yogurt to take advantage of the probiotic cultures that give it its signature tanginess, and reap the many benefits of vitamin D. This crucial vitamin helps reduce the body’s production of pro-inflammatory compounds, making you better equipped to fight off respiratory illness so common this time of year.

For lunchtime, turn to veggies. Did you know that red bell peppers contain almost three times as much immune-boosting vitamin C as the lauded oranges? You can even find vitamin C in veggies like broccoli and spinach, making a simple lunchtime salad a great way to pack more of this crucial nutrient into your diet. Top with avocado and garnish with some slivered almonds or sunflower seeds for a dose of powerful antioxidant vitamin E, another important nutrient for maintaining immune function and reducing oxidative stress.

Sunflower seeds are also high in selenium—providing almost half of your daily needs in a single ounce. Studies have linked adequate selenium levels to a supportive effect on the body’s ability to fight viruses.

For a mid-afternoon boost, consider taking a break to enjoy a hot beverage. Soothing green tea will provide potent antioxidants, particularly epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), which has been shown to aid immune function. If you want something with a bit more bite, opt for a spicy turmeric latte—all the rage these days. Turmeric is high in curcumin, which is well established as an anti-inflammatory compound and has shown promise as an immune-supportive compound as well.

For dinner, harken back to that age-old chicken soup recommendation. It turns out, there’s more to it than an old wives’ tale. The meat itself contains vitamin B6, which facilitates the body’s ability to form healthy red blood cells, while chicken stock contains amino acids, collagen, and other nutrients that protect the health of your gut (home of 70% of your immune system). Boost the immune fighting power of soup by adding veggies high in beta carotene (such as sweet potatoes and carrots), or swapping the traditional noodles for beans or lentils, which are high in zinc (shown to support white blood cells). You could also consider adding mushrooms, many of which have health benefits.

Incorporating all these healthy foods into your daily routine is a great way to give your immune system the solid foundation it needs to help you stay hale and healthy this cold and flu season. And don’t forget to include NTFactor® to give your body the energy boost it deserves!

Take a probiotic. As much as 70 percent of the immune system is in the gut – the gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT). Keeping your gastrointestinal tract inoculated with beneficial microbiota is the first order of business in maintaining healthy immunity. 

Tame your sweet tooth. In laboratory experiments, sugar is found to suppress white blood cells – the soldiers of your immune system. Besides its ability to destabilize blood sugar, it is also an antinutrient, capable of causing deficiencies in B vitamins and magnesium. 

Get your Zzzzz’s. Not getting enough shut-eye is another notorious immune system suppressor. If you regularly get less than six hours of sleep a night, you may be more prone to catching a cold this season. Resolve to get seven to eight hours of sleep every night because rest and repair are critical for an optimally functioning immune system. And a nice side effect to getting enough sleep is diminished food cravings. 

Exercise, but don’t overdo it. The benefits of exercise are indisputable for good health and overall wellness. But too much exercise has its downside. Elite athletes and marathoners are more prone to colds and flu because all that training hampers the immune system. Also, if you already have a cold, exercising when you shouldn’t may prolong your rehab. When you’re sick, you need rest, not a six-mile run. 

Last but not least, take some immune-enhancing supplements: Vitamin C, zinc, and olive leaf extract are mainstays during cold and flu season. Take with your meals for optimal absorption.

To your health! 

Leyla Muedin, MS, RD, CDN 

That means eating a good diet high in fruits and vegetables, getting 7-8 hours of sleep per night, exercising, frequently washing your hands, and minimizing stress.

Sounds simple, right?

Unfortunately, many times daily life gets in the way. The kids have soccer practice, dinners get cut short, we don’t have time to prepare that well-balanced meal we intended. Work deadlines get moved up, financial worries arise, exercise time gets cut short… The list goes on and on, and our best intentions to keep our immune system balanced get sidelined.

When we lose our ability to keep our immune system performing at its best, it can lead to all sorts of issues, from increased fatigue, colds, intestinal issues, and infections. Everything we are trying to avoid.

Thankfully there are things we can do to help boost our immune system. Studies have shown that as we age, it becomes more challenging to meet our complex dietary needs through diet alone.  The good news is, there is help; by adding nutrients, vitamins, and mineral supplements, you can support good health and boost your immune system.

Propax with NTFactor® by Nutritional Therapeutics was created to do just that. It provides a complete nutritional system for your body for when your busy life gets in the way.  The benefits of Propax with NTFactor® start with the unique power of NTFactor® Blend, which works at the cellular level to repair and restore damaged cell membranes—the first step to making sure your body has the energy to support a well-balanced immune system.

Recent research has identified how important a healthy gut is to a balanced immune system. Propax includes both pre and probiotics to help maintain that healthy gut, making Propax with NTFactor® one of the most complete nutritional supplements on the market.

Our complete nutritional system provides all the vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and powerful antioxidants needed to boost your immune system including vitamin C, vitamin B6, and vitamin E as well as vitamin A, vitamin D, folic acid, selenium, and zinc.

Make Propax with NTFactor® part of your health regimen today, and give your body the nutrition it needs to keep you healthy and active all year long.

The advice we don’t see as often: get some sun!

But perhaps we should. Vitamin D3 is also crucial to bolstering our body’s immune response. There are some ways to work more vitamin D3 into your diet—fatty fish such as tuna or salmon, along with cheese, eggs, or foods fortified with vitamin D3 such as dairy products, some cereals, or even good ol’ fortified o.j. are a few of the ways to consume more vitamin D3. 

The most common way we get vitamin D3, though, doesn’t come from what we put into our bodies but what gets onto it: sunlight. When we’re exposed to sunlight, the cholesterol in our skin cells generates vitamin D3. But therein lies the rub: As our lives have gotten busier and busier—and more focused on working at our desks or bingeing Netflix on our sofas—many of us have seen a drop in sun exposure. As a result, more and more of us are at risk of low levels of vitamin D3.

With the COVID-19 pandemic sending so many of us indoors to work from home, socialize at home, dine at home, exercise in our homes—you get the idea—sun exposure has gotten even lower for most of us.

And that’s a problem, because vitamin D3 deficiency can lead to a host of health problems. Low vitamin D3 has been linked to everything from rickets to an increase in respiratory infections such as pneumonia and bronchitis, and this important vitamin plays a crucial role in keeping our immune system healthy. 

So what can we do?

If you’re lucky enough to have a yard where you can soak up some sun while maintaining safe social distance from others, you may want to make a point to spend a little time there each day. (It’ll help with the cabin fever, too!) You may also want to add some of the aforementioned foods to your cart on your next grocery shop. But for some, especially those who already tend toward low vitamin D3, that may not be enough to close the gap to optimal levels.

That’s why it’s important to take a high-quality vitamin D3 supplement, especially if you’re going to be spending a lot of time indoors and out of the sun. For most people, 1000-4000 IU daily is enough to achieve optimal vitamin D3 levels, and you should not take more than 4000 IU per day without consulting with your health professional.

Bring a little artificial sunshine to your medicine cabinet with NTFactor® with D3/K2.