The Natural Way to Prevent Winter Bugs
Flu Season
It’s winter! The weather gets colder and wetter, the days get shorter, there’s far less sunshine. It sounds rather bleak doesn’t it? Yet, there’s also a lot going on at this time of year, the sorts of things you don’t want to be missing out on. Our immune systems work particularly hard to try and keep us healthy but it’s harder right now. Weather we’re on the tube, on the train, on the bus, in a shop, in a stuffy classroom at school, all that can be heard is the sound of sniffing and coughing all day long. You really do feel like you are in the firing line, and you are inevitably going to end up getting something, if not you then your children.
The Natural Way
Research shows that most of us just wait until we get ill before we do anything about it. Then, when it’s too late, we are forced into taking some form of pain relief, something else to soothe our throats, and then a further medicine to stop our coughs. So many medicines and so much scepticism over whether they even work. But what if we were to boost our immune systems naturally? What if there was a fruit that was available that we could consume in a concentrated form that would not only ward off 10 different strains of the influenza virus but, if we were unlucky enough to get ill in the first place, reduce the duration of the symptoms to 3 to 4 days[i][ii]. Now that sounds like a deal to me.
Easy To Administer
Have you heard of the natural anti-viral Sambucol? It is simply black elderberry concentrate, with added immune-boosting nutrients. I came across Sambucol many years ago. The reason I started to use it was that I was looking for something that my children were willing to swallow that would actively boost their immune system. Sambucol comes in a concentrated liquid form, effervescent tablets or pastilles. That means that whatever anybody’s objections to taking immune boosting substances on board, there is a solution in this range for everyone. As soon as we enter this seasonal greyness, and we or the children start to feel like we are in the firing line for all the bugs currently floating around at work or school, we bring out the Sambucol. It is our go-to seasonal protector. The children choose to take their spoonsful of the liquid concentrate every single morning. No objections. It’s a miracle! I say that from the experience of a mother who struggles to get one of her children to swallow pills of any form. I’m sure you have been there too.
Well Researched
As a nutritionist I am interested in ensuring that what my children consume is of benefit to them and to their overall wellbeing and of course will do them no harm, so if they’re going to be taking any form of supplement it will always be well researched by me. The research on black elderberry is extremely encouraging. Whether you’re an advocate of Hippocrates who it is claimed called the elderberry his “medicine chest” or whether you prefer scientific studies there seems to be enough evidence to make this a very well-considered supplement choice. The studies range from early, small scale such as one carried out in 1995 on flu sufferers showing a shortening of the length of suffering from flu-related symptoms[iii] to more recent and larger studies such as one carried out in 2016 showing a shortening of the suffering of those contracting colds whilst flying from Australia to overseas destinations[iv].
Why Sambucol?
In addition to the actions of the black elderberry content of Sambucol there are also added vitamins and minerals, carefully selected to boost immunity. Whilst most products have added zinc and vitamin C, the liquid my 14 year old daughter takes also contains vitamin D, vitamin B6, copper, selenium, folic acid and beta-carotene. Furthermore, what pleases me no end is the absence of artificial flavours and colours. To my mind these factors combined make Sambucol a must have item for this time of year.
Prevention and shortening of cold and flu symptoms is not only possible but also accessible in an easy to administer form. It is certainly something I recommend to families during the colder months when flu is naturally more prevalent. Who wants to be ill at this time of year? There’s too much fun to miss out on.
If you’d like to buy Sambucol for your family then you can check out the range of products at Boots.com
[i] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11399518
[ii] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15080016