Book Review: Flu Fighters: How to win the cold war by boosting your natural immunity with non-toxic nutrients
Although the title talks about the ‘cold war,’ but make no mistake, Flu Fighters by Patrick Holford is about strengthening your immune system so that if you do succumb to a viral infection – including COVID-19 – you will recover faster and suffer for fewer days.
Most importantly of all, this book focuses on a range of readily available and affordable nutrients, with a special emphasis on vitamin C.
Flu Fighters was first published on 1st April 2020, in the early stages of the first lockdown. Since then, evidence continues to showcase how vitamin C can be used successfully to reduce symptoms and potentially saving lives.
My introduction may make it sound as if Flu Fighters is a heavyweight manual, but it is not. Yes, there are reference to studies and facts and figures to be digested, by Patrick has intentionally written this little paperback in a way that can be easily understood by most people. Should you be eager to explore more detailed scientific information, there are 163 references and sources of information featured in the appendix
The comparative ease of reading is extremely important because most of us will be aware that vitamin C and vitamin D, for example, are essential vitamins, but how many of us know how they really work? And how many of us know how much we should take?
Patrick stresses that he is not against drugs or vaccines, but there is a palpable frustration that affordable and safe vitamins are being ignored by mainstream medical practitioners and the Government.
The last two chapters of Flu Fighters features, respectively, a suggested diet and supplementation programme, and some optimum nutrition recipes. There is also an appendix with a very useful list of resources.
Chapter 9, Surviving Respiratory Distress, discusses the most acute cases of respiratory distress. Most flu deaths, and flu includes coronavirus, is not from the virus itself but from the Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) it causes. Patrick explains how Vitamin C reverses ARDS and that intravenous vitamin C is being given to COVID-19 patients in China and Italy. Having explained how these treatments have been used and how effective they have been, he says (remember, this book was published on 1st April):
“Let’s hope this becomes standard treatment very quickly as COVID-19 spreads across humanity with devasting results.”
I read this sentence less than a week after I lost a family member to COVID and the death toll in the UK exceeded 100,000. I was sad and so very, angry because, 9 months later, and despite a huge campaign, the benefits of vitamin C for the most seriously ill COVID patients is still being largely ignored. Vitamin C is just not sexy, and neither is it going to line the pockets of any pharmaceutical company.
Nonetheless, that does not stop you taking action to look after yourself and your loved ones. And let’s face it, although the vaccination programme may help us get back to some sort of normality, COVID is not going to go away any time soon.
I urge you to read Flu Fighters by Patrick Holford, take note of the supplementation that is recommended on an ongoing basis and, most importantly, ensure you know what action to take if you do get bad symptoms of a cold, flu, or COVID-19.