MADISON, Wis. — In the headlines recently, America's leading infectious disease physician Dr. Anthony Fauci spoke highly about taking certain vitamins to help support his immune system and fight the threat of COVID-19.
UW Health Chief Quality and Safety Officer Dr. Jeff Pothof knows one of Dr. Fauci's favorite supplements — vitamin D — provides important benefits for your Wisconsin-based immune system.
"Those of us up here in the north, typically get less hours of sunlight per year than say those in the south, sunlight hitting our skin is one of the ways that our body makes its own vitamin D," Dr. Pothof said. "So vitamin D supplementation, for those who maybe don't get enough sunlight, can be a benefit to the immune system," he added.
Dr. Pothof said Vitamin C is also important for revving up your immune system, but you probably get plenty of it already.
"Probably the most common vitamin that we hear about, we know that if we don't get enough vitamin C, we get scurvy, you know when we think of you know pirates and things like that any minds, but for the most part, especially the United States so people who have a good diet diet that includes some citrus, they often don't have deficits in vitamin C," he said.
But before you rush out to buy some of either vitamin or zinc, another popular supplement, Dr. Pothof said you should talk with your doctor about getting your levels checked.
He also encourages you to steer clear of holistic supplements or botanicals.
"So for the most part we typically caution away from some of these are more organic remedies that certainly have effect but they all sit and think can often come with side effects that are just not well understood," he said.
Dr. Pothof also encourages you to stick to supplement recommendations and never take more than on the label.
"What you don't want to do is think that if it tells me to take two tabs and I take eight I've done something good. That's not true. If anything, you've wasted some tabs, worst case scenario you've taken too much, you may have side effects," he said.
Meanwhile, Dr. Pothof encourages you to eat the rainbow of healthy veggies and fruits and pay attention to your diet.
"And if you're getting all of these nutrients through foods, that is by far and away the better way to ensure that your immune systems are ready to fight a threat like COVID-19," he said.