Note to flu-phobes: Vitamin D is your friend

With the advent of the dreaded(?) H1N1 virus, Vitamin D is popping up in the news again as a hot-topic flu-fighter (see this article). Ever the sceptic, my first question (after “Really?”) was “How exactly?”

As it turns out, the vitamin in question is purportedly not your average vitamin. It’s a secosteroid (a steroid where one of the bonds has been broken). Most other vitamins aren’t, and so the behaviour is a bit different.