With some 15-hundred cases of mumps reported statewide this year, many people are flocking to clinics for booster shots, but one health professional says they should think twice before getting stuck. Doctor Chad Rohlfsen, a chiropractor in Johnston, is giving lectures on the risks of such vaccines. Rohlfsen says eating right is one of the best ways to stave off health trouble.
Rohlfsen says “If you’re not eating your basics, which means fruits and vegetables and the amount of protein that you need and whole-grain foods in your diet, you’re going to be more susceptible to this stuff.” He says some people are on diets that limit their intake of certain vital nutrients, others might not be able to afford to eat right while others just submit to the craving to eat junk.
Rohlfsen says popping vitamin pills won’t help either. Rohlfsen says there’s no “magic bullet” from loading up on zinc or vitamin-C, which can boost the immune system, but he says it all just comes down to getting a proper diet.
As a chiropractor, Rohlfsen says it’s not his role to recommend against people getting vaccinated, but he says they should go into the decision fully informed. He says to ask your medical doctor about the risks of the M-M-R (measles, mumps, rubella) shot. He says some of the side effects include: chronic ear infections, multiple sclerosis, seizures, adult-onset diabetes, encephalitis and even death.
Aside from that, Rohlfsen says it’s clear the vaccine doesn’t guarantee the recipient won’t get mumps, as many of the Iowa adults who got the disease this year had already been vaccinated years ago. He says the only way to have permanent immunity is to have had the disease before.