We are still engulfed in the difficult COVID-19 situation. So many people are directly affected by it. Many lives have been lost. Sadly many people had underlying conditions that caused their survival rate to be more difficult. With the possibilities of our economy starting up again, many will not continue to use gloves and face masks. I hope businesses will enforce this as well as staying a distance away from others.We have to stop this vicious virus from spreading further.
While many people take vitamin D as part of their daily supplement routine, recent research indicates that this vitamin can reduce the risk of influenza and COVID-19 as well as death.
The world is now experiencing its third major epidemic of coronavirus (COV) infections. A new COV infection epidemic began in Wuhan, Hubei, China, in late 2019, originally called 2019-nCoV and renamed COVID-19 by the World Health Organization on February 11, 2019. Previous CoV epidemics include severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-CoV, which started in China in 2002 and the ongoing Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS)-CoV in the Middle East, first reported in 2012. Those epidemics all began with animal-to-human infection. the direct cause of death is generally due to ensuing severe atypical pneumonia. Human-to-human contact now spreads this virus and it is spreading rapidly.
A review published in Nutrients states that the roles of vitamin D in reducing the risk of respiratory tract infections, knowledge about the epidemiology of influenza and COVID-19, and how vitamin D supplementation might be a useful measure to reduce risk. Through several mechanisms, vitamin D can reduce risk of infections. Those mechanisms include inducing what is known as cathelicidins and defensins that can lower viral replication rates and reducing concentrations of pro-inflammatory cytokines that produce the inflammation that injures the lining of the lungs, leading to pneumonia, as well as increasing concentrations of anti-inflammatory cytokines. Several observational studies and clinical trials reporting that vitamin D supplementation reduced the risk of influenza, whereas others did not. Evidence supporting the role of vitamin D in reducing risk of COVID-19 includes that the outbreak occurred in winter, a time when 15-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentrations are lowest, that the number of cases in the Southern Hemisphere near the end of summer are low, that vitamin D deficiency has been found to contribute to acute respiratory distress syndrome; and that case-fatality rates increase with age and with chronic disease comorbidity, both of which are associated with lower 25(OH)D concentration. To reduce the risk of infection, it is recommended that people at risk of influenza and/or COVID-19 consider taking 10,000 IU/d vitamin D3 (the 3 should be small case, I don’t have the option to do that) for a few weeks to rapidly raise 25(OH)D concentrations, followed by 5000 IU/d. The goal should be to raise 25(OH)D concentrations above 40-60 ng/ml. (100-150 nmol/L). For treatment of people who become infected with COVID-19, higher vitamin D3 doses might be useful. Randomized controlled trials and large population studies should be conducted to evaluate these recommendations. HIgher amounts are available through prescription.
Vitamin D and Mechanisms to Reduce Microbial Infections.
In general metabolism and actions of vitamin D are well known. Vitamin D3 is produced in the skin through the action of UVB radiation reaching 7-dehydrocholesterol in the skin, followed by a thermal reaction. That vitamin D3 or oral vitamin D is converted to 25(OH)D in the liver and then to the hormonal metabolite, 1,25(OH)2D (calcitriol), in the kidneys or other organs as needed. Most of vitamin D’s effect arise from calcitriol entering the nuclear vitamin D receptor, a DNA binding protein that interacts directly with regulatory sequences near target genes and that recruits chromatin active complexes that participate genetically and epigenetically in modifying transcriptional output. A well-known function of calcitriol is to help regulate serum (blood) calcium concentrations, which it does in a feedback loop with parathyroid hormone (PTH), which itself has many important functions in the body.
Vitamin D Has Many Mechanisms by Which it Reduces the Risk of Microbial Infection and Death.
A recent review regarding the role of vitamin D in reducing the risk of the common cold grouped those mechanisms into three categories: physical barrier, cellular natural immunity, and adaptive immunity.
Vitamin D also enhances cellular immunity, in part by reducing the cytokine storm induced by the innate immune system. The innate immune system generates both pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines in response to viral and bacterial infections, as observed in COVID-19 patients. Vitamin D can reduce the production of pro-inflammatory Th1 cytokines. Administering vitamin D reduces the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines and increase the expression of anti-inflammatory cytokines by macrophages and references therein.
Serum 25(OH)D concentrations tend to decrease with age, which may be important for COVID-19 because case-fatality rates (CFRs) increase with age. Reasons include less time spent in the sun and reduced production of vitamin D as a result of lower levels of 7-dehydrocholesterol in the skin.
The optimal vitamin D status, as defined by serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D), is still controversial. Some individuals are at risk for subclinical vitamin D deficiency, as defined by serum 25(OH)D levels between 25 and 75 nmol/L, and up to 80-100% of the entire population can display inadequate serum 25(OH)D values depending on latitude and the seasons. The clinical manifestation of extreme vitamin D deficiency, i.e. rickets and osteomalacia, are rare. Levels of 25(OH)D plus or minus 50 nmol/L are required for optimal musculoskeletal health. However, levels of 25(OH)D above 75 nmol/L may be necessary to maximize musculoskeletal benefits and take advantage of the extraskelatal actions of vitamin D.
OTHER BENEFITS OF VITAMIN D:
Healthy vitamin D levels can slow bone loss. It also helps ward off osteoporosis and lowers your chance of broken bones. Doctors use vitamin D to treat osteomalacia. That’s a condition that causes soft bones, bone loss, and bone pain.
Scientists are still figuring out exactly how well vitamin D can treat or even keep you from getting the virus. One study showed taking vitamin D drops in the winter helped lower the number of Japanese school children who got the flu. It’s clear it’s an important part of a healthy immune system. Your body can’t fight germs well if it doesn’t have enough.
It is difficult to get enough vitamin D from food alone.
Eating a well-balanced diet is important for good health and is advisable even when people aren’t facing a pandemic disease outbreak.
It can include vitamin D rich foods such as oily fish and eggs. Some breakfast cereals and other foods.
Getting enough vitamin D from sun is very difficult. Many of us in sunny climates are concerned with skin cancers from sun exposures. So we cover up and wear lots of quality sunscreens.
Before starting a supplement have your blood levels taken through your doctor. Have your doctor or alternative medicinal doctor advise you as too how much you should be taking and retest periodically.
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