Can I reduce the risk of COVID-19 mortality by 52% by getting enough vitamin D?

According to a new study, people who get enough vitamin D have a 52% lower risk of dying COVID-19 than people who are deficient in “sunshine vitamins.”

Vitamin D plays an important role in the immune system and may fight inflammation. These features make it a major player in the fight against the body Coronavirus..

The incidence of vitamin D deficiency is also higher in some of the same groups that have been hit hardest by the coronavirus: colored people and the elderly. It’s by no means causal, but it suggests that vitamin D may play a role in those who get COVI-19, then get sick, and who are completely saved.

In a previous study, Dr. Michael Holic of Boston University found that people with sufficient vitamin D were 54% less likely to get the coronavirus in the first place.

Following that study, he and his team found that people who did not get enough vitamins were much more likely to become severely ill, develop sepsis, or die after being infected with the coronavirus. did.

Vitamin D deficiency is common in people with other diseases that pose a risk of coronavirus, so it is impossible to say exactly how much life can be saved by taking daily sunbathing vitamins. ..

However, we know that about 42% of the US population has vitamin D deficiency. If that rate applies to more 203,000 Americans who died of the coronavirus, perhaps 85,000 would have been better off with improved vitamin D levels.

“This study is direct evidence that vitamin D supplementation can reduce complications such as cytokine storms (the release of too many proteins into the blood too quickly) and ultimately death from COVID-19. “We provide,” said Dr. Holick.

Dr. Holick and his colleagues took blood samples from 235 patients admitted to a hospital in Tehran for COVID-19.

Overall, 67% of patients had vitamin D levels below 30 ng / mL.

There is no clear marker for the ideal level of vitamin D, but 30 ng / mL is sufficient. Levels below 20 ng / mL are considered “insufficient”, while those below it are “insufficient” but do not necessarily have widespread health effects.

In the United States, an estimated 42% of people have vitamin D deficiency, the proportion of which varies widely with demographics.

For example, about 60% of the elderly living in special nursing homes are thought to be deficient in vitamin D.

The most likely explanation is that they simply spend too much time indoors.

Sunlight is a major source of vitamin D.

When exposed to the ultraviolet rays (UV) of sunlight, it reacts with cholesterol in the skin, causing the production of vitamin D.

In an increasingly indoor world, the rate of vitamin D deficiency is rising.

People with lower levels of vitamin D intake for COVID-19

Patients in the BU study who had adequate blood levels of vitamin D were less likely to have dangerously low blood oxygen levels and tended to become more conscious when they arrived at the hospital.

Patients with low levels of vitamin D may need to be intubated or develop acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), a pulmonary insufficiency that has proven fatal to many COVID-19 patients. It is 46% higher.

Patients with vitamin D deficiency also have high levels of C-reactive protein, are likely to be early markers of severe COVID-19, and have low white blood cell counts-a bad sign of their immune system.

Overall, 74% of patients in their 30s to 90s developed severe COVID-19.

However, the proportion of people who were getting enough vitamin D was low, with about 64% being severely ill.

All patients under the age of 40 included in the study survived COVID-19.

However, 16.3% (38 people) over the age of 40 eventually died of the coronavirus.

This included only 9.7% of people with sufficient vitamin D levels and 20% of people with low vitamin D levels died.

In addition, patients with particularly high vitamin D levels (40 ng / mL) have the lowest risk of death, with only 6.3% of the group dying.

How Vitamin D Helps Body Infections

Vitamin D is a component common to many immune system processes.

To name a few, it helps immune cells bind to target pathogens, regulates killer T cells that chase everything from bacteria to cancer, and perhaps most importantly, “good” when immune cells overflow. “It helps to balance the inflammation, the site of infection, and the” bad “inflammation, which moves the hay and begins to attack healthy cells.

In particular, it relieves cytokines, immune proteins that cause the deadly “storm” in many coronavirus patients.

“Certainly, the anti-inflammatory effect of 1,25 (OH) 2D”-the chemical name of vitamins-“can explain the protective effect of vitamin D against immunosensitivity and cytokine storms in a subgroup of patients with severe COVID19, ‘The research author wrote.

The group struggling with CORONAVIRUS also has a higher incidence of vitamin D deficiency

Vitamin D deficiency is common in groups with chronic illnesses such as heart disease and obesity, and is also vulnerable to COVID-19. However, analyzing whether vitamin deficiency is a factor leading to these conditions and vice versa is complex, and scientists are still working towards the answer.

Nutritional deficiency is also common in people of color. In fact, about 76% of vitamin D deficiencies are nearly twice as high in black Americans as in American whites.

The higher the melanin level in the skin of blacks and browns, the harder it is for the body to absorb vitamins.

These groups have been disproportionately hit by the coronavirus, both in terms of number of cases and deaths.

Since the sun is an important factor in vitamin D production, BU researchers have seen the timing of adding to the coronavirus.

“It is noteworthy that the outbreak of COVID-19 began in winter. In 1981,” Seasonal stimulus: a hypothesis was proposed to explain the influenza A epidemic around the winter solstice. Vitamin D biology, Physiology, and epidemiology refer to Vitamin D as a promising candidate for “seasonal stimulation” from the blood. Levels of 25 (OH) D are lowest at the end of winter, “the study author wrote, referring to the Spanish flu, the last major pandemic the world has seen.

Mayo Clinic experts recommend taking at least 600 IU of vitamin D daily, both in sunlight and in supplements. It is generally considered safe to take up to 2,000 IU per day, but it should not be taken by people with or at risk of kidney disease. Overload can harm the kidneys and cause stones and other problems.

Overdose can increase calcium levels, cause many digestive problems, and in some cases lead to bone loss. Scientists still don’t know what the optimal levels of vitamin D are, or how much they are.