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People who get enough vitamin D have a 52 percent lower risk of dying from COVID-19 than people who are deficient in the ‘sunshine vitamin’, new research reveals.
Vitamin D plays a crucial role in the immune system and can fight inflammation. These characteristics can make you a key player in the body’s fight against coronavirus.
Rates of vitamin D deficiency are also higher in some of the same groups that have been hardest hit by the coronavirus: people of color and the elderly. It is by no means a causal link, but it does suggest that vitamin D could play a role in who gets COVI-19, who gets the sickest, and who is saved entirely.
Dr. Michael Holick of Boston University found in his previous research that people who have enough vitamin D are 54 percent less likely to get coronavirus in the first place.
After that work, he and his team have found that people who don’t get enough vitamin are much more likely to become seriously ill, develop sepsis, or even die after contracting the coronavirus.
Because vitamin D deficiency is common in people with other illnesses that increase coronavirus risks, it’s impossible to say exactly how many lives would be saved if we all got our daily dose of the sun vitamin.
But we do know that about 42 percent of the U.S. population is deficient in vitamin D. If that rate were true for the more than 203,000 Americans who died from coronavirus, perhaps about 85,000 would have done better with improved levels of vitamin D. vitamin D.
Whether or not vitamin D supplements should be taken to reduce coronavirus risks is controversial, but getting enough of the ‘sunshine vitamin’ plays a role in the immune system’s ability to fight infections and keep inflammation from spiraling out of control. . New Research Suggests COVID-19 Patients Who Get Enough Vitamin D Are 52% Less Likely To Die From Infection (Archive)
“This study provides direct evidence that vitamin D sufficiency can reduce complications, including cytokine storm (releasing too much protein into the blood too quickly) and ultimately death from COVID-19,” said the Dr. Holick.
Dr. Holick and his colleagues took blood samples from 235 patients admitted to Tehran hospitals for COVID-19.
Overall, 67 percent of the 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 considered sufficient. Anything below that is “insufficient” but will not necessarily have far-reaching health consequences, while levels below 20 ng / ml are considered “deficient”.
In the US, an estimated 42 percent of people are deficient in vitamin D, but the rate varies considerably based on demographics.
About 60 percent of older people who live in nursing homes, for example, are believed to be deficient in vitamin D.
The most likely explanation is that they simply spend too much time indoors.
Sunlight is our main source of vitamin D.
When we are exposed to ultraviolet (UV) radiation in the sun’s rays, it reacts with the cholesterol in our skin, triggering the production of vitamin D.
In an increasingly inner world, rates of vitamin D deficiency have increased.
PEOPLE WITH LOW VITAMIN D ARE WORSE AGAINST COVID-19 BY ALMOST ANY MEASURES
Among the patients in the BU study, those with sufficient levels of vitamin D in their blood were less likely to have dangerously low blood oxygen levels and were more likely to be conscious when they arrived at hospitals.
Patients with low vitamin D levels were 46 percent more likely to need to be intubated or to develop acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), the lung failure condition that is fatal to many COVID-19 patients.
Patients with vitamin D deficiency also had higher levels of C-reactive protein, a likely early marker of severe COVID-19, and low white blood cell counts, a bad sign for their immune systems.
Although no one in the study under the age of 40 died, deaths (red) were more common among people with vitamin D deficiency (below the black line) of all ages
Overall, 74 percent of the patients, who were between the ages of 30 and 90, developed severe COVID-19.
But the rate among people with enough vitamin D was lower: About 64 percent had a serious illness.
All patients under 40 years of age included in the study survived COVID-19.
But 16.3 percent of those in their 40s or older – 38 people – eventually died of coronavirus.
That included just 9.7 percent of those with sufficient vitamin D levels, while 20 percent of those with low levels of the vitamin died.
Furthermore, those with particularly high levels of vitamin D (40 ng / ml) had the lowest risk of death, with only 6.3 percent of that group dying.
HOW VITAMIN D HELPS THE BODY FIGHT INFECTIONS
Vitamin D is a common ingredient in many processes of the immune system.
To name a few: it helps immune cells bind to their target pathogens, regulates killer T cells, which go after everything from bacteria to cancer, and, perhaps most importantly, it helps balance ‘good’ inflammation, as immune cells flood. a site of infection and “bad” inflammation that gets out of control and begins to attack healthy cells.
In particular, it moderates cytokines, the immune proteins that are unleashed in a fatal ‘storm’ in many coronavirus patients.
‘In fact, the anti-inflammatory role of 1,25 (OH) 2D’, the chemical name for the vitamin, ‘could explain the protective role of vitamin D against immune hyperreaction and cytokine storm in a subgroup of patients with Severe COVID. 19, ‘wrote the study authors.
GROUPS HARDLY HIT BY CORONAVIRUS ALSO HAVE HIGH RATES OF VITAMIN D DEFICIENCY
Vitamin D deficiency is common in groups with chronic conditions including heart disease and obesity, which are also more vulnerable to COVID-19. However, analyzing whether vitamin deficiency is a factor that leads to these conditions or vice versa is complicated, and scientists are still working to find answers.
Nutrient deficiency is also common in people of color. In fact, about 76 percent, vitamin D deficiency is nearly twice as common among African Americans as it is among whites in the United States.
The higher levels of melanin in the skin of black and brown people make it harder for their bodies to absorb the vitamin.
These groups have been disproportionately affected by the coronavirus, both in terms of cases and deaths.
Because the sun is a key element for the production of vitamin D, the BU researchers saw an additional parallel with the coronavirus: time.
‘It is notable that the COVID-19 outbreak started during the winter. In 1981, a “seasonal stimulus: hypotheses to explain influenza A epidemics around the winter solstice was suggested. The biology, physiology and epidemiology of vitamin D point to vitamin D as a likely candidate for the” seasonal stimulus since that blood levels of 25 (OH) D are lower at the end of winter, ”wrote the study authors, referring to the last major pandemic seen in the world, the Spanish flu.
Mayo Clinic experts recommend consuming at least 600 IU of vitamin D daily, either through the sun or from supplements. In general, it is considered safe to take up to 2000 IU a day, but anyone who has or is at risk for kidney disease should not do so, as overuse can damage the kidneys and cause stones and other problems.
Taking too much can also raise calcium levels, cause a number of digestive problems, and can lead to bone loss in some cases, and scientists still don’t know exactly what the optimal level of vitamin D is or how much is too much. .
