Good levels of vitamin D, the so-called sun vitamin, help people fight the coronavirus faster and more effectively and reduce the chances of hospitalization, Israeli researchers concluded.
However, others are drawing broad conclusions, saying that other factors may be involved.
Milana Frenkel-Morgenstern of Bar Ilan University told The Times of Israel on Sunday that vitamin D is “like a steroid,” after publishing what she says is the world’s largest population study of this type. .
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He embarked on the joint study with Leumit Health Services to investigate whether there is a basis for suggestions, heard during the pandemic, that vitamin D may be helpful.
His team studied a strong sample of 7,807 Israelis who were tested for the coronavirus. She found that the average vitamin D level for those who tested negative was in the internationally accepted “adequate” range, while the average for those who tested positive fell into the “inadequate” category.
Vitamin D levels of less than 20 nanograms per milliliter of blood are considered inadequate.
Frenkel-Morgenstern said that the people in his sample who tested negative were, on average, within the proper range, showing an average vitamin D count of 21 nanograms per milliliter. Those who tested positive were, on average, below the appropriate level, with an average vitamin D count of 19 nanograms per milliliter.
A Magen David Adom doctor wearing protective clothing with a coronavirus patient outside the coronavirus unit at the Ziv Medical Center in Sefad on July 19, 2020. (David Cohen / Flash90)
People who were hospitalized after their test had a lower average vitamin D count: 17 nanograms per milliliter.
The recently peer-reviewed study published in The FEBS Journal compared people who tested negative to those who ended up positive and hospitalized, and reported a large difference in vitamin D levels.
Frenkel-Morgenstern said people who studied age 50 and older were twice as likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 if they had low vitamin D levels compared to people of a similar age with good vitamin D levels.
People 25 to 49 years old with low vitamin D levels were 1.45 times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 than others their age, he said.
An illustration from recently published Israeli research on vitamin D and coronaviruses (courtesy of Milana Frenkel-Morgenstern)
Vitamin D levels below the recommended level, classified as deficiency or, less severe, insufficiency, are very common, with an estimated 1 billion people worldwide being vitamin D deficient and 50 percent of the population. has a insufficiency. Frenkel-Morgenstern said his research suggests that about 70 percent of Israelis have low vitamin D levels.
Frenkel-Morgenstern, director of the Bar Ilan University Complex Disease Biocomputing Laboratory, does not believe that vitamin D prevents people from contracting the coronavirus, but believes that it increases the body’s ability to fight it once infected. She said her results reflect vitamin D, which helps some people experience the virus relatively lightly and stay out of the hospital, and others who get rid of the virus before getting tested.
Frenkel-Morgenstern said it is urgent, in the middle of the pandemic, that people increase their vitamin D levels, since the prevalence of low levels is widespread.
She stated that her findings should guide public policy. Ironically, she said, coronavirus blockages and a culture of people that prevent unnecessary exits have actually contributed to low levels of vitamin D that are putting people at risk.
Normally, most of vitamin D is absorbed through the skin, from sunlight. “The problem now is that people stay indoors or in cars all day, they don’t go to the beaches, they aren’t exposed to the sun,” he said, adding that he believes the best action people can take is to make sure spending time outdoors.
Milana Frenkel-Morgenstern, director of the Bar Ilan University Laboratory for the biocomputing of complex diseases (courtesy of Bar Ilan University)
He argued that authorities should take vitamin D needs into account in future restrictions and avoid closing public outdoor spaces, such as nature reserves and beaches, as happened during the closure from March to April. “This is why it is so important not to close the beaches in any future blockages,” he said. “People should go to the sun, to the sea.”
There are increasing suggestions internationally that good levels of vitamin D, long thought to have a variety of health benefits, help people cope with the coronavirus. A recent German study concluded that “much more attention needs to be paid to the importance of vitamin D status for the development and course of the disease.”
The research sample of the Israeli study consisted of 782 COVID-19 positive patients and 7,025 COVID-19 negative patients, who are members of Leumit Health Services, an Israeli HMO.
Leumit was involved in the research process, and his chief of managed care, Eugene Merzon, said he resists scrutiny “even after adjusting for age, gender, socioeconomic status, and chronic mental and physical disorders.”
But Ella Sklan, director of a molecular virology laboratory at Tel Aviv University, which is unrelated to the study, told The Times of Israel that she believes people should keep the results of vitamin D research in perspective. .
She said the vitamin is good for the immune system and that she urges her mother to take it, but she believes studies that advertise its benefits for the coronavirus may be reflecting other variables. Sklan gave the example of physical activity, saying that a person with high levels of vitamin D could well do more exercise, and exercise could be affecting health.
“People want to find something magical that will change everyone’s life now, but I wouldn’t trust this thought,” said Sklan.
