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Vitamin D Insufficiency is Prevalent in Severe Covid-19

medrxiv.org

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Re: Vitamin D Insufficiency is Prevalent in Severe Covid-19

#11

Post by derekp7 »

mindcrime wrote: post #8

Interesting thing... Vitamin D is one of those things that, when vitamins come up on HN, you will often hear the refrain that "it's the one vitamin that large numbers of people are actually deficient in and ought to supplement." I've heard that many times over the years and I have taken a Vitamin D supplement on and off (more off than on) over the years. When this COVID-19 thing first hit, I had a physical scheduled…

For generally fighting off viruses, I wonder if Vitamin D is the reason why many colds / flues tend to peak in the winter months and subside over the summer.

Re: Vitamin D Insufficiency is Prevalent in Severe Covid-19

#12

Post by teilo »

lidHanteyk wrote: post #10
dontbenebby wrote: post #7

Is there any evidence multivitamins are harmful (not just that there's no proof they help improve health?) It's because of stuff like this I take one. Maybe I'm wasting money, but absent a harm I feel it's worth it to hedge my bets.

Yes, vitamin D is well-known to be harmful in excess [0] and to be fat-soluble, meaning that it can build up gradually over time. You might not hear of such conditions very often, though, since getting excess vitamin D usually takes effort. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_D#Excess

It takes a LOT of effort. Like in excess of 50K UI a day for months. And then it needs co-factors to do harm, like excess calcium intake along with a K2-MK7 deficiency and/or a potassium deficiency (both of which are, unfortunately, very common). All in all, it's a very complex system that interacts with the body's buffering mechanisms.

Re: Vitamin D Insufficiency is Prevalent in Severe Covid-19

#13

Post by benjohnson »

dontbenebby wrote: post #7

Is there any evidence multivitamins are harmful (not just that there's no proof they help improve health?) It's because of stuff like this I take one. Maybe I'm wasting money, but absent a harm I feel it's worth it to hedge my bets.

Men do have to worry about retaining too much iron. Women before menopause typically don't have to worry as they lose a bit of blood every month.

https://www.winchesterhospital.org/health-library/article?id...

Re: Vitamin D Insufficiency is Prevalent in Severe Covid-19

#14

Post by nosefrog »

mindcrime wrote: post #8

Interesting thing... Vitamin D is one of those things that, when vitamins come up on HN, you will often hear the refrain that "it's the one vitamin that large numbers of people are actually deficient in and ought to supplement." I've heard that many times over the years and I have taken a Vitamin D supplement on and off (more off than on) over the years. When this COVID-19 thing first hit, I had a physical scheduled…

Same thing happened to me. I was in the single digits for Vitamin D, and my doc had me taking 10000 a day (or week) I think. Within a month, I started to feel way more energy in the afternoon (I used to feel dead by 1pm). I also mysteriously kept getting sick with small colds that winter before supplementing, and those also went away.

Re: Vitamin D Insufficiency is Prevalent in Severe Covid-19

#15

Post by the_jeremy »

mindcrime wrote: post #8

Interesting thing... Vitamin D is one of those things that, when vitamins come up on HN, you will often hear the refrain that "it's the one vitamin that large numbers of people are actually deficient in and ought to supplement." I've heard that many times over the years and I have taken a Vitamin D supplement on and off (more off than on) over the years. When this COVID-19 thing first hit, I had a physical scheduled…

A psychiatrist I saw multiple years ago told me to start taking Vitamin D. I went more or less blindly with 5,000 IU after reading some internet articles.

I got my blood checked last year and decided I should probably actually know if I'm doing too much or too little. I was within 5% of the middle of the healthy range for vitamin D levels. For reference, 5,000 IU is >800% the FDA daily recommended value. People with indoor jobs and hobbies are probably not getting enough.

Re: Vitamin D Insufficiency is Prevalent in Severe Covid-19

#16

Post by 0xebfc »

dontbenebby wrote: post #7

Is there any evidence multivitamins are harmful (not just that there's no proof they help improve health?) It's because of stuff like this I take one. Maybe I'm wasting money, but absent a harm I feel it's worth it to hedge my bets.

Certain vitamins and minerals. Fat soluble vitamins can build up to the point of causing problems. Excess of iron and magnesium may have negative effect AFAIK.

Re: Vitamin D Insufficiency is Prevalent in Severe Covid-19

#18

Post by downerending »

benjohnson wrote: post #13
dontbenebby wrote: post #7

Is there any evidence multivitamins are harmful (not just that there's no proof they help improve health?) It's because of stuff like this I take one. Maybe I'm wasting money, but absent a harm I feel it's worth it to hedge my bets.

Men do have to worry about retaining too much iron. Women before menopause typically don't have to worry as they lose a bit of blood every month. https://www.winchesterhospital.org/health-library/article?id...

If you're a man, you can give blood to get this effect. I believe there was a study linking this to a decline in diabetes risk (or something like that).

Re: Vitamin D Insufficiency is Prevalent in Severe Covid-19

#19

Post by iak8god »

derekp7 wrote: post #11
mindcrime wrote: post #8

Interesting thing... Vitamin D is one of those things that, when vitamins come up on HN, you will often hear the refrain that "it's the one vitamin that large numbers of people are actually deficient in and ought to supplement." I've heard that many times over the years and I have taken a Vitamin D supplement on and off (more off than on) over the years. When this COVID-19 thing first hit, I had a physical scheduled…

For generally fighting off viruses, I wonder if Vitamin D is the reason why many colds / flues tend to peak in the winter months and subside over the summer.

Influenza viruses have a protective sheath that works better in cold weather and allows them to survive longer outside a host: https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/flu-vir...

Re: Vitamin D Insufficiency is Prevalent in Severe Covid-19

#20

Post by iak8god »

benjohnson wrote: post #13
dontbenebby wrote: post #7

Is there any evidence multivitamins are harmful (not just that there's no proof they help improve health?) It's because of stuff like this I take one. Maybe I'm wasting money, but absent a harm I feel it's worth it to hedge my bets.

Men do have to worry about retaining too much iron. Women before menopause typically don't have to worry as they lose a bit of blood every month. https://www.winchesterhospital.org/health-library/article?id...

For this reason men's multivitamins typically don't include iron.
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