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The First Randomized Controlled Trial on Vitamin D and Covid-19

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Re: The First Randomized Controlled Trial on Vitamin D and Covid-19

#61

Post by azinman2 »

JabavuAdams wrote: post #46
ReflectedImage wrote: post #12

And that's why I've been taking Vitamin D pills for the past 6 months. (It's been suspected for some time to have an effect) This doesn't mean go outside and get covid.

You should almost certainly be going outside for the other health benefits. There's very little risk of transmission if you're outside and 2m away from other people, even if intermittently you're closer than that. Even more so if one or the other of you is masked. Places to be more concerned about are bottlenecks like lobbies and elevators on the way to/from outside.

My understanding is that it hasn’t been shown for elevators. I think this is because of the required time to breathe in a minimal viral load. Do you have evidence otherwise?

Re: The First Randomized Controlled Trial on Vitamin D and Covid-19

#62

Post by JabavuAdams »

DenisM wrote: post #10
bdamm wrote: post #2

Noteworthy that this is in combination with anti-viral drugs at hospital admission: hydroxychloroquine (400 mg every 12 hours on the first day, and 200 mg every 12 hours for the following 5 days), azithromycin (500 mg orally for 5 days). Regardless, I'm going to assume this means being outside and getting sun is good for me.

Except for all the skin cancer, right? FWIW, I was told that when the Sun is above 45 degrees over the horizon you will accrue DNA damage, and it stacks up over your entire lifetime. There is no "reset" or "heal", it just adds up. For that reason I'm doing my darnest best to stay in the shade between 9am and 3pm. Or covering clothing.

This is not strictly true. You have lots of evolved repair mechanisms to fix the damage caused by sunlight. It's only when they get overwhelmed that you accrue permanent damage. It's still a probability game, though.

Note that if we didn't have UV repair mechanisms, we'd blister in a few minutes.

Re: The First Randomized Controlled Trial on Vitamin D and Covid-19

#63

Post by arkitaip »

outworlder wrote: post #41
ReflectedImage wrote: post #12

And that's why I've been taking Vitamin D pills for the past 6 months. (It's been suspected for some time to have an effect) This doesn't mean go outside and get covid.

Be careful. Vitamin D is a hormone and is not risk-free. Unless you have been prescribed by your doctor. In general, be careful with any fat-soluble "vitamins", as they can build up.

You would have to take crazy amounts of vitamin D - more than 250 mcg (10000 IU) - for it to be toxic [0][1].

[0] https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/85/1/6/4649294

[1] https://asbmr.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1359/jbmr....

Re: The First Randomized Controlled Trial on Vitamin D and Covid-19

#64

Post by ReflectedImage »

131012 wrote: post #54
outworlder wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Be careful. Vitamin D is a hormone and is not risk-free. Unless you have been prescribed by your doctor. In general, be careful with any fat-soluble "vitamins", as they can build up.

A few days ago, a blog post by a physician was stressing this same point. She was suggesting to be especially cautious with high doses.

High doses don't have much of a health benefit either. It's low doses on a daily basis.

Through in the UK the NHS were handing out high doses of Vitamin D like cotton candy last winter.

Re: The First Randomized Controlled Trial on Vitamin D and Covid-19

#65

Post by arkitaip »

ouid wrote: post #47
arkitaip wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been taking Vitamin D3 5000 IU and Vitamin K2 MK-7 100 mcg daily since February to boost my immune system, and I've noticed a radical difference in my colds. I used to get a major cold every 2-3 month and they were really bad lasting two weeks with fever, fatigue, coughs, colds, really stuffy nose, etc. Now? The two colds I've had were over in a week and the symptoms were so incredibly mild - mostly a light runn…

Don't really know why you haven't found the most obvious explanation for why you've gotten fewer colds.

Obviously thought about that but the intensity of the colds is way different.

Re: The First Randomized Controlled Trial on Vitamin D and Covid-19

#66

Post by gnur »

asah wrote: post #30

Non-white skinned people: sunlight may not be enough to increase your vitamin D. https://www.google.com/search?q=dark+skin+vitamin+d+minutes

Actually, even lighter skinned people can have lots of trouble generating sufficient vitamin D. My wife's family has the lightest skin possible but they all have vitamin D deficiency, if you have some kind of fatigue it is truly worth having your vitamin levels checked!

Re: The First Randomized Controlled Trial on Vitamin D and Covid-19

#67

Post by Brakenshire »

asah wrote: post #30

Non-white skinned people: sunlight may not be enough to increase your vitamin D. https://www.google.com/search?q=dark+skin+vitamin+d+minutes

Even white skinned people who spend long times outdoors may not get enough Vitamin D, especially if you live somewhere northern.

Re: The First Randomized Controlled Trial on Vitamin D and Covid-19

#68

Post by azinman2 »

gojomo wrote: post #35
nicholasjarnold wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Azithromycin is a common antibiotic, not an anti-viral drug. This is an important distinction. Also hydroxychloroquine is an anti-malarial drug, which is also not an anti-viral.

While neither azithromycin nor hydroxychloroquine are primarily thought of as anti-virals, both are hypothesized by some to have some anti-viral effect, and it's still unclear whether any potential effects they have on Covid-19 are via such anti-viral effects, or other effects.

Just because something helps with issues created by a virus doesn’t make it an anti-viral. For example it seems to be now that steroids are aiding those in the ICU with covid, but I don’t think anyone could plausibly call a steroid an anti-viral, as much as a bandaid can’t be called an antibiotic even if it helps heal a cut and prevent additional bacterial infection.

Re: The First Randomized Controlled Trial on Vitamin D and Covid-19

#69

Post by JabavuAdams »

azinman2 wrote: post #61
JabavuAdams wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should almost certainly be going outside for the other health benefits. There's very little risk of transmission if you're outside and 2m away from other people, even if intermittently you're closer than that. Even more so if one or the other of you is masked. Places to be more concerned about are bottlenecks like lobbies and elevators on the way to/from outside.

My understanding is that it hasn’t been shown for elevators. I think this is because of the required time to breathe in a minimal viral load. Do you have evidence otherwise?

No evidence, just caution.

Re: The First Randomized Controlled Trial on Vitamin D and Covid-19

#70

Post by andy_ppp »

azinman2 wrote: post #61
JabavuAdams wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should almost certainly be going outside for the other health benefits. There's very little risk of transmission if you're outside and 2m away from other people, even if intermittently you're closer than that. Even more so if one or the other of you is masked. Places to be more concerned about are bottlenecks like lobbies and elevators on the way to/from outside.

My understanding is that it hasn’t been shown for elevators. I think this is because of the required time to breathe in a minimal viral load. Do you have evidence otherwise?

Yes I heard planes as well surprisingly safe relative to choir practice. Environments where lots of droplets are created are less safe...
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