Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Vitamin D insufficiency may account for almost 90% of Covid-19 deaths

mdpi.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

251–260 of 304 posts

Re: Vitamin D insufficiency may account for almost 90% of Covid-19 deaths

#251

Post by midnitewarrior »

xenophonf wrote: post #81

MDPI follows an author-pays model, which incentivizes it to accept all submissions instead of publishing only good-quality work. In fact, this publisher is highly suspect, as it has allegedly pressured peer reviewers to accept low-quality work for publication in the recent past: http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/09/open-access-editors-r... https://www.universityaffairs.ca/features/feature-article/be... I would trea…

The Lancet published this in May, strongly advising patients to address Vitamin D deficiency.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/landia/article/PIIS2213-8...

Re: Vitamin D insufficiency may account for almost 90% of Covid-19 deaths

#252

Post by hungryforcodes »

refurb wrote: post #197
eeZah7Ux wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It reminds people that the world is not the US. 30+ comments above and nobody pointed out the unspoken assumption.

The OP mentioned the doctor firewall. I don’t live in the US and have the same firewall. It’s not a uniquely American issue.

If you don't tell us where you live, it's not such a useful feedback item. In many (most) places in Asia, you can walk into any clinic and order whatever tests you want if they are reasonable and exist. For alot of tests the results could be available later that day. You do pay, but the cost is usually minimal compared to say the US.

Re: Vitamin D insufficiency may account for almost 90% of Covid-19 deaths

#253

Post by andor »

berryjerry wrote: post #224
lame-robot-hoax wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn’t worry too much about sunscreen. Don’t have the link, but I remember reading a study that sunscreen had pretty much a zero 0% effect on Vitamin D levels, because most people wear way less sunscreen than they should, and the left over areas that people miss still produce enough.

From a doctor I've heard you only need to go in the sun for about 10 minutes a day and you'll get all the vitamin D you need, but food also gives you it.

That's a misconception. It depends on where you live, but most people who work inside can expect to be deficient.

For instance, in a study on skateboarders in Hawaii who spent around 4 hours in the sun each day, 50% of participants were found deficient.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17426097/

Re: Vitamin D insufficiency may account for almost 90% of Covid-19 deaths

#254

Post by mpcannabrava »

Please don't upvote this. [with all due respect to the OP]

The one-page "paper" doesn't even mention stats for control group and what it does mention is completely inconclusive.

BTW most people in the world who are quarantining have Vit D insufficiency/deficiency right now.

PS.: just get your daily 15 min of sun to be safe.

Re: Vitamin D insufficiency may account for almost 90% of Covid-19 deaths

#255

Post by Markoff »

Ragib_Zaman wrote: post #13

I highly recommend watching this video: https://youtu.be/Kvh4D_osFXs Sunlight gives us vitamin D and nitric oxide (which improves blood flow and reduces hypertension). Vitamin D is crucial for the functioning of our immune systems, and the 1000IU dosage of many supplements is laughably small. A light skinned person in a singlet standing outside at noon for 30 minutes will produce between 10,000IU and 20,000IU in thei…

that is really bad joke

pretty much whole Europe and whole India is vitamin D deficient, if you check actual studies, so no, unless you spend whole day naked in sun you won't get anywhere close to sufficient amount

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6060930/#:~:tex....

Re: Vitamin D insufficiency may account for almost 90% of Covid-19 deaths

#256

Post by Markoff »

rgrieselhuber wrote: post #7

Getting sunlight in the morning, in particular, seems important. Even in winter months, I'll go outside for 30 minutes or so in nothing but shorts and do farmer walks, etc. and feel great throughout the day.

you can't get enough vitamin D from sunlight, if whole India is extremely deficient you stand zero change somewhere in Europe or north america

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6060930/#:~:tex....

Re: Vitamin D insufficiency may account for almost 90% of Covid-19 deaths

#257

Post by Markoff »

mark-r wrote: post #110

My doctor put me on a daily 2000 IU vitamin D supplement years ago for unrelated reasons. I feel lucky now. I never did ask him what he expected the vitamin D to do for me.

the new studies show that 2000 IU is very low for active adult person it should be more like 6-8000 IU, the recommended values by conservative studies won't even diminish vitamin D deficiency let alone bring benefits of having extra levels

Re: Vitamin D insufficiency may account for almost 90% of Covid-19 deaths

#258

Post by westwing »

outworlder wrote: post #138
westwing wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It can be mentioned as a footnote, because it is scientific fact. However, given the vastly higher death rates among people with darker skin, it should be shouted from the rooftops. Unfortunately, this would put into question the narrative that anything but systemic racism may be to blame. Furthermore, pointing out that people with darker skin are not adapted to live up north could easily be misconstrued as an anti-i…

> Furthermore, pointing out that people with darker skin are not adapted to live up north could easily be misconstrued as an anti-immigration stance. True. That can easily happen. Reason enough to not push that angle, at least not directly. There are other ways of phrasing that. Besides, for humans, there's no longer such a thing as "being adapted" to the environment, at least not in that limited sense. This is not a…

Telling people that they "need to adapt or face consequences" would be even more dangerous than pointing out that they aren't adapted.

Of course that's a highly uncharitable representation of what you propose, but you would have to expect that kind of treatment.

Re: Vitamin D insufficiency may account for almost 90% of Covid-19 deaths

#260

Post by westwing »

watwut wrote: post #185
1234throwaway wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But, without the recently invented therapeutics you mentioned (vitamin d supplements, sunscreen), people will have negative health outcomes from living in an environment they are not suited to. There is no need to get emotional here - just accept the scientific and natural fact that in the long term evolution means that people are highly A/B optimised for their environment - there is a reason why in nature there are…

1.) At this point, it is not "recently invented". It is long term known. 2.) Vitamin D deficiency is affecting you negatively, but not enough to claim that people are "living in an environment they are not suited to". That is absurdly exaggerated claim, especially given all the various reasons why people in history died. 3.) Racism is causing way more suffering then overall vitamin D deficiency.

You're being uncharitable, which is part of the problem. These supplements are "recently invented" in terms of evolutionary history and it's not clear how well they work, compared to actual sun exposure.

"Not suited to" may be a contentious choice of words, but "not adapted to" is plain fact. Not being adapted to an environment confers disadvantages. Perhaps these disadvantages are minor, certainly in this case they are not lethal (in isolation), but from a healthcare perspective, they are important to take into consideration.

Consider that jumping at every opportunity to scold someone choosing their words unwisely does nothing to actually fight racism, but could indirectly harm those people you are intending to help. After all, why would a true racist care about the health outcomes of the races they ostensibly despise? Why would anyone risk investigating genetic differences in medicine, when the payoff is an accusation of racism by well-meaning but uneducated laymen?

Post reply on HN