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Vitamin D deficiency and Covid-19 mortality [pdf]

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Re: Vitamin D deficiency and Covid-19 mortality [pdf]

#31

Post by r00fus »

BurningFrog wrote: post #13
ve55 wrote: post #2

Although this is a notable finding it's important to remember that it doesn't lead to the conclusion that supplementing vitamin D will be very beneficial here. When vitamin D is produced in the body naturally via exposure to sunlight there's a huge amount of other things that occur as well, and we don't have a ton of good science to back up if curing a vitamin D deficiency via supplementation of pure vitamin D is rea…

Technically true, but you should still eat vitamin D supplements. It's very cheap and safe, so worst case it has less effect than you hope. You can overdose, but you have to really crazy with the dosage. Also 1: Vitamin D supplements do cure rickets. Also 2: All of us who eat supplements should show up in the stats as high in vitamin D, so the data does partially cover that case.

What brand/strength of VitaminD supplements do you all take?

Re: Vitamin D deficiency and Covid-19 mortality [pdf]

#32

Post by James_Henry »

black6 wrote: post #19
russfink wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From a technical writing style perspective, the thing going against this paper is the folksy way of writing. It also includes things called weasel words, such as saying very young doctor, versus young doctor, or even just doctor. The results are compelling, and I suppose it would not hurt to take a prophylaxis of vitamin D (5,000 units per the article?) as compared to a prophylaxis of something else, such as hydroxyc…

https://hcqtrial.com/ "...an extensive discussion of the differences between the death rates of New York City and Lagos, Nigeria, which both received infected travelers around the same time. NYC's high rate has been linked to population density, poverty, overcrowding, and ethnicity. Lagos is a crowded urban center of about 22 million people with 30 families often in a single building sharing the same bathroom, and no…

The paper that is talked about here doesn't make a very strong case for prophylaxis use of hcq. They may look at population-adjusted death rates, but that's not really enough. You could do the same things between different neighborhoods in NYC and probably see huge difference in death rates that may actually be caused by obesity or so many other factors.

I will grant that prophylaxis use of HCQ is much more interesting than its use in treatment, but I don't think this paper is very strong.

Re: Vitamin D deficiency and Covid-19 mortality [pdf]

#33

Post by zelphirkalt »

zzz61831 wrote: post #20
BurningFrog wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Technically true, but you should still eat vitamin D supplements. It's very cheap and safe, so worst case it has less effect than you hope. You can overdose, but you have to really crazy with the dosage. Also 1: Vitamin D supplements do cure rickets. Also 2: All of us who eat supplements should show up in the stats as high in vitamin D, so the data does partially cover that case.

It's not that safe, not like vitamin C safe. Especially not in doses sold in pills in pharmacies around the world.

This is also what I read. People please read up on vitamin D overdosing.

Re: Vitamin D deficiency and Covid-19 mortality [pdf]

#34

Post by KerryJones »

aauchter wrote: post #4

Interesting but a there's a decent chance of correlation not causation. Unhealthy people and people over 65 (i.e. those most susceptible to serious COVID complications) are the same group that are most likely to be Vitamin D deficient. The primary source of Vitamin D is sunlight. People over 65 tend to stay indoors, etc. People with darker skin are also more prone to D deficiency due to increased melanin, but also ha…

There's a lot more data here that specifically tested about vitamin-D levels in early and late stages: http://agingbiotech.info/vitamindcovid19/

I agree that causation hasn't been completely proven, but there's a lot of data to support it could be causative.

Re: Vitamin D deficiency and Covid-19 mortality [pdf]

#35

Post by nostromo »

aauchter wrote: post #4

Interesting but a there's a decent chance of correlation not causation. Unhealthy people and people over 65 (i.e. those most susceptible to serious COVID complications) are the same group that are most likely to be Vitamin D deficient. The primary source of Vitamin D is sunlight. People over 65 tend to stay indoors, etc. People with darker skin are also more prone to D deficiency due to increased melanin, but also ha…

From the paper:

> After correction for age, sex and previous illnesses, the risk of death is 10 times higher for people with vitamin D deficiency.

That said, it could still be correlative and not causative with some different underlying health issue.

Re: Vitamin D deficiency and Covid-19 mortality [pdf]

#36

Post by James_Henry »

newsbinator wrote: post #30
zzz61831 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not that safe, not like vitamin C safe. Especially not in doses sold in pills in pharmacies around the world.

I still can't figure out the safe + effective dosage of Vitamin D. I was taking 1,000mg a day and that didn't seem to move the needle on my Vitamin D blood work. In recent weeks I've been taking 4,000mg/day (with K2), which is 4x what I've had pharmacists recommend. I plan to keep that up for a couple more weeks while I'm under quarantine (recently flew from a high-risk country to a less high-risk country). After tha…

The safest way is to take an occasional test for your vitamin d levels. There are tests that you can take at home that aren't too expensive!

Re: Vitamin D deficiency and Covid-19 mortality [pdf]

#38

Post by [deleted] »

sharpneli wrote: post #18
ve55 wrote: post #2

Although this is a notable finding it's important to remember that it doesn't lead to the conclusion that supplementing vitamin D will be very beneficial here. When vitamin D is produced in the body naturally via exposure to sunlight there's a huge amount of other things that occur as well, and we don't have a ton of good science to back up if curing a vitamin D deficiency via supplementation of pure vitamin D is rea…

In Finland we put Vitamin D in milk that’s sold on normal shops. And taking a supplement is heavily recommended. Though this is mostly because for 6 months of a year one simply cannot get it the natural way (too cold and sun is too low). And thanks to this we don’t have much deficiency, long time ago we used to have. Not saying it means it would help with covid. But the supplements definitely help with deficiency in…

[deleted]

Re: Vitamin D deficiency and Covid-19 mortality [pdf]

#39

Post by James_Henry »

James_Henry wrote: post #23
xutopia wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The study showed that supplementing (though it was injection) to between "45 and 55 ng/ml" is "useful not only in prevention but also in acute cases". So yes... sunlight does probably way more benefits for us but supplementation if you are deficient is still showing significant effects.

Just to be clear, the study that you are quoting isn't about Sars-Cov 2. This is a quote from a 2016 paper on other respiratory diseases.

And here is the quote in context, not that this isn't about Covid-19:

"High dose vitamin D administration in ventilated intensive care unit patients: A pilot double blind randomized controlled trial In the study, patients with vitamin D deficiency (<20ng/ml) were divided into three groups: A placebo group, and two groups that were given different doses of vitamin D. The single administration of 250,000 IU of vitamin D was compared with the single administration of 500,000 IU of vitamin D by injection. In addition, the vitamin D levels were increased to 45 and 55 ng/ml, respectively. While the length of stay of the placebo group at the ICU was 36 days, the 250,000 IU group averaged 25 days and the 500,000 IU group averaged 18 days. This is a smooth halving and means that vitamin D is useful not only in prevention but also in acute cases."

Re: Vitamin D deficiency and Covid-19 mortality [pdf]

#40

Post by LegitShady »

graeme wrote: post #9
ve55 wrote: post #2

Although this is a notable finding it's important to remember that it doesn't lead to the conclusion that supplementing vitamin D will be very beneficial here. When vitamin D is produced in the body naturally via exposure to sunlight there's a huge amount of other things that occur as well, and we don't have a ton of good science to back up if curing a vitamin D deficiency via supplementation of pure vitamin D is rea…

What about this section of the pdf? From a 2016 study on patients with other respiratory diseases. —————- High dose vitamin D administration in ventilated intensive care unit patients: A pilot double blind randomized controlled trial In the study, patients with vitamin D deficiency ( https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221462371... —————— Ah, the pdf has a second such study. Mortality almost half less…

Those dosages are far higher than anyone supplementing vitamin d are likely to take.
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