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

mdpi.com

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

#51

Post by geomark »

fiblye wrote: post #5

Before the vitamin D link was so widely reported, I remember seeing a bunch of comments online (including HN) from people saying things along the lines of "We've been self-isolating at home since January, only bought things online, and STILL got sick!" I'm not a professional and this is just me spouting ideas, but I wonder if this is one reason why America is so hard hit compared to Asia. Americans generally commute…

Asia is a big place. In some densely populated areas in Asia most people live in bubbles, moving from air conditioned condos to taxis/subways to offices and then malls. They spend as little time as possible in the open due to pollution, weather and a cultural aversion to tanning. As a result, vitamin D deficiency is very common.

Some examples for Thailand are included in this paper[1]. One study said this: "Soontrapa et al. [15] evaluated vitamin D status in a younger group of premenopausal women found the prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency to be 77.8%, which was as high as the rate found in elderly Thai women living in nursing homes."

There is lots of sun in Thailand, but people avoid it as much as possible, staying indoors and applying lots of sunscreen if they must go out.

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5685050/

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

#52

Post by dxdm »

andi999 wrote: post #29
dorfsmay wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In winter, in the more northerly latitudes, being outside is not sufficient, because of the angle at which the sun ray hit, the skin cannot make vitamin D.

What is the correct angle?

Closer to π/2 than not. ;)

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

#53

Post by JoeAltmaier »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #33
andi999 wrote: post #26

I remember that there also was the result that supplementing does not help if you have covid. So to me it looks just like correlation and not causation (old sick people do not go out often and have less vitamin D. Probably same reason while you can find health benifits for alcohol: sick people stop drinking )

Study adjusted for age, sex. So no.

Folks, read the study!

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

#54

Post by ryandvm »

Mountain_Skies wrote: post #10

It's unfortunate that it is not simple to get regular tests for vitamin and mineral deficiencies. The whole process seems to be stuck behind the doctor appointment firewall. This might be one of the reasons why Theranos was so readily believed. As the quantified self movement that gained popularity around the same time showed, there's an appetite in certain segments of the population for this type of testing and trac…

I've often wondered if it would be economically feasible for blood donation banks to do this as a perk/incentive for giving blood.

Every 6 months or so, you donate blood and as part of the process you get run-of-the-mill bloodwork report emailed to you a few days later.

You'd have to make sure you weren't creating an incentive for sick people to donate blood just for the lab work, but otherwise it seems like it would be an excellent perk for donating blood.

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

#55

Post by shortandsweet »

Mountain_Skies wrote: post #10

It's unfortunate that it is not simple to get regular tests for vitamin and mineral deficiencies. The whole process seems to be stuck behind the doctor appointment firewall. This might be one of the reasons why Theranos was so readily believed. As the quantified self movement that gained popularity around the same time showed, there's an appetite in certain segments of the population for this type of testing and trac…

Why not make it simple? I donate blood every 2 months. They tell me cholesterol and if I have c19 antibodies. Why not other important health indicators?

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

#56

Post by totetsu »

KLexpat wrote: post #6
Exmoor wrote: post #3

I must admit I was completely ignorant of the effects of Vitamin D deficiency on common illnesses such as the flu as well as how unbelievably common that deficiency is for people living in much of the northern hemisphere. Will it cure COVID19? No. But do I think there's a decent chance it will improve my outcome while simultaneously improving my ability to fight off other viruses. I am honestly completely shocked tha…

The problem is that vitamin D absorption is one of those things linked to ethnicity. It is very basic and undisputed science that lower melanin in skin = higher vitamin D absorption. No European educational institution or government wants to publicise research highlighting that ethnic groups indigenous to the northern hemisphere are more suited to the natural environment they are endemic too, and less likely to have…

it's not like most people live in a natural environment these days anyway.. saying a modern human is rationality unsuited to a place is skipping over the part where the built environment most people live in is created by and for us, and who it suits is independent of latitude.

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

#57

Post by mrandish »

When the third supportive pre-print paper was released in late April I started my elderly mother on a D3 supplement. As more papers came out in May I started my whole family on it. I read up on dosing and it's pretty hard to overdose unless megadosing over a sustained period of time and negative reactions/interactions are rare. We've been supplementing ~5k to 10k IU daily (total, incl any multi-vitamins) depending on age/body weight (note: IU is not the same as mg). We also try to get 20-30m a day of actual sun exposure when possible. N=1 but so far no one in my family as gotten CV19 or even had any ILI symptoms despite some probable exposure.

I got my blood run last month and my D3 is at 89mL (normal range is ~30-100 on my provider's test). While dietary supplementation is shown to be effective in studies, keep in mind that some experts believe sunlight generated D may be absorbed differently in ways that might matter, so getting some of both is ideal if possible. Sunlight supplementation scales with exposure duration * skin area * intensity, so less time can be partly offset with more area and/or peak time-of-day. Latitude, altitude and significant particulate air pollution can also matter. Also, be aware many common types of window glass in homes/autos as well as some sunblocks can reduce or block UV types which may contribute to the benefits.

Of course, the usual warnings about consulting your medical provider and more of a good thing is not always 'better' apply, so be careful not to over do it. Although rare, some people who have megadosed huge amounts over long time periods (usually many times 10k IU daily) have built up potentially problematic amounts of D3.

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

#58

Post by loeg »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #33
andi999 wrote: post #26

I remember that there also was the result that supplementing does not help if you have covid. So to me it looks just like correlation and not causation (old sick people do not go out often and have less vitamin D. Probably same reason while you can find health benifits for alcohol: sick people stop drinking )

Study adjusted for age, sex. So no.

There can be a 3rd variable other than age or sex!

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

#59

Post by nikolay »

For 15 years, I've taken many supplements, which greatly varied over time, but the fixed ones, which I never had any concerns with were vitamin D3 (in the morning!) and chelated magnesium. At one point, I read warnings about high vitamin D levels, but I just lowered from 5,000 IU to 2,000 and I still have high, but still in the range levels.

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

#60

Post by tertius »

bmcahren wrote: post #22
meesterdude wrote: post #8

While I don't think Vitamin D is a covid cure - I think it's appalling that Youtube has banned anything that discusses vitamin D and covid. Especially when there is so much science behind it, and so much more that we need to do to understand it and covid better. I know there is rampant misinformation out there, but I fail to see how this censorship serves the public interest - and wonder what benefits google has to g…

It's not always just public benefit. You have two choices: 1. Leave a video up published by a non-scientific person which has possibly harmful claims. 2. Take the video down, get decried for censorship, avoid spreading what we know is a problem right now: misinformation. I leave option 3, policing content out of the picture. People mistake what is happening now as policing but really it's avoiding policing what they…

> I feel like I know the difference between band of fringe persons with Doctor in their name who have a controversial underdog belief and the official scientific sources for information.

Possibly true if you yourself had credentials. If not, don't be so sure.

The funny problem with this one is that your local "official" memo is different from a local official memo 50, 500 and 5000 miles away.

Do you believe you are at the locus of the best science? I have medical experts in my family all over the world... They disagree.

They also agree though that the media is leading everyone (including politicians) around like puppets. I.e. they can see nonsense in the media being spouted, because they are experts.

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