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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

#71

Post by blhack »

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…

If you are in Arizona you can just go to Sonoraquest labs and order this test yourself.

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

#72

Post by geomark »

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 )

Your comment reminded me of this Dilbert https://dilbert.com/strip/2014-05-09

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

#73

Post by madrox »

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 )

Actual experiments for causation take more time. The abstract itself addresses this: "Given the dynamics of the COVID-19 pandemic and the proven safety of vitamin D supplementation, it therefore appears highly debatable and potentially even unethical to await results of such trials before public health action is taken."

I guess the real question is whether you'll wish you had been taking vitamin D if you get Covid-19. While this could end up being placebo, there's some compelling evidence that you have everything to gain and nothing to lose.

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

#74

Post by newlikeice »

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…

Just had the idea of explicit music videos. They always had the annoying disclaimer. Very hard to ignore and miss.

Why not just be transparent in there actions. Add an icon to thing they deem offensive to there ethics. Dump it from the Main page algorithm feed. And make the icon clickable to a page where it shows why you added they censored or tagged the content. People need to see this stuff go down in real-time and why it happens. But leave free speech intact.

Or make everyone pay for it then they can do whatever they want. Disappear anything Lol

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

#75

Post by john_artemis »

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 )

There are several studies where vitamin D works (amazingly well), and one study where it does not.

But in the study where it does not work, it's an oral supplement given after hospitalization. Oral vitamin D takes a while to elevate blood levels so the fact that such regimen doesn't work, doesn't prove much.

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

#76

Post by westwing »

stordoff wrote: post #36
KLexpat wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

FWIW, I've seen the NHS mention it quite a few times. Example: > People with dark skin, such as those of African, African-Caribbean or south Asian origin, will need to spend longer in the sun to produce the same amount of vitamin D as someone with lighter skin. https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-body/how-to-get-vitamin...

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-immigration stance.

“Far-right quacks are pushing unproven treatment for COVID” makes for a juicy headline.

So, who wants to be the first to put their reputation on the line?

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

#77

Post by jmalicki »

akulbe wrote: post #16

What is the actual RDA for Vitamin D? There seems to be some dispute on it. Not sure who to trust.

Here is one reference, others I've seen are similar:

https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminD-HealthProfessiona...

There is not complete consensus, but a lot of the large deltas are due to Vitamin D being fat soluble - if you are deficient, you can take far higher doses for a while and they will be stored in your liver. But if you continue to do so once you are at good levels, it can do damage:

"Hypercalcemia, in turn, can lead to nausea, vomiting, muscle weakness, neuropsychiatric disturbances, pain, loss of appetite, dehydration, polyuria, excessive thirst, and kidney stones."

That paper's recommendations are 600IU RDA, and that it is safe to take up to 4000IU without supervision of a doctor (i.e. regular blood tests to make sure you're not overshooting recommended blood concentration).

This paper suggests up to 10000IU is safe:

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/how-much-vitamin-d-is-t...

and that "A daily intake ranging from 40,000–100,000 IU (1000–2500 micrograms), for one to several months, has been shown to cause toxicity in humans" (with several case reports).

Apparently Dr. Fauci takes 6000IU per day. https://vitamindwiki.com/Dr.+Fauci+takes+6%2C000+IU+of+Vitam...

While these are different, 4000IU, 6000IU, and 10000IU are well within an order of magnitude as upper limits of what you can tolerate without side effects ("upper limits" being more than RDA, but won't cause a separate medical problem)

I've seen some studies say that 5000IU or 10000IU is safe, differ a little bit about the normal RDA, but there's a ton of similar ranges.

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

#78

Post by colechristensen »

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…

Here you go https://www.pixel.labcorp.com/catalog

About every third ad i see on instagram is for some startup’s health measurement test.

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

#79

Post by DevX101 »

Authors controlled for age, sex. But I'd like to see additional control for race. Black people have less Vitamin D due to melanin blocking sunlight. And black people are disproportionately impacted by COVID.

So I'm now curious whether it's really Vitamin D deficiency that's causing the poor outcomes, or some racial socioeconomic factor that Vitamin D is simply a marker for.

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

#80

Post by foota »

mensetmanusman wrote: post #67
ryandvm wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

That is an amazing idea. I would definitely be more incentivized to give blood if it gave me a run down of various nutrients just from a curiosity point of view. E.g. what are my selenium levels compared to the general population?

Depends, how much browser integration testing are you doing?
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