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Vitamin D: the New Covid-19 Chloroquine?

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Re: Vitamin D: the New Covid-19 Chloroquine?

#91

Did my masters on Vitamin D - It is very difficult to extract CLINICALLY RELEVANT information from retrospective epidemiological studies. However, there a a few things that are clear: 1. Calcium absorption from the intestine increases with vitamin D supplementation dose up to around 8-10,000 IU D3 daily. 2. 15 minutes of full body exposure in noon sun is equivalent to a dose of ~20,000 IU D3 3. There are few cases of…

>2. 15 minutes of full body exposure in noon sun is equivalent to a dose of ~20,000 IU D3

Define "full-body exposure", please? I'm not going to walk around naked outside in the sun.

Re: Vitamin D: the New Covid-19 Chloroquine?

#92

Did my masters on Vitamin D - It is very difficult to extract CLINICALLY RELEVANT information from retrospective epidemiological studies. However, there a a few things that are clear: 1. Calcium absorption from the intestine increases with vitamin D supplementation dose up to around 8-10,000 IU D3 daily. 2. 15 minutes of full body exposure in noon sun is equivalent to a dose of ~20,000 IU D3 3. There are few cases of…

This is really dangerous advice to be peddling on internet forums. Statements 1 & 2 are both misleading. It is certainly true that a few high dosages of vitamin D are not harmful. The issue is the negative effects of having too high of a vitamin D status. Anyone taking more than 2k IU/day should do so after consulting their doctor or at least testing of their vitamin D levels.

Not sure why this is being downvoted. This advice is far more useful than OPs.

Be careful of anyone claiming to be an expert on anything, especially on an anonymous forum - even if that forum has in general higher quality opinion.

And the OP does not mention Vitamin K2 at all. How does anybody who claims to have done a Masters on Vitamin D not mention K2?

Re: Vitamin D: the New Covid-19 Chloroquine?

#93

For me this is a perfect example of wishful thinking. It's really hard for average person to accept reality: This virus, like all others, will last for a long time. We won't have, in a foreseeable future, a treatment neither a cure. Cancer, HIV or even seasonal flue are good examples examples of diseases that were discovered decades ago for which science still don't have a cure, there are a few treatments or easing m…

Please, if this is your view, you're welcome to refrain from taking any Tamiflu or getting a flu shot. Learn what the flu was like for our ancestors who had no defenses.

Re: Vitamin D: the New Covid-19 Chloroquine?

#94
post #36
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right. There are around 100 vaccines in development. We have vaccines that have created binding antibodies in primates already. We have some that have been given to humans and produced antibodies as well. Even pessimistically assuming 90% fail, you end up with 10 vaccines. https://www.centerwatch.com/articles/12702-new-mit-study-put...

that's not pessimistic. Regularly only 6% of vaccines make it past trials.

Yes, but with each trial stage a particular vaccine candidate passes, its likelihood of failing the further stages goes down. Most candidates that are going to fail, do so in the lab or in Phase 1 trials. A vaccine candidate that passes Phase 1 and Phase 2 has a pretty good outlook.

Re: Vitamin D: the New Covid-19 Chloroquine?

#95
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is another important pair, too: Vitamin D and Magnesium. But consult your doctor before taking extra amounts of anything. There is a lot of misinformation on the web around Vitamin D, such as that even high amounts (>= 5000IU) are tolerable and safe. After a blood test showed me Vitamin D deficient, taking 5000IU (that size is readily available over the counter at my grocery store) daily gave me disturbing hear…

These units seem _incredibly_ low to me. Your skin can generate almost 3000 IU in just 15 minutes on the right day. Many doctors even recommend treatments of 150,000 IU or more, in one go to correct deficiencies (do not do attempt without a doctor's recommendation and supervision). I do not doubt your experience, but it seems incredible to me that just a 5000 IU supplement gave you heart palpitations. Then again, I'v…

I appreciate your respectful skepticism. It is entirely possible that the supplements contained significantly more than on the label. However, I'd like to point out that the generally recommended dose for supplements is only 800IU in adults, with up to 4000IU only in the case of Vitamin D deficiency. The "tolerable upper intake level" is 4000IU [1]. I am unable to track through Wikipedia's sources here at the moment, but that aligns with the parent of my original comment which I believe is in a peer reviewed journal. I would imagine that number was determined due to people like myself not tolerating amounts above 4000IU.

1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_D#Dietary_intake

Re: Vitamin D: the New Covid-19 Chloroquine?

#96

Since I was a child I’ve been a walking respiratory illness machine. Bronchitis, sinusitis, flu, pneumonia, common cold, etc. During “flu” season I was usually sick for the entire season with a rotating assortment of viral respiratory issues, this lasted until about 7 years ago. 8 years ago in September I started taking 10,000 IU of vitamin D3 and 180mg of K2 daily. I haven’t had a deputies illness since. My children…

Another data point: 5000 IU of D3 daily for years, after testing initially at around 20 ng/dL (iir the units c); this spring my level from a blood test was >90 in the first test since then. It seems like taking 10000 IU instead would've been overkill for me. I supplement K2 and Mg also (plus a few unrelated things). I also get sick less, though I made enough other changes I can't tell whether to credit the supplement…

What skin condition was helped? I have a skin condition that is anecdotally helped by supplementation but I see few or no controlled trials.

Re: Vitamin D: the New Covid-19 Chloroquine?

#97
post #60

With all this talk about Vitamin D and K deficiencies, which inevitable meanders onto Magnesium and fish oil supplements and whatnot; maybe it's time for a "vitamin subscription service"? Enter a bunch of information (location, lifestyle, diet, health issues) and get tailor made supplements sent to your home every month? The levels of some vitamins could vary depending on time of year (more D in winter) or circumstan…

These guys create a supplement based off your DNA: https://www.nutrahacker.com/ https://ginihealth.com/

These let you create the vitamin/supplement mix you want: https://getvitaminlab.com/

last time I tried, it ended up quite more expensive than my D vitamins.

Re: Vitamin D: the New Covid-19 Chloroquine?

#98
My anecdote. I learned about the importance of D3 on Steve Gibson's podcast about a decade ago. At the time had a kid in preschool and spent almost the whole year sick, so was quite intrigued.

Started with 1,000 IU a day and getting sick stopped abruptly. For the last decade or so, haven't been sick more than one day, two at max, with one exception.

Yes, believe I had CV in March and "walked it off" in about 6 days or so with mild symptoms.

Last few years I've taken 5,000 IU several times a week (from Trader Joes, which has an excellent price of $4.99). As compared to Albertsons which disgustingly tries to get $15-20 for the same thing. Unfortunately this news has made both C and D unavailable at Trader Joe's for months. We'll run out soon and need to buy the gouging price somewhere else.

Re: Vitamin D: the New Covid-19 Chloroquine?

#99

For me this is a perfect example of wishful thinking. It's really hard for average person to accept reality: This virus, like all others, will last for a long time. We won't have, in a foreseeable future, a treatment neither a cure. Cancer, HIV or even seasonal flue are good examples examples of diseases that were discovered decades ago for which science still don't have a cure, there are a few treatments or easing m…

We have extremely good treatments for HIV. And that one is particularly difficult to cure because it infects your immune system. Cancer isn't an infection and is a million different diseases lumped together. We could prevent the flu much more reliably if it didn't mutate so much. Will this disease do the same? Maybe. It's very hard to know.

So far SARS-CoV-2 mutates much slower than the various influenza strains due to fundamental differences in the RNA transcription mechanism. That is unlikely to change.

Re: Vitamin D: the New Covid-19 Chloroquine?

#100
post #57

These studies need to keep up until we can fully account for the difference in fatality not only worldwide, but state to state. Why has Japan, with an older population (median age 47), a tiny island, crowded indoor subways —- has only experienced 900 deaths and never locked down! while some zip codes in New York experiences 2x that amount. Even state to state the difference is alarming.

Diabetes is likely a factor: https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/931132 And obesity is strongly correlated with diabetes: https://www.diabetes.co.uk/diabetes-and-obesity.html There is a distinction to be drawn between obesity rates in the US and Japan and that might be part of the answer to your question.

New York state has about 6× the obesity rate of Japan.
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