- In patients older than 40 years they observed that those patients who were vitamin D sufficient were 51.5 percent less likely to die from the infection compared to patients who were vitamin D deficient or insufficient with a blood level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D less than 30 ng/mL.
- Dr Holick: sufficient levels vitamin D can reduce the risk of catching coronavirus by 54 percent
- According to Boston University's Dr Michael Holick this study provides a simple and cost-effective strategy to improve one's ability to fight the corona virus and reduce COVID-19's adverse clinical outcomes, including requiring ventilator support, overactive immune response leading to cytokine storm and death.
- Dr Holick: "Because vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency is so widespread in children and adults in the United States and worldwide, especially in the winter months, it is prudent for everyone to take a vitamin D supplement to reduce risk of being infected and having complications from COVID-19."
- UK MP Davis: "This is a very important study on vitamin D and Covid-19. Its findings are incredibly clear. An 80% reduction in need for ICU and a 60% reduction in deaths, simply by giving a very cheap and very safe therapy - calcifediol, or activated vitamin D."
- the study demonstrates that the clear relationship between vitamin D and Covid mortality is causal.
- calcifediol treatment lead to a reduction of more than 50 per cent of ICU admission in hospitalised Covid-19 patients
- About 42 percent of Americans are vitamin D deficient, with higher rates among elderly Americans and people of color.
Rates of vitamin D deficiency are also higher in some of the same groups who have been hardest hit by coronavirus: people of color and elderly people. - vitamin D deficiency is nearly twice as common among black Americans than white people in the US. Higher levels of melanin in the skin of black and brown people make it more difficult for their bodies to absorb the vitamin.
- As the sun is a key element to vitamin D production, the BU researchers saw an additional parallel to coronavirus: timing.
'It is notable that the COVID-19 outbreak began during the winter. In 1981, a "seasonal stimulus: hypothesis had been suggested to explain epidemics of influenza A around the winter solstice. The biology, physiology, and epidemiology of vitamin D point to vitamin D as a likely candidate for the "seasonal stimulus" since the blood levels of 25(OH)D are lowest at the end of the winter,' the study authors wrote, referring to the last major pandemic the world saw, the Spanish flu. - sufficient vit D helps immune cells bind to their target pathogens, it regulates killer T cells, which go after everything from bacteria to cancer and, perhaps most importantly, it helps keep the balance between 'good' inflammation, as immune cells flood an infection site, and 'bad' inflammation, that runs haywire and starts attacking healthy cells.
https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m3872/rr-5
Vitamin D Mitigates COVID-19, Say 40+ Patient Studies (listed below) – Yet BAME, Elderly, Care-homers, and Obese are still 'D' deficient, thus at greater COVID-19 risk - WHY? | The BMJ
https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20200518/more-vitamin-d-lower-risk-of-severe-covid-19
More Vitamin D, Lower Risk of Severe COVID-19?
Vitamin D deficient COVID-19 patients had significantly lower haemoglobin and lymphocyte counts and higher levels of inflammatory markers. Entrenas Castillo et al., 2020, Spain : Parallel pilot randomized open-label trial * 76: High dose calcifediol reduced the severity of COVID-19 in patients requiring ICU admission.
Hospitalized COVID-19 patients who were vitamin D sufficient, with a blood level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D of at least 30 ng/mL (a measure of vitamin D status), had a significant decreased risk for adverse clinical outcomes including becoming unconscious, hypoxia (body starved for oxygen) and death. In addition, they had lower blood levels of an inflammatory marker (C-reactive protein) and higher blood levels of lymphocytes (a type of immune cell to help fight infection).
"This study provides direct evidence that vitamin D sufficiency can reduce the complications, including the cytokine storm (release of too many proteins into the blood too quickly) and ultimately death from COVID-19," explained corresponding author Michael F. Holick, PhD, MD, professor of medicine, physiology and biophysics and molecular medicine.
A blood sample to measure vitamin D status (measured serum level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D) was taken from 235 patients were admitted to the hospital with COVID-19. These patients were followed for clinical outcomes including clinical severity of the infection, becoming unconscious, having difficulty in breathing resulting in hypoxia and death. The blood was also analyze for an inflammatory marker (C-reactive protein) and for numbers of lymphocytes. The researchers then compared all of these parameters in patients who were vitamin D deficient to those who were vitamin D sufficient.
In patients older than 40 years they observed that those patients who were vitamin D sufficient were 51.5 percent less likely to die from the infection compared to patients who were vitamin D deficient or insufficient with a blood level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D less than 30 ng/mL.
Dr. Holick, who most recently published a study which found that a sufficient amount of vitamin D can reduce the risk of catching coronavirus by 54 percent, believes that being vitamin D sufficient helps to fight consequences from being infected not only with the corona virus but also other viruses causing upper respiratory tract illnesses including influenza. "There is great concern that the combination of an influenza infection and a coronal viral infection could substantially increase hospitalizations and death due to complications from these viral infections."
According to Dr. Holick this study provides a simple and cost-effective strategy to improve one's ability to fight the corona virus and reduce COVID-19's adverse clinical outcomes, including requiring ventilator support, overactive immune response leading to cytokine storm and death. "Because vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency is so widespread in children and adults in the United States and worldwide, especially in the winter months, it is prudent for everyone to take a vitamin D supplement to reduce risk of being infected and having complications from COVID-19."
- Study evaluated effectiveness of calcifediol on patients at hospital in Barcelona
- Found those given doses of Vitamin D were 80 per cent less likely to require ICU
- David Davis hailed the findings as a 'very important study' in a series of tweets
Vitamin D reduces Covid-19 deaths by 60 per cent, a study has found, as MP David Davis today called for the therapy to be rolled out in hospitals immediately to 'save many thousands of lives.'
The study evaluated the effectiveness of calcifediol - a Vitamin D3 - on more than 550 people admitted to the Covid-19 wards of the Hospital del Mar in Barcelona, Spain.
Subjects were randomly assigned as either recipients of the calcifediol treatment or as controls on admission, before receiving five doses of the vitamin in increasing intervals of two, four, eight and 15 days.
The research, published by the Social Science Research Network, found Covid-19 patients given doses of Vitamin D were 80% less likely to require ICU treatment.
Those from the University of Barcelona also concluded that 'adjusted results showed a reduced mortality of more than 60%' for those who were given the calcifediol treatment.
Former Brexit Secretary David Davis today hailed the findings as 'a very important study', adding: 'The findings of this large and well conducted study should result in this therapy being administered to every Covid patient in every hospital in the temperate latitudes.'
He said: 'Furthermore, since the study demonstrates that the clear relationship between vitamin D and Covid mortality is causal, the UK government should increase the dose and availability of free vitamin D to all the vulnerable groups.
'These approaches will save many thousands of lives. They are overdue and should be started immediately.'
The research, which is preliminary and not yet peer-reviewed, found 36 of the 551 patients treated with calcifediol died from Covid-19 compared to 57 patients out of 379 in the control group.
Elsewhere, researchers found only five per cent of the calcifediol group were admitted to the ICU.
The study said: 'In this open randomised study conducted during the first European outbreak of the deadly Covid-19 pandemic, we have observed that, in hospitalised Covid-19 patients, treatment with calcifediol reduced the requirement for critical care by more than 80 per cent.
'This supports the conclusion of a prior pilot trial in Cordoba in which calcifediol treatment lead to a reduction of more than 50 per cent of ICU admission in hospitalised Covid-19 patients.'
Earlier in the pandemic, it was revealed the link between Vitamin D and coronavirus was being kept 'under review' by Matt Hancock as studies began to suggest that having low levels of the vitamin heightened the risk of mortality.
The Health Secretary had asked the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to continue to research emerging evidence after authorities began 'encouraging' people to take supplements, the Guardian reported.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: 'Evidence of the link of vitamin D to Covid-19 is still being researched and we keep all strong evidence on treatments under review.'
It comes as a separate study revealed Vitamin C and zinc won't help fight off Covid.
Findings from the trial, which looked at the benefits of the two supplements to people isolating at home with the virus, were so unimpressive that scientists decided to call it off altogether.
While both have proved popular in fighting off other viral colds and flu, they 'failed to live up to their hype', according to an editorial published in the JAMA Network Open journal.
Three groups of 214 adults recovering from Covid at home took part in the trial, which saw them given high doses of Vitamin C, high doses of zinc and both.
A fourth group, meanwhile, received fever-reducing medications and were told to rest and hydrate but didn't take any of the supplements.
But scientists found no evidence of a reduction of Covid symptoms in any of the first three groups.
Furthermore, high doses actually went on to cause unpleasant side effects for some including nausea, diarrhea and stomach cramps.
Previous research has found that, as an antioxidant, Vitamin C plays a crucial role in supporting the immune system and can shorten colds by 14% in children and 8% in adults.
However, the National Institutes of Health found it didn't appear to be helpful if taken after cold symptoms start.
Zinc, meanwhile, could help cells fight infection, with a deficiency contributing to decreased production of antibodies.
A review of 13 studies said zinc can reduce the length of a cold by a day if taken within 24 hours of the very first signs, but warnings have been issued against its use in nasal sprays after being linked to more than 100 cases of loss of smell.
https://www.vladtv.com/article/269581/study-claims-vitamin-d-reduces-risk-of-death-from-covid-19
Study Claims Vitamin D Reduces Risk of Death from COVID-19
Feb 13, 2021
Since the release of the COVID-19 vaccine in various areas, many companies have been reporting the effectiveness of their vaccines. However, there may be another way to combat COVID. Recently, former Brexit secretary David Davis took to the internet to voice his opinion on vitamin D, saying a supplement could possibly beat COVID-19. Via Twitter, Davis posted a study and gave some of his thoughts on the 16-page study, along with brief numbers to match.
Davis said, "This is a very important study on vitamin D and Covid-19. Its findings are incredibly clear. An 80% reduction in need for ICU and a 60% reduction in deaths, simply by giving a very cheap and very safe therapy - calcifediol, or activated vitamin D."
From there, Davis said, "The findings of this large and well-conducted study should result in this therapy being administered to every Covid patient in every hospital in the temperate latitudes. Davis concluded by saying "the UK government should increase the dose and availability of free vitamin D to all the vulnerable groups."
source: SSRN
https://scitechdaily.com/more-evidence-that-vitamin-d-protects-against-severe-covid-19-disease-and-death/
More Evidence That Vitamin D Protects Against Severe COVID-19 Disease and Death
OCTOBER 2, 2021
....
Spanish studies
One particular paper from the University of Barcelona has attracted attention, claiming to be just this type of study.
It suggested vitamin D had staggering success, with an 80% reduction in intensive care admissions and a 60% reduction in Covid deaths.
It was widely shared online. But it has since been removed from the Lancet's preprint server over "concerns about the description of the research", and it is now being investigated.
The removal has not been shared in the way the original paper was.
Vitamin D was given to whole wards which often care for patients based on how ill they are, not randomly assigned to individuals. And the Covid patients in the study who died had radically different levels of the vitamin to start with, suggesting they were more ill in the first place.
The Conservative MP David Davis, who called in Parliament for vitamin D supplementation to be introduced in hospitals, told the BBC that despite the retraction, he believed the study still showed vitamin D was important, and argued the government should be funding more research into it.
Aurora Baluja, an anaesthesiologist and critical care doctor in Spain, who reviewed the Barcelona study for the Lancet before it was withdrawn, said the kind of "extreme" effect found in the paper is "never found" in a randomised controlled trial, making it highly likely to be the result of bias.
She said, although vitamin D deficiency was a "well-established risk factor" among people who die in intensive care, "vitamin D supplementation alone has always failed to reduce the risk of those patients".
Dr Baluja explains the deficiency is often being caused by something much more profound, like malnourishment or kidney failure, rather than patients' deaths being caused by the deficiency. ...
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-8774015/Could-getting-vitamin-D-reduce-COVID-19-death-risks-52.html
COVID-19 patients who get enough vitamin D are 52% less likely to die of the infection, study finds
PUBLISHED: 25 September 2020
- Boston University researchers found that COVID019 patients with 'sufficient' levels of vitamin D were about 52 percent less likely to die after hospitalization
- Rates of severe illness were about 13 percent lower in vitamin D-sufficient patients and intubation was 46% less common
- Vitamin D plays a crucial role in the immune system's ability to fight infection and keep inflammation - which kills many COVID-19 patients - in check
- About 42 percent of Americans are vitamin D deficient, with higher rates among elderly Americans and people of color
- Black, Hispanic and elderly people are also among the hardest hit by coronavirus
Vitamin D plays a crucial role in the immune system and may combat inflammation. These features may make it a key player in the body's fight against coronavirus.
Rates of vitamin D deficiency are also higher in some of the same groups who have been hardest hit by coronavirus: people of color and elderly people. It's by no means a causal link, but suggests that vitamin D could play a role in who gets COVI-19, who gets sickest from it, and who is spared altogether.
Boston University's Dr Michael Holick found in his previous research that people who have enough vitamin D are 54 percent less likely to catch coronavirus in the first place.
Following on that work, he and his team have found that people who don't get enough of the vitamin are far more likely to become severely ill, develop sepsis or even die after contracting coronavirus.
Because vitamin D deficiency is common in people with other disease that raise coronavirus risks, it's impossible to say exactly how many lives would be spared if we all got our daily dose of the sunshine vitamin.
But we know that about 42 percent of the US population is vitamin D deficient. If that rate held true for the more 203,000 Americans who died of coronavirus, perhaps some 85,000 would have fared better with improved vitamin D levels.
In Britain 20 per cent of the population suffer from the deficiency, according to the British Nutrition Foundation. When the rate is applied to the UK's 41,936 deaths from coronavirus, it suggests 8,387 of them could have been helped with improved levels of Vitamin D.
Whether or not vitamin D supplements should be taken to reduce coronavirus risks is controversial, but getting enough of the 'sunshine vitamin' plays a role in the immune system's ability to fight infection and keep inflammation from getting out of control. New research suggests COVID-19 patients who get enough vitamin D are 52% less likely to die of the infection.
'This study provides direct evidence that vitamin D sufficiency can reduce the complications, including the cytokine storm (release of too many proteins into the blood too quickly) and ultimately death from COVID-19,' Dr Holick said.
Dr Holick and his colleagues took blood samples from 235 patients admitted to hospitals in Tehran for COVID-19.
Overall, 67 percent of the patients had vitamin D levels below 30 ng/mL.
There isn't a clear marker for the ideal level of vitamin D, but 30 ng/mL is considered a sufficient. Anything below that is 'insufficient,' but won't necessarily have broad-ranging health consequences, while levels below 20 ng/mL are considered 'deficient.'
In the US, an estimated 42 percent of people are vitamin D deficient, but the rate varies considerably in different demographics.
About 60 percent of elderly people living in nursing homes, for example, are thought to be vitamin D deficient.
The most likely explanation is that they simply spend too much time indoors.
Sunlight is our primary source of vitamin D.
When we are exposed to ultraviolet (UV) radiation in rays of sunshine, it reacts with cholesterol in our skin, triggering the production of vitamin D.
In an increasingly indoor world, rates of vitamin D deficiency have climbed.
PEOPLE WITH LOW LEVELS OF VITAMIN D FARE WORSE AGAINST COVID-19 BY ALMOST ANY MEASURE
Among the patients in the BU study, those who had sufficient blood levels of vitamin D were less likely to have dangerously low blood-oxygen levels and were more likely to be conscious upon arrival at hospitals.
Patients with low levels of vitamin D were 46 percent more likely to need to be intubated or to develop acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) - the lung failure condition that proves fatal for many COVID-19 patients.
Vitamin D deficient patients also had higher levels of C-reactive protein, a likely early marker of severe COVID-19, and low counts of white blood cells - a bad sign for their immune systems.
Overall, 74 percent of the patients, who ranged in age from 30s to 90s - developed severe COVID-19.
But the rate among vitamin D sufficient people was lower: about 64 percent had severe disease.
All of the under-40 patients included in the study survived COVID-19.
But 16.3 percent of those who were 40 or older - 38 people - ultimately died of coronavirus.
That included just 9.7 percent of people with sufficient vitamin D levels, while 20 percent of those who had low levels of the vitamin died.
What's more, those with particularly high vitamin D levels - 40 ng/mL - were at the lowest risk of death, with just 6.3 percent of that group dying.
HOW VITAMIN D HELPS THE BODY FIGHT INFECTIONS
Vitamin D is a common ingredient in numerous immune system processes.
To name a few: it helps immune cells bind to their target pathogens, it regulates killer T cells, which go after everything from bacteria to cancer and, perhaps most importantly, it helps keep the balance between 'good' inflammation, as immune cells flood an infection site, and 'bad' inflammation, that runs haywire and starts attacking healthy cells.
Particularly, it moderates cytokines, the immune proteins that whip up into a fatal 'storm' in many coronavirus patients.
'Indeed, the anti-inflammatory role of 1,25(OH)2D' - the chemical name for the vitamin - 'could explain the protective role of vitamin D against immune hyper reaction and cytokine storm in a subgroup of patients with severe COVID-19,' the study authors wrote.
GROUPS HARD HIT BY CORONAVIRUS ALSO HAVE HIGH RATES OF VITAMIN D DEFICIENCY
Vitamin D deficiency is common in groups with chronic conditions including heart disease and obesity, which are also more vulnerable to COVID-19. However, parsing out whether the vitamin deficiency is a factor that leads to these conditions or vice versa is complicated, and scientists are still working toward answers.
The nutrient deficiency is also common in people of color. In fact, at about 76 percent, vitamin D deficiency is nearly twice as common among black Americans than white people in the US.
Higher levels of melanin in the skin of black and brown people make it more difficult for their bodies to absorb the vitamin.
These groups have been hit disproportionately hard by coronavirus, both in terms of cases and deaths.
Because the sun is a key element to vitamin D production, the BU researchers saw an additional parallel to coronavirus: timing.
'It is notable that the COVID-19 outbreak began during the winter. In 1981, a "seasonal stimulus: hypothesis had been suggested to explain epidemics of influenza A around the winter solstice. The biology, physiology, and epidemiology of vitamin D point to vitamin D as a likely candidate for the "seasonal stimulus" since the blood levels of 25(OH)D are lowest at the end of the winter,' the study authors wrote, referring to the last major pandemic the world saw, the Spanish flu.
Mayo Clinic experts recommend getting at least 600 IU of vitamin D a day, whether via sunshine or supplements. It's generally considered safe to take up to 2,000 IU a day, but anyone with or at risk of kidney disease should not do so, as an overload can harm kidneys, causing staltones and other problems.
Taking too much can also elevate calcium levels, cause a host of digestive issues and may lead to bone loss in some cases - and scientists still don't know what, exactly, is the optimal level of vitamin D, or how much is too much.
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