If you weren’t paying attention to the studies (which weren’t being reported in mainstream media), you wouldn’t know that covid is largely a condition of Vitamin D deficiency. The evidence has been there since May of 2020, but virtually no one is reporting on it, or paying attention. Meanwhile, and the government locked you in your house all year, eliminating your Vitamin D production, in order to fight covid!
This curated playlist of Vitamin D videos tracks our year of research and the scientific basis for using Vitamin D to prevent and cure covid.
Vitamin D, Large scale studies
Low plasma 25(OH) vitamin D level is associated with increased risk of COVID‐19 infection: an Israeli population‐based study (Federation of European Biochemical Societies Journal)
Comparing data across nations, mortality from COVID-19 is clearly higher in some countries than in others
Relative vitamin D status of populations
Vitamin D supplementation could be especially important for older people
Functions
Calcium and phosphate balance
Affecting bone growth and turnover
Low vitamin D status
Associated with increased susceptibility to infectious disease
Notably, upper respiratory tract infections
Treating the lowest levels gives most percentage benefit
Vitamin D and COVID-19
Virus emerged and started its spread in the northern hemisphere at the end of 2019
When levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D are lowest
COVID-19 mortality was significantly associated with vitamin D status in different populations
Nordic countries, widespread fortification of foods
Italy and Spain, prevalence of vitamin D deficiency, surprisingly common
Black and minority ethnic people
UK, more than four times more likely to die from COVID-19
In COVID
Vitamin D supports production of antimicrobial peptides in the respiratory epithelium
Might help to reduce the inflammatory response
Vitamin D is known to interact angiotensin- converting enzyme 2
SARS-CoV-2 down regulates expression of ACE2
Vitamin D promotes expression of this gene
Rose Anne Kenny
Trinity College Dublin
Lead investigator of the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing
The circumstantial evidence is very strong
we don’t have randomised controlled trial evidence, but how long do you want to wait in the context of such a crisis?
We know vitamin D is important for musculoskeletal function, so people should be taking it anyway
Vitamin D supplements should normally be given to care home residents unless there is an extremely good reason not to do so.
Adrian Martineau
Queen Mary University of London
At best vitamin D deficiency will only be one of many factors involved in determining outcome of COVID-19
but it’s a problem that could be corrected safely and cheaply
there is no downside to speak of, and good reason to think there might be a benefit
Vitamin D dose
IU mcg
400 10mcg
800 20mcg
1,000 25mcg
2,000 50mcg
4,000 100mcg[+] Show More
active
Vitamin D, Large scale studies
Low plasma 25(OH) vitamin D level is associated with increased risk of ...
Low plasma 25(OH) vitamin D level is associated with increased risk of COVID‐19 infection: an Israeli population‐based study (Federation of European Biochemical Societies Journal)
It has been observed that vitamin D-deficient individuals
have increased COVID-19 risk and mortality
Pharmacologic treatments for ...coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): a review. JAMA 2020;323:1824–36. doi: 10.1001/jama.2020.6019
The role of vitamin D in the prevention of coronavirus disease infection and mortality.
Aging Clin Exp Res 2020;32:1195–8. doi: 10.1007/s40520-020-01570-8
Association of vitamin D status and other clinical characteristics with COVID-19 test results.
JAMA Netw Open 2020;3:e2019722. (Published 3 Sep 2020).doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.19722
Immunomodulatory role and protective effect of vitamin D against other viral infections
Vitamin D supplementation to prevent acute respiratory tract infections: systematic review and meta-analysis of individual participant data. BMJ 2017;15:356:i6583. doi: 10.1136/bmj.i6583
An intervention study with calcifediol noticed a reduction in requirement for intensive care among hospitalised patients for COVID19
Effect of calcifediol treatment and best available therapy versus best available therapy on intensive care unit admission and mortality among patients hospitalized for COVID-19: a pilot randomized clinical study.
50 patients treated with calcifediol, one required admission to the ICU (2%), no deaths
26 untreated patients, 13 required admission (50 %) to the ICU, 2 deaths
Immune-modulatory effect of vitamin D is likely to be observed at 25(OH)D levels, which are considered higher than that required for its skeletal effects
Vitamin D to prevent COVID-19: recommendations for the design of clinical trials. Febs J2020;287:3689–92. doi: 10.1111/febs.15534
Positive correlation between circulating cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide (hCAP18/LL-37) and 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels in healthy adults.
BMC Res Notes 2012;5:575. doi: 10.1186/1756-0500-5-575
Vitamin D sufficiency, a serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D at least 30 ng/mL reduced risk for adverse clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19 infection.
PLoS One 2020;15:e0239799.doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0239799
Habitual use of vitamin D supplements and risk of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection: a prospective study in UK Biobank (29th January, 2021)
Vitamin D supplementation, lower risk of acute respiratory tract infection
Emerging evidence, vitamin D insufficiency is related to a higher risk of coronavirus infection and disease
Objectives
To investigate the prospective association between habitual use of vitamin D supplements and risk of COVID- 19 infection
Associations according to levels of circulating and genetically predicted vitamin D
Methods
N = 8,297 adults
Records of COVID-19 test results from UK Biobank
16 March 2020 to 29 June 2020
Results
Of the 8,297 adults, 1,374 (16.6%) tested positive
Vit D users, n = 363
Non-vit D users, n = 7,934
Unadjusted model
OR 0.78 (p = 0.105)
Adjustment for covariates
Age, sex, race, origin (outpatient or inpatient), blood-type, years of education, TDI, smoking, moderate drinking, physical activity, healthy diet score, use of any other supplements
Inverse association emerged
Between habitual use of vitamin D supplements and risk of COVID-19 infection
OR, 0.66, (P = 0.038)
Habitual use of vitamin D supplements was significantly associated with a 34% lower risk of COVID-19 infection
No association with baseline blood vitamin D levels and risk of COVID-19 infection
Associations between the risk of COVID-19 infection and habitual use of other individual supplements
Vitamin A, vitamin B, vitamin C, vitamin E, folic acid, a
multivitamin,
Calcium, zinc, iron, selenium, glucosamine, fish
Oil
Vitamin D Deficiency and Outcome of COVID-19 Patients
Medical University Hospital Heidelberg, (September 2020)
Identification of modifiable prognostic factors may help to improve outcomes
N = 185, diagnosed and treated in Heidelberg
Median Vitamin D level was 16.6 ng/ml
Associations of vitamin D status with disease severity and survival
Vitamin D status assessed at first presentation
Deficient
25-hydroxyvitamin D (Calcifediol)
level less than 12 ng/mL ( less than 30 nM)
N = 41 (22%)
Median IL-6 levels at hospitalization were significantly higher
70.5 versus 29.7 pg/mL
Insufficiency
Less than 20 ng/mL (less than 50 nM)
N = 118 (64%)
Higher levels
N = 26
Median Vitamin D level was significantly lower in the inpatient versus the outpatient subgroup
Results
Median observation period of 66 days
93 (50%) patients required hospitalization
28 patients required ventilation
Including 16 deaths
Adjusting for age, sex, comorbidities
Deficiency was associated with higher risk of ventilation and death
Mechanical ventilation
HR 6.12
p less than 0.001
Death
HR 14.73
p less than 0.001
Other hazard ratios
Male, 1.69 2.5
Over 60, 3.2 7.7
Comorbidity, 2.7 5.3
Need for interventional studies
Cholecalciferol
Calcifediol
Active form of vitamin D3, 1, 25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25D3), calcitriol, is
pluripotent hormone and important modulator of both innate and adaptive immunity[+] Show More
https://data.oireachtas.ie/ie/oireachtas/committee/dail/33/joint_committee_on_health/reports/2021/2021-04-07_report-on-addressing-vitamin-d-deficiency-as-a-public-health-measure-in-ireland_en.pdf
Vitamin D levels and deficiency with different occupations: a systematic review. Sowah et al. BMC Public Health (2017) ...17:519 doi:10.1186/s12889-017-4436-z
Vitamin D Deficiency Is Associated With an Increased Likelihood of Incident Depression in Community-Dwelling Older Adults. Briggs et al. doi:10.1016/j.jamda.2018.10.006
Vitamin D supplementation for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19: a position statement from the Spanish Society of Geriatrics and Gerontology. Tarazona-Santabalbin et al. nhttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.regg.2021.02.001
The Environment and Disease: Association or Causation? Bradford Hill. Proc R Soc Med 1965 May; 58(5): 295–300. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1898525/
Scientific Opinion on the Tolerable Upper Intake Level of vitamin D. EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA) (2012) EFSA Journal;10(7):2813. [45 pp.] doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2012.2813.
Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) Vitamin D and Health. Crown copyright 2016. Report available online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/scientific-advisory- committee-on-nutrition
Dietary Reference Intakes for Calcium and Vitamin D. Institute of Medicine (IOM) (2011) Washington, DC: The National Academies Press
The Safety of Vitamins and Minerals in Food Supplements – Establishing Tolerable Upper Intake Levels and a Risk Assessment Approach for Products Marketed in Ireland (Revision 2). FSAI Scientific Committee on Nutrition (2018) Dublin: FSAI.
Tithe na Oireachtais; Joint Committee on Health debate. Tuesday, 23 Feb 2021 https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/joint_committee_on_health/2021-02-23/
Perspective: Vitamin D deficiency and COVID-19 severity plausibly linked by latitude, ethnicity, impacts on cytokines, ACE2 and thrombosis. Rhodes, J.M.; Subramanian, S.; Laird, E.; Griffin, G.; Kenny, R.A.. J. Intern. Med. 2020.
Autumn COVID-19 surge dates in Europe correlated to latitudes, not to temperature-humidity, pointing to vitamin D as contributing factor. Walrand, S., Sci. Rep. 2021
COVID-19 Nursing Homes Expert Panel: Final Report. Department of Health, 19 August 2020
Population and Labour Force Projections 2017-2051. Central Statistics Office.
Healthy Ireland Survey 2015, Summary of Findings.
Obesity in an Ageing Society Implications for health, physical function and health service utilisation. Siobhan Leahy, Anne Nolan, Jean O’Connell, Rose Anne Kenny (The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing, TCD and St. Vincent’s University Hospital, Dublin) 2014.
A High Prevalence of Vitamin D Deficiency Observed in an Irish South East Asian Population: A Cross-Sectional Observation Study. Laird et al, November 2020. doi:10.3390/nu12123674
Successful nutrition policy: improvement of vitamin D intake and status in Finnish adults over the last decade. Raulio et al., 2017. doi:10.1093/eurpub/ckw154
Effect of calcifediol treatment and best available therapy versus best available therapy on intensive care unit admission and mortality among patients hospitalized for COVID-19: A pilot randomized clinical study. Castillo et al; 2020 doi:10.1016/j.jsbmb.2020.105751
Vitamin D and clinically extremely vulnerable (CEV) guidance. UK Government Publications, February 2021.
The Joint Committee on Health
The Committee heard evidence that Vitamin D deficiency is prevalent across the population and the report recommends that public health measures are established to address that deficiency. These public health measures are preventative in nature and are recommended to reduce the risk of respiratory and other illnesses such as osteoporosis.
1 That daily Vitamin D supplementation of 20-25µg/day should be recommended to the entire adult population as a public health measure,
higher doses recommended for vulnerable groups under medical supervision.
2 That a public health policy, which promotes better knowledge of the benefits of Vitamin D, and which encourages Vitamin D supplementation, should be developed in time for consideration in Budget 2022.
3 That reducing the cost of Vitamin D supplementation, in order to promote its uptake, should be considered.
4 That specific measures need to be put in place for vulnerable groups, and for frontline and healthcare workers,
so that Vitamin D supplementation is administered on an opt-out basis,
and for the duration of this pandemic, people should be offered Vitamin D supplements when presenting at Covid-19 test centres.[+] Show More
active
Vitamins D and K2
Download my two educational text books for free using this link: ...
Download my two educational text books for free using this link: http://159.69.48.3
Dietary intake of vitamin K and risk of prostate cancer in the Heidelberg cohort of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC-Heidelberg)
No strong evidence proves that moderate amounts of vitamin D are harmful without an adequate intake of vitamin K. However, research is ongoing, and the picture might become clearer in the near future.[+] Show More
active
The Vitamin D debate with Professor Spector
Many thanks to Tim and the Zoe team who made this possible.
Many thanks to Tim and the Zoe team who made this possible.
active
Mr David Davis MP and Vitamin D
Thank you for a fascinating and important interview Mr. Davis. ...
Thank you for a fascinating and important interview Mr. Davis.
Severe vitamin D deficiency remains an issue throughout the UK
Cross-ethnic analyses on the prevalence and determinants of vitamin D deficiency
25(OH)D equal to or less than 25 nmol/L Calcifediol
10 ng/ml
Data from 440,581 UK Biobank participants
415,903 identified as White European
7,880 Asian
7,602 Black African
1,383 Chinese
6,473 of mixed ancestry
Prevalence of vitamin D deficiency
Asian ancestry
57.2% in winter or spring
50.8% in summer or autumn
Black African ancestry
38.5% in winter and spring
30.8% in summer or autumn
Mixed ancestry
36.5% in winter and spring
22.5% in summer or autumn
Chinese ancestry
33.1% in winter and spring
20.7% in summer or autumn
White European ancestry
17.5% in winter and spring
5.9% in summer or autumn
Participants with higher socioeconomic deprivation
More likely to have 25(OH)D deficiency compared to less deprived participants (P = less than 1 × 10 −300)
This pattern was more apparent among those of White European ancestry
Regular consumption of oily fish was associated with reduced odds of vitamin D deficiency across all ethnicities
Asians are less likely to eat fish or use vitamin D supplements compared to other ethnicities
Outdoor-time in summer was less effective for Black Africans than White Europeans
Other risk factors
Living further north
Indoor employment
Computer time and games
Professor Elina Hypponen (SA)
The severity of vitamin D deficiency is concerning
especially with the high rates of COVID-19 infections in Europe and elsewhere in the northern hemisphere this winter
Clinical trials have shown that vitamin D supplements are beneficial in the prevention of respiratory infections and even mortality
Vitamin D is not expensive and the doses which have shown the greatest benefits are those that we can all acquire over the counter from the local pharmacy
Given the COVID-19 pandemic, now is really the time for all who may be affected to take action[+] Show More
active
Vitamin D news and science
BMJ references in this video relating to 'Covid-19: Do many people ...
BMJ references in this video relating to 'Covid-19: Do many people have pre-existing immunity' are based on a rapid response letter NOT to an empirical paper.
Patients who had a vitamin D level measured in the year before COVID-19
testing
Relative risk of testing positive for COVID-19 was 1.77 times
First clinical trial on vitamin D and COVID
Therapy versus best Available Therapy on Intensive Care Unit Admission and Mortality Among Patients Hospitalized for COVID-19: A Pilot Randomized Clinical study" (Spain, Journal of steroid biochemistry and molecular biology)
76 consecutive patients hospitalized with COVID-19 infection
Clinical picture of acute respiratory infection
Confirmed by a radiographic pattern of viral pneumonia
Positive SARS-CoV-2 PCR
Procedures
All hospitalized patients received as best available therapy
Hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin
Allocated at a 2 calcifediol:1
Oral calcifediol (0.532 mg), or not
Oral calcifediol (0.266 mg) on day 3 and 7
Then weekly until discharge
End points, ICU admission and deaths.
Results
50 patients treated with calcifediol
One required admission to the ICU (2%),
Of 26 untreated patients, 13 required admission (50%)
p less than 0.001
Of the patients treated with calcifediol, none died, and all were discharged, without complications
Of the patients not treated, 2 died
Conclusion
Calcifediol seems to be able to reduce severity of the disease
Larger trials with groups properly matched will be required to show a definitive answer
Rationale, activation of the vitamin D receptor (VDR) signalling pathway
Reduced ARDS
Cytokine/chemokine storm
Regulating the renin angiotensin system
Modulating neutrophil activity
Maintaining the integrity of the pulmonary epithelial barrier
Stimulating epithelial repair
Tapering down the increased coagulability
Ventilate
Don't abdicate
Dilute that virus
So you stay great
Ventilate
Don't complicate,
Complain or whine
You'll acclimate
Contemplate
When you congregate
Does the air here circulate
Instigate, Nominate
Educate, Motivate
I hope this message will resonate
That when we populate
Instead of isolate
Ventilate
Don't abdicate
Dilute that virus
So you stay great[+] Show More
