Posted on 03/19/2021 11:18:09 AM PDT by Red Badger
Food rich in vitamin D.
In a retrospective study of individuals tested for COVID-19, vitamin D levels above those traditionally considered sufficient were associated with a lower risk of COVID-19.
A new research study at the University of Chicago Medicine has found that when it comes to COVID-19, having vitamin D levels above those traditionally considered sufficient may lower the risk of infection, especially for Black people.
The study, published today (March 19, 2021) in JAMA Open Network, retrospectively examined the relationship between vitamin D levels and likelihood of testing positive for COVID-19. While levels of 30 ng/ml or more are usually considered “sufficient,” the authors found that Black individuals who had levels of 30 to 40 ng/ml had a 2.64 times higher risk of testing positive for COVID-19 than people with levels of 40 ng/ml or greater. Statistically significant associations of vitamin D levels with COVID-19 risk were not found in white people. The study looked at data from over 3,000 patients at UChicago Medicine who had had their vitamin D levels tested within 14 days before a COVID-19 test.
The research team is now recruiting participants for two separate clinical trials testing the efficacy of vitamin D supplements for preventing COVID-19.
This research is an expansion of an earlier study showing that a vitamin D deficiency (less than 20 ng/ml) may raise the risk of testing positive for COVID-19. In the current study, those results were further supported, finding that individuals with a vitamin D deficiency had a 7.2% chance of testing positive for the virus. A separate study recently found that over 80% of patients diagnosed with COVID-19 were vitamin D deficient.
“These new results tell us that having vitamin D levels above those normally considered sufficient is associated with decreased risk of testing positive for COVID-19, at least in Black individuals,” said David Meltzer, MD, PhD, Chief of Hospital Medicine at UChicago Medicine and lead author of the study. “This supports arguments for designing clinical trials that can test whether or not vitamin D may be a viable intervention to lower the risk of the disease, especially in persons of color.”
Meltzer was inspired to investigate this topic after seeing an article in early 2020 that found people with vitamin D deficiency who had randomly been assigned to receive vitamin D supplementation had much lower rates of viral respiratory infections compared to those who did not receive supplementation. He decided to examine data being collected at UChicago Medicine on COVID-19 to determine the role that vitamin D levels might be playing.
“There’s a lot of literature on vitamin D. Most of it has been focused on bone health, which is where the current standards for sufficient vitamin D levels come from,” Meltzer explained. “But there’s also some evidence that vitamin D might improve immune function and decrease inflammation. So far, the data has been relatively inconclusive. Based on these results, we think that earlier studies may have given doses that were too low to have much of an effect on the immune system, even if they were sufficient for bone health. It may be that different levels of vitamin D are adequate for different functions.”
Vitamin D can be obtained through diet or supplements, or produced by the body in response to exposure of the skin to sunlight. Meltzer noted that most individuals, especially people with darker skin, have lower levels of vitamin D; roughly half of the world’s population has levels below 30ng/ml. “Lifeguards, surfers, those are the kinds of folks who tend to have more than sufficient vitamin D levels,” he said. “Most folks living in Chicago in the winter are going to have levels that are well below that.”
While vitamin D supplements are relatively safe to take, excessive consumption of vitamin D supplements is associated with hypercalcemia, a condition in which calcium builds up in the blood stream and causes nausea, vomiting, weakness, and frequent urination. If left unchecked, it can further lead to bone pain and kidney stones.
“Currently, the adult recommended dietary allowance for vitamin D is 600 to 800 international units (IUs) per day,” said Meltzer. “The National Academy of Medicine has said that taking up to 4,000 IUs per day is safe for the vast majority of people, and risk of hypercalcemia increases at levels over 10,000 IUs per day.”
One of the challenges of this study is that it is currently difficult to determine exactly how vitamin D may be supporting immune function. “This is an observational study,” said Meltzer. “We can see that there’s an association between vitamin D levels and likelihood of a COVID-19 diagnosis, but we don’t know exactly why that is, or whether these results are due to the vitamin D directly or other related biological factors.”
Prompted by the evidence that people with vitamin D deficiency are more likely to test positive for COVID-19 and experience significant symptoms, a team at the University of Chicago and Rush University is conducting two studies to learn whether taking a daily vitamin D supplement can help prevent COVID-19 or decrease the severity of its symptoms.
Individuals who would like to learn more about the study and determine their eligibility can visit https://chess.uchicago.edu/vitamind/
Reference: “Association of Vitamin D Levels, Race/Ethnicity, and Clinical Characteristics with COVID-19 Test Results” by Thomas J. Best, Hui Zhang, Tamara Vokes, Vineet M. Arora and Julian Solway, 19 March 2021, JAMA Network Open. DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen/2021.4117
it certainly can!
The USA is a multicultural nation. We used to be a constitutional republic where individual liberty and responsibility was valued.
I take 2 ‘baby aspirin’ each morning...................
Unless, you are over 6’5” and 250 #’s, 1 baby aspirin is probably enough.
I was on one in the morning and one at night. The cardio told me to skip the morning dose and just take the evening one. Also, don’t lay down for 10 minutes after taking the evening dose. That was on my latest note from the pharmacy.
This was so totally known over a year ago.
Shame on Trump, Fauci, etc., for not getting it blasted high and low (along with zinc, C and D) instead of the friggin’ Operation Warpspeed, lockdowns, masks, etc.
It was discussed by many banned experts at least as far back as 13 months ago.
Many community swimming pools didn’t open last summer. Course the elites had either their own swimming pools or belong to Elite country club switched it open.
Is Fauci purely evil or just so enamored of himself that he craves adoration and power above solving problems?
Mine was doctor’s orders after my heart attack and Quad By-pass in April 2020................
There are probably several reasons why African countries have such low rates of Covid deaths. One of them may be their very low rates of obesity. Another may may be routine use of hydroxychloraquin for malaria prevention. A third may may be be that they have a much younger population in general then do the United States and European countries.
That’s it.
You follow your doctor’s orders.
I was diagnosed with AFib about 6 years and the cardio’s wanted me on the same dose as you.
My cardio at our current PPO cut the dose to one a day and wanted to eliminate the second. My wife and I convinced him to leave it to one/day to avoid strokes.
3 years ago I needed an aorta stent. After the procedure the top stent doc wanted me on your regimen for a year and two blood thinners.
After that one year, their top stent doc told me to take a baby aspirin before bedtime as long as I was on this side of the grass.
Their pharmacy treats the baby aspirin like an RX drug. My cardio writes for a 90 day supply, and I pay a small price and the aspirin is mailed to me in a standard Rx vial along with my other drugs. They want us to use it and not over do it.
I just use Sam’s store brand................
“In a retrospective study of individuals tested for COVID-19, vitamin D levels above those traditionally considered sufficient were associated with a lower risk of COVID-19.”
The principal source for D is the sun. Healthy people spend more time in the sun. Healthy people are less susceptible to the virus. Does Vitamin D provide protection or does being healthy?
“Best form of D3 is Carlson’s Norwegian Cod Liver Oil,”
I take Carlson’s fish oil in the winter for my dry eyes, (Helps a lot) and once accidently picked up their cod liver oil.
Well remembering the smell and taste of it because of my Grandmother, it took me weeks to give it a try. It smelled and tasted fine!
The virus uses ACE2 receptors to infect.
Obese people have many extra ACE2 receptors, kids very few.
Just got news that a friend that I used to drive to church years ago, passed away this morning, ostensibly from “covid”.
He resembled this photo very much.
Going to miss you, Ed. Hope you made it to Heaven.
That’s not racist or anything. 🤔
I’m on 5,000 iu. I will have to look up the NAC.
You want to take about 30 to 50 mg/day.
I believe the FLCCC home protocol suggests increasing it during illness.
I take about 30 mg chelated zinc daily. If I start feeling under the weather I also take Quercetin.
You should be able to get zinc through Amazon. Mercola and Research Biotics also both have it, typically. There are others. Feel free to PM me.
Very sorry to hear about your friend. We’ve had a number of family members who’ve passed because of COVID and one who had a stroke after taking the vaccine and quite a number made sick by it. A couple still have not gotten their sense of smell back completely. We take our vitamin D3 religiously.
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