Posted on 02/09/2022 10:36:30 AM PST by Signalman
Israeli scientists said they found "striking" differences in the chances of getting seriously ill from COVID-19 when they compared patients who had sufficient vitamin D levels prior to contracting the disease, with those who didn't.
A study published Thursday in research journal PLOS One found that about half of people who were vitamin D deficient before getting COVID-19 developed severe illness, compared to less than 10 percent of people who had sufficient levels of the vitamin in their blood.
We know vitamin D is vital for bone health, but its role in protecting against severe COVID-19 is less-well established.
The latest research was the first to examine vitamin D levels in individuals prior to them contracting COVID-19, the study authors said.
Dr. Amiel Dror, a study author and physician at the Galilee Medical Center, said of the findings: "We found it remarkable, and striking, to see the difference in the chances of becoming a severe patient when you are lacking in vitamin D compared to when you're not," per the Times of Israel.
The findings come from 253 people admitted to Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya, Israel between 7 April 2020 and 4 February 2021 – a period before the highly-infectious Omicron variant emerged.
Dror said the findings suggested vitamin D helped bolster the immune system to deal with viruses that attack the respiratory system.
"This is equally relevant for Omicron as it was for previous variants," Dror said.
The research doesn't prove vitamin D protects against COVID-19 and isn't a green light to avoid vaccines and take vitamins instead. Vaccines cut the risk of Omicron hospitalization, particularly after a booster, by up to 90 percent, according to the UK Health Security Agency.
Most vitamin D comes from direct sunlight on the skin. It's also found in foods such as fatty fish, mushrooms, and egg yolks as well as supplements.
Vitamin D levels of more than 20 nanograms per milliliter are considered sufficient for most people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – which is the benchmark used by the researchers from Bar-Ilan University and Galilee Medical Center.
Research compiled before the emergence of COVID-19 and published in The Lancet, found vitamin D cut the risk of other respiratory infections, compared with dummy drugs.
But for COVID-19, early findings have been inconsistent – some studies have found a link between low vitamin D levels and severe COVID-19, whilst others concluded the vitamin wasn't protective.
It wasn't clear – even from those studies with results showing a positive correlation between low vitamin D levels and severe COVID-19 – if depleted vitamin D came before or after people got sick, the Israeli researchers said.
Despite the new Israel data, we still don't know if low vitamin D levels cause people with COVID-19 to develop serious disease.
Underlying conditions that reduce vitamin D can also make people more vulnerable to severe COVID-19, for example.
The Israeli researchers cautioned vitamin D was "one piece of the complex puzzle" underlying severe COVID-19, in addition to comorbidities, genetic predisposition, dietary habits, and geographic factors.
"Our study warrants further studies investigating if and when vitamin D supplementation among vitamin D deficient individuals in the community impacts the outcome of an eventual COVID-19 episode," they said.
When I got it I took a D3 every day.
Only thing I took.
Title correction:
Mysterious Link Between Vitamin D And COVID-19 Reaffirmed in ‘Striking’ New Findings (half of people who were vitamin D deficient before getting COVID-19 developed severe illness, compared to less than 10 percent of people who had sufficient levels of the vitamin in their blood.)
I suspect it boosts the immune system, which helps it fight the COVID infection.
“When I got it I took a D3 every day.”
Me, too. Had taken 5,000+ iu faithfully every day for 16 months prior to Covid.
The article is typical of our time. It reports a study showing a “striking” link between low Vitamin D concentrations and susceptibility to Covid-19, and then spends the rest of the article creating doubt and roaming all over the map.
“Had taken 5,000+ iu faithfully every day for 16 months prior to Covid.”
Me too. Didn’t get very sick when I finally got it.
When I had it, I took 2000 IU of D3 daily. Also took vit C and zinc. It was basically a 2-day cold for me.
Yes and water is wet also.
Been taking D3,C,Zinc,and Quercetin everyday since the plandemic started. Haven’t been sick with anything since December 2019. I was even directly exposed to multiple vaccinated co-workers up to the day they were symtomatic with omicron.
Mom always said drink your milk.
Listen to Mom.
Don't wear a mask - and haven't for a long, long time.
Don't have any antibodies, so I've never had Covid.
Take zero precautions against getting Covid - pretty much lick doorknobs...
This is truly mysterious as vitamin D has long been known to be associated with a strong immune systen, but unfortunately cronies dont make enough money from it. Mysterious indeed
I’ve been on a prescribed Vitamin D capsule, 50,000 IU once a week for many years. Haven’t had Covid as far as I know. I am a homebody, but up until 4 weeks ago when I fractured the tibia in my knee, I’d been grocery shopping maskless twice a week at various stores, had regular doctor, dentist, and medical procedure appointments. I’ve also visited friends and family regularly these past two years. Every one of them got the shots. I haven’t. Spent two weeks each summer with my youngest son, and his wife in Indiana, hit every rest stop on the thruways from New York to Indiana on the way out and back, stayed overnight in hotels out and back each year, ate out at restaurants out, back, and while there, did grocery shopping out there, etc., and other than fracturing my knee putting my old iMac in the car to take it to the repair shop, I haven’t been sick. I’m 74, and have health issues.
“When I had it, I took 2000 IU of D3 daily. Also took vit C and zinc. It was basically a 2-day cold for me.”
Yes. It was a few days of sniffles.
A bit of flu symptoms, mild, that disappeared completely with ibuprofen.
Would not have known or thought anything of it in a normal time.
It was Christmas, we were at my moms and she takes it.
I knew the D3 connection so I took one everyday - and drank whole milk.
What is ‘mysterious’ about this? It’s long been known that D3 assists the immune system - and that a majority of North Americans are deficient.
“I have seen other information that 50-80ng/ml is the level that is most protective. I had a test recently and my Vit. D3 level was 52ng/ml. I take 5000 i.u. daily. “
correct ...
article based on BS spin from far-left BI article, which lied about significant findings from the ACTUAL study, making the vague claim that:
“Vitamin D levels of more than 20 nanograms per milliliter are considered sufficient for most people”
in point of fact, the Israeli study compared patients with less than 20 ng/ml with patients with greater than 40 ng/ml, finding the former were 14 times more likely to have severe or critical illness than the latter ...
“Of 1176 patients admitted, 253 had records of a 25(OH)D level prior to COVID-19 infection. A lower vitamin D status was more common in patients with the severe or critical disease (<20 ng/mL [87.4%]) than in individuals with mild or moderate disease (<20 ng/mL [34.3%] p < 0.001). Patients with vitamin D deficiency (<20 ng/mL) were 14 times more likely to have severe or critical disease than patients with 25(OH)D ≥40 ng/mL (odds ratio [OR], 14; 95% confidence interval [CI], 4 to 51; p < 0.001).”
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0263069
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