Should the Government be handing out free doses of Vitamin D NOW?

[LWJ70]

I have recently discovered (from reading very new scientific abstracts) that low Vit D levels leave us more prone to respiratory tract viruses. Most people only associate it with a healthy skeleton. After a long, cold winter, millions of us could be slightly deficient. Our most vulnerable section of society is unable to make use of the sunlight, which is beneficial.Could this explain the greatly differing pathways of coronavirus throughout the globe? Read these abstracts:

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30675873
clinmedjournals.org/article...ases-and-epidemiology-jide-3-030.php?jid=jide

Difficult to decipher the abstract's stats without looking at the full paper. It is a summary from 25 previous studies with a grand total of 11,321 participants. It is published by US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health with a big participation from the Centre for Primary Care and Public Health, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London.

One thing is clear though:

''Vitamin D supplementation was safe, and it protected against ARIs overall. Very deficient individuals ................... experienced the benefit.

(ARI = acute respiratory infections)

I am amazed why this info is not being published in the wider public domain. Instead we have celebrity workouts, toilet rolls and memes.

Elderly people in sunny climates are probably not aware that they have afforded themselves a greater fighting chance to survive coronavirus.

There are 5.4 million people in the UK above the age of 75 years. The majority of them are locked in their houses (or they would prefer to be). If they leave their houses to buy vitamin supplements from a pharmacist, they could be exposed to the coronavirus. This is not far-fetched- a coronavirus can survive nine days or more on plastic/metal surfaces. Many parts of the UK are at a perfect temperature now for viral stability. If two thirds of infected people are asymptomatic, the infection is already everywhere.

My point is, why doesn't the NHS select the most vulnerable and make a mass delivery of Vit D or a broad spectrum of supplements?

[Calledyoulastnightfromglasgow]

I don’t understand why the NHS doesn’t publicise this. Along with leafy green veg, magnesium, making sure iron and B12 optimal.

[Ohchristmastreeohchristmastree]

I wouldn’t worry too much about getting the K2. I don’t think they did in the original study. Just crack on with getting the D3.

[Hearhoovesthinkzebras]

I thought it was widely publicised that most people in the Northern hemisphere are vitamin D deficient?

[RetroRosie]

Ive known this for years and always supplement in winter at least.

[NeverTwerkNaked]

Yes my uncle has always told us to take it but he ramped up his nagging as the first studies came out of Wuhan

[ViciousJackdaw]

Yes, straight after clapping the NHS, let's put even more strain on them by making them hand something out for free which costs a couple of quid at the chemist.

[adiposegirl2]

I am amazed why this info is not being published in the wider public domain.

It's because big Phama don't make money off healthy people.

[FourTeaFallOut]

We have a largely joined up socialised healthcare system which benefits from a healthy population. How would 'big pharma' interfere with recommending vitamin d? That's just not a thing.

[LWJ70]

My original post did not highlight the fact that people from the northern hemisphere are more likely to be Vit D deficient right now. Small school children in school are taught this. This is a widely know fact.

The point of my original post is to highlight the fact that in the last 3 years there have been a few studies which provide clear evidence that Vit D supplements give the immune system a better fighting chance against respiratory viruses.

Also I am trying to point out that countries with warm temperatures and constant sunshine all year round seem to have more of a fighting chance. Please look at this world dynamic spreadsheet and filter for Tot cases/Pop and look at the total deaths. It's very striking:

www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries

Here are the original two articles which describe the evidence for Vit D supplements helping our bodies fight respiratory viruses:

//www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30675873

clinmedjournals.org/articles/jide/journal-of-infectious-diseases-and-epidemiology-jide-3-030.php?jid=jide

[RegDet]

From the NHS website "Most people can make enough vitamin D from being out in the sun daily for short periods with their forearms, hands or lower legs uncovered and without sunscreen from late March or early April to the end of September, especially from 11am to 3pm."

There's no risk of making too much and if you are pale skinned you need surprisingly little time and exposure to get 1000IU.

[ClientQueen]

@RegDet I read that ages ago - weirdly my friend who owns a stables has been found to be deficient. I mean she is outside 8am - 5pm, 7 days a week all year, I found it really surprising
I guess it shows even if you think you're getting enough exposure you might not be?

[AnneJeanne]

Why does the government have to provide this?

[Kokeshi123]

I don't know if the government should hand it out free for everyone, but they need to make sure that there isn't a rush to purchase it and then everyone runs out.

And yes I am surprised that the government is not saying something. Also, why aren't they telling people to wear masks?

[LWJ70]

Why does the government have to provide this?

Interesting question AnneJeanne.

1 x ventilator cost = from £16,000

60 Vit D tablets = from £1.15

That equates to nearly 14,000 doses of Vit D supplement.

There are 1,141,400 pensioners in Birmingham. It would cost approx £1,312,610 to give them all 2 months free doses of Vit D. This amount of money only makes 82 ventilators. Dyson (or whatever engineering company) will probably take 3/4 months to start producing ventilators.

I'm not proposing that the Gov should not construct ventilators. I'm saying that whilst it takes 2/3 months to start acquiring new ventilators, money spent on Vit D supplements (in the meantime) would be a good option right now.

[LWJ70]

Sorry my numbers are incorrect.
There are approx 147,900 pensioners in Birmingham.

That would cost £170,085 to give them all 2 months free doses of Vit D

[Thepigeonsarecoming]

Yes take Vit D supplements but don’t exceed the maximum dose, don’t take them continually and alongside other multivitamins

www.healthline.com/nutrition/vitamin-d-side-effects#5

[LWJ70]

Thepigeonsarecoming

The supplements are clearly labelled. My original post is not about advising the general public about whether or not they are taking the right dosage or if they should go to the pharmacists

There are 5.4 million people in the UK above the age of 75 years. The majority of them are locked in their houses (or they would prefer to be). If they leave their houses to buy vitamin supplements from a pharmacist, they could be exposed to the coronavirus. This is not far-fetched- a coronavirus can survive many days on plastic/metal surfaces. Many parts of the UK are at a perfect temperature now for viral stability. If two thirds of infected people are asymptomatic, the infection is already everywhere.

My point is, why doesn't the NHS select the most vulnerable and make a mass delivery of Vit D or a broad spectrum of supplements?

[LWJ70]

Interesting and new article, written by the Syracuse University Department of Chemistry and published 6 days ago.

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Papers.cfm?abstract_id=3561958

Key data is a graph of latitude versus deaths per 1000 cases reported.

Conclusion: ''COVID-19 morbidity and mortality are correlated with vitamin D deficiency......... Indeed, the raw data from the World Health Organization show that barely 1% of the reported deaths worldwide occurred in individuals south of the Tropic of Cancer''

Peak death rate is very clearly between the 40th and 50th parallel north latitudes. Note that the following regions lie in this geographical region: London, New York, Lombardy and Madrid.

Notable decrease in Norway, Sweden and Denmark latitudes: ''Scandinavian nations have some of the lowest vitamin-D deficiency rates on Earth ............attributed mainly to dietary supplementation, with both fish liver oils and vitamin-D-fortified milk.''

Indonesia and Philippines seem to show higher than expected death rates perhaps due to higher rates of vitamin D deficiency and limited testing in high population densities.

Overall year-round sunny nations seem generally to have lower death rates, perhaps due to a combination of sunlight exposure and vitamin D levels and also the viral instability above 28 degrees C combined with ultra violet rays.

[Tonyaster]

weirdly my friend who owns a stables has been found to be deficient. I mean she is outside 8am - 5pm, 7 days a week all year

If she's like me and is out all the time but wearing a hat and long sleeves and possibly sunscreen then she could be deficient. I wear gloves most of thr time as well! I take 1000 a day was going to up it to 2000 but might not having read this.

[LWJ70]

Interesting article here from the British Medical Journal (10/3/20).

www.bmj.com/content/368/bmj.m1101/rr-10

''Among the first 15 deaths due to covid-19 in Stockholm, six were reported, by the Swedish-Somali medical society, to be of Somali origin (March 24). Considering that only 0.84% of the Stockholm County population was born in Somalia this is an astonishing high rate...........................
A risk factor that we want to highlight, however, is the low vitamin D ................... the great majority of Swedish women of Somali origin had very low levels .............Somali women required more than twice the amount of vitamin D in order to maintain recommended vitamin D status.''

Of course there are other possible causal factors intertwined here.

Another country which does not seem to be following the latitude trends is Ecuador, which is suffering from the pandemic quite badly. It turns out that this country, despite having ample sunlight, has high levels of vitamin D deficiency - up to 70% of the population:

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5576417/

[blackcat86]

I've ordered a thriva blood test. I have wanted a blood test due to feeling run down and repeated infections which clearly wont happen with all that is going on but regardless of what it says I want to keep an eye on my levels

[Calledyoulastnightfromglasgow]

Now better weather is here, get as much sun as you can (without burning). If you are lucky enough to have a garden, sit with midriff and limbs bare.

The U.K. is appallingly lax at this stuff

[feelingverylazytoday]

The government can't hand out everything for free. Most people can acquire vit D safely from the sun from April onwards. Perhaps that's why we're being allowed to exercise outdoors.

[Fluffycloudland77]

I think we need more public information adverts on tv, you have to be fairly proactive and intelligent to research these things on your own.

Not everyone is but if you tell them enough it will get through to them in the end. I have seen patients genuinely not interested in nutrition but it doesn’t mean they deserve to suffer.

People have a vague idea what they should be doing but they need to have more detail to connect it to their lives.

[Fluffycloudland77]

Giving cod liver oil to kids used to happen here too years ago. One of my patients swore cod liver oil with malt was a delicious childhood treat so I bought some in boots that week.

Imagine black treacle mixed with fish. It went in the bin. It was beyond vile.