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?

What can I give my 8 year old daughter? The pharmacy doesnt have her prescription in stock and they dont know when it will be. I've rang around and others don't stock it. She only has a multivitamin with vitamin d added. She needs 6000iu.

Sorry but there is enough information and guidance about eating well and properly out their.im If you go your whole life ignoring that then thats on you. Its not like people have not been told, unless you lived in a forest with no technology your whole life you will have heard about it in the news, papers, letters even at your doctors.

Someone mentioned care homes well that's the responsibility of the care homes to ensure they are fed correctly. Isnt that what your paying them for, the care right.

This can help prevent deaths. I don’t think the information is out there about this new research with regards to respiratory disease and COVID-19.Or most people haven’t read/seen it.

A large percentage of the population is currently deficient I think the stats say 80%.

So people don’t understand and aren’t getting the message. I still read about people thinking they can get sufficient vitamin D from diet. (You can’t). Cases of rickets are rising in children.

I think a government advice campaign on this would be helpful. It could be the next ‘wash your hands’.

Making sure people on care homes are fed properly will not ensure an optimal level of vitamin D....

Give them vitamins but its not the governments responsibility to pay for it. Otherwise we may as well hand over the money we earn they give it back to us, feed us and send us our shopping and dictate all aspects of our life cos they pay for it.

The government is already paying peoples wages as it is and we are all gonna be saddled with higher taxes afterwards to clear the debt.

I don’t think the government should pay for it but it should be communicated as a public health message. It’s not expensive for people to buy if they understand the importance

@cyclingmad - so the government can tell people to wash their hands but shouldn't tell people that vitamin D bolsters their immune system against respiratory tract infections? Umm, ok.

Even better than pills, let people sit in the sun as part of their "allowed" time outside

I didnt day they cant tell people, I'm disagreeing about the post which is they should give them for free.

cyclingmad

Its not like people have not been told, unless you lived in a forest with no technology your whole life you will have heard about it in the news, papers, letters even at your doctors.

Sorry this incorrect.
The NHS website does of course mention the benefits of vitamin D in relation to a healthy skeleton but there is no immunological recommendation and certainly the NHS does not publicize the link between respiratory virus defence and vitamin D. This is entirely new data.

The NHS does not recommend that the public should take vitamin D supplements to help them fight viral respiratory diseases. This information is derived from new scientific research papers written in the last three years.

Here are some of the research papers:
clinmedjournals.org/article...ases-and-epidemiology-jide-3-030.php?jid=jide

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

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

www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-21211/v1

imj.ie/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Optimisation-of-Vitamin-D-Status-for-Enhanced-Immuno-protection-Against-Covid-19.pdf

Important: please do not state that the Government or the NHS has been recommending the public take vitamin D in order to fight viral diseases - this is simply not true. The NHS website only mentions rickets:
www.nhs.uk/conditions/vitamins-and-minerals/vitamin-d/

My understanding is the ROI government told their citizens to start taking vit d.

As a result, we're now taking it also even though we're in Aus and have just come through summer, as most of us here avoid the big bloody cancer heat ball as much as we can!

@Dropped - thanks for the reference to Ireland's recent recommendation that vitamin is taken. In case this link doesn't work, an interesting article can be found in the Irish Examiner newspaper.
www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/irish-studies-find-vitamin-d-can-build-covid-19-resistance-991995.html
They recommend it is given to Covid-19 patients and all HCP too. Not just a general public health recommendation.

Also if you can get it from the sun in the UK then that is best as you absorb it better. I think it is a bit mean of the state to say people out on their daily walk cannot sit alone on a park bench as some older people cannot walk very far and a little sit in the sun at no risk to others and well away from others would be good for them. If my exercise is yoga (it is) which I do in the sunshine in my garden and the regulations say you can go out to exercise (and that includes riding, surfing and all sorts) then I suspect lying in the sun in a park doing yoga is permitted under the regs. You are going out to exercise. The fact you are not trying to jog does not stop yoga being a form of exercise. The fact it is not on Boris J's kind - I think he used to try to run, should not make any difference. If the state wants to change the regulations to include a definition of "exercise" then it can do so.

So actually I think you can in law sit in a park and do yoga in the sun. if you bring a yoga mat even easier to convince the police I suppose but keep well away from other people. Mind you at this rate we will have couples saying having sex in the open is their exercise and that would be a step too far! I wonder how nudist colonies are doing in this lock down.

I used to get every cold going. I went to the doctor about a different health matter and severe Vit D deficiency was shown in bloods.

I take a large does of D3 daily and have done for 3 years and I have had one cold in that time in spite of kids always having them - I just thought I was lucky!

I started taking Vit D a couple of years ago after a friend of a similar age found she was deficient and her health improved after taking supplements.

When I had a blood test for a different reason they found my Vitamin D levels were too high. I was red haired when young and am very fair and freckly. Apparently red haired people are rarely deficient in Vitamin D.

@DroppedBoxxedRuth

The situation in Australia has some interesting research around the use of sun lotion. Not only that it stops the absorption of vitamin D but also actually contributes to skin cancer because of the way it interrupts the natural interplay of how the skin deals with UVA and UVB rays.

I’ve only seen small bits of research about it, but it kinda took my breath away. Trying to do good with sun lotion....but enormous unintended consequences

@corabel I’m fair and freckly too and when mine was tested recently (coming out of winter) it was in the high (but not too high) side. I had been supplementing but fair people do need a much shorter time in the sun and it is darker skinned and olive skinned people who tend to me more deficient. Especially in the U.K. and countries with a more northern latitude.

@Xenia yes what does count as exercise? You could definitely argue yoga/Pilates on a mat away from other people in a park is fine and probably easier than trying to dodge people jogging. 😂 About sexercise!

I have not had my vit D levels tested but I try for 20 minutes in the sun with no suncream - usually after lunch but have been doing it a bit earlier in the last few days as my student sons are home and I get more peace in the mornings when they often sleep. I cannot stand much more than that as I just get too hot (and I am white and freckly). I have not read the research recently but my recollection was most white people could do with that - no suncream, about 20 mins in the sun each day in Spring/summer to get Vit D the best way. I agree with the comment above about being able to get more more easily if you are very white with freckles and I think we also have the most Neanderthal DNA too and those chaps had to survive some extremely cold European winters so probably developed so every bit of sun was readily converted to vit D.

@hamstersarse I use spf 50 on my face only, and wear a hat as much as possible.

But I don't use suncream on any other part of my body. I avoid the sun as much as possible in summer but in autumn and spring will try to get around 15 mins in the morning in the sun and then I'm done.

I don't like the idea of slathering cream all over me. It just doesn't feel right. I'm not surprised at what you say, but I haven't read anything like that. I should Google it.

Brilliant. I am paleish and freckly and can never be bothered with suncream. Hate my legs though so they are always covered. Maybe I should get them out...

LWJ70 I wasn't saying it was related to the virus I was responding to other posters saying there is enough information about how to eat healthy snd ensure you get all the right vitamins and at what level

cyclingmad

Ah sorry, OK I understand now. It's just that a few people are stating that the link between health and vitamin D is widely known, when the point I'm trying to get across relates to viral infections not healthy teeth and bones.

Here are three scientific articles with strong evidence that vitamin D gives us a fighting chance against viral respiratory diseases. Interestingly two of the articles cite evidence that sufficient vitamin D levels in the blood reduce the cytokine storm inflammation in the lungs. This is the reason why some patients have to be placed on a ventilator because their lungs fill up with fluid.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3756814/

2013 Abstract US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health

‘’This study suggested that those who received supplementation had lower incidence of influenza A than in those who received placebo. Interestingly, the effect was remarkably strong in children with asthma. The children who received fortified milk reported having fewer acute respiratory infections ……. Vitamin D influences cytokine profiles.’’

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5340372/

2017

Department of Pediatrics, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou Branch, Taoyuan, Taiwan

‘’In conclusion, this study is the first to reveal that infants with low cord serum 25(OH)D levels have poorer lung function at 6 months of age compared with those with high levels. They also have a higher risk of a respiratory tract infection before this age.’’

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4488782/

Queen Mary University of London
2015

‘’Vitamin D deficiency has been shown to be independently associated with increased risk of viral acute respiratory infection (ARI) in a number of observational studies, and meta-analysis of clinical trials of vitamin D supplementation for prevention of ARI has demonstrated protective effects.’’

‘’all the studies reviewed demonstrated effects of vitamin D metabolites on expression and secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines.’’

Thanks for the lnks. My brief sunbathes without sunscream are just in knickers...... (don't worry the neighbours cannot see in) and depend on the weather. I don't know if that has helped but I have only caught 2 colds in 2 years and those were from my sons.