Evidence to suggest vitamin D can prevent viral respiratory infections and lessen the severity if you do contract it

[Roostersmum2]

Just sharing this here for anybody who wasn't aware of the benefits of vitamin D in regards to respiratory infections. He knows what he's talking about

In summary, if you're not already - take vitamin D

We're taking 4000iu vitamin D daily w/ 1000iu vitamin C

Just to emphasis that people other darker skin tones living in climates with less sun are more at risk for vitamin d deficiencies. Though i am sure I’ve seen somewhere that the nhs predicted most people in the uk are vitamin d deficient.

There is no research that definitely confirms whether it is better for non-white people to have high levels of serum Vit D or not. All the research has done is correlate low serum vitamin D levels to osteoporosis in post-menopausal black and South Asian women (by comparing similar instances to white women). However, and this is important, the black and South Asian women studied might have been poorer with less access to HRT or other conditions (such as obesity and autoimmune disease) which are known to cause low serum Vitamin D levels.

I imagine, if we extrapolate this out, low Vitamin D may correlate to diagnosed and (more importantly) undiagnosed autoimmune disease (which darker skinned people are more likely to get if they are black or South Asian). And someone who has an autoimmune disease may have an immune system that goes haywire when exposed to viruses / parasites / pregnancy (in women).

Well I didn't know that about the vitamins and low fat dairy products Siameasy. I tend to buy full fat versions of things anyway but my partner keeps trying to get me to give DD low fat versions. I will mention this to him.

What’s BAME?

Rightly or wrongly I've always assumed the everyone should take VitD was because the NHS were trying to be PC and not single out any ethic groups.

@Blackbear19 it’s not about being PC? Regardless of skin colour you are at risk of vitamin c deficiency in the uk because of lack of sunlight. What do people try and make everything politically

@GrumpyHoonMain no people with darker skin tones have more melanin in their skin which is a natural ‘sunscreen’ absorb less UV and therefore make less vitamin d in the same amount of time as someone with less melanin in their skin.

www.sunsmart.com.au/vitamin-d/how-much-sun-is-enough

I don’t really understand what you are talking about with autoimmune diseases and stuff.

@Blackbear19 also the NHS always ‘single out’ people based on ethnic groups.

Check diabetes pages they mention south Asians being at greater risk, Caucasians at higher risk for many genetic diseases, Africans at greater risk for sickle cell.

I wish people would do the slightest research before they spout rubbish about ‘PC culture’

Rightly or wrongly I've always assumed the everyone should take VitD was because the NHS were trying to be PC and not single out any ethic groups.

The nhs website points out that 'People with dark skin, such as those of African, African-Caribbean or south Asian origin, will need to spend longer in the sun to produce the same amount of vitamin D as someone with lighter skin. '

www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-body/how-to-get-vitamin-d-from-sunlight/

But in winter there isn't enough sun of the required intensity for anyone. Modern diets tend not to include enough sources such as oily fish, liver and full fat dairy products.

Interesting and new article, written by the Syracuse University Department of Chemistry and published a few 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 areas: 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.

A number of articles are being written about a link between immunity and vitamin D deficiency - and their recommendations are becoming clearer and clearer.

Here's one published a few days ago by the School of Biological and Health Sciences, College of Sciences & Health, Technological University Dublin.

socialcareireland.ie/optimisation-of-vitamin-d-status-for-enhanced-immuno-protection-against-covid-19/
or here:

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

Conclusions and Recommendations:Vitamin D deficiency is common and may contribute to increased risk of respiratory infection including Covid-19. We recommend that all older adults, hospital inpatients, nursing home residents and other vulnerable groups (e.g. those with diabetes mellitus or compromised immune function, those with darker skin, vegetarians and vegans, those who are overweight or obese, smokers and healthcare workers) be urgently supplemented with 20-50µg/d of vitamin D to enhance their resistance to Covid-19, and that this advice be quickly extended to the general adult population.

One of the studies from which they derived their conclusions from was a study of 21,000 subjects by Baltimore researchers.

The subjects with vitamin D deficiency had a 64% increased risk of community-acquired viral pneumonia.

This study was carried out in September 2019.

We take vitamin D. Ds2 was told to after breaking his leg & the consultant said we all should really.

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.’’

I think 4,000 is too much. 1000 if you’ve no known deficiency is recommended. It’s not like vitamin C - you can overdose on it

How much is too much vitamin d and what happened if you overdose?

DD pretty much average teen, not especially outdoorsy but put most days in the summer was taking 2000. Dr tested her she was still deficient. We all take 4000 now

@Growingboys it’s toxic and builds up over time which is why you need to be careful. @hazelnutlatteplease if your daughter is deficient that’s one thing. If people are just taking this to try help prevent severe Covid then 1,000 should be sufficient if you don’t know you are deficient. Taking any more can lead to it building up in your system to toxic levels which is the last thing anyone needs.

Seeing that 4000iu is sold in shops as the upper limit I am sure it is not helpful to scaremonger! Most people in this country anyway are deficient especially after winter.

From Mayo clinic, Vitamin D toxicity symptoms.
And description of 10 patients with this sickness.

Hypercalcemia from high vitamin D is generally only an issue when vitamin K2 intake is inadequate. Simply take D3 in tandem with K2, or ensure you eat plenty of K2 rich foods such as cheese (esp gouda, liver, pate, red meat, full fat pastured dairy products and butter etc. And cutting down on processed foods such as sugar, processed carbs and vegetable seed oils. K2 is necessary to shepherd calcium in the blood to the bones and teeth, so they are strong, straight and well formed... and away from the soft vascular tissues where they cause calcified plaques and circulatory disease. D3, K2 and calcium all work in synergy with each other.

Your vitamin D needs depend on a variety of factors. These include your age, skin color, current blood vitamin D levels, location, sun exposure and more.

Research also shows that consuming 1,000 IU daily would help 50% of people reach a healthy level. Consuming 2,000 IU daily would help nearly everyone reach a healthy blood level.

www.healthline.com/nutrition/vitamin-d-dosage#section2

Two weeks ago I recovered from covid 19 - it was a really horrible viral infection, believe me. I have been taking D3 at 1000IU for the last year and live in all year round sunny climate.

@lljkk yes but does it talk about the HUMUNGOUS doses you need to take for it to be toxic and the number of people that happens too (minuscule). Just saying - stop scaremongering. We have enough to be afraid of.

*to

One recent study looked at data from more than 20,000 people over a 10-year period. It found that only 37 people had levels above 100 ng/ml (250 nmol/l). Only one person had true toxicity, at 364 ng/ml (899 nmol/l) (8Trusted Source).

In one case study, a woman had a level of 476 ng/ml (1,171 nmol/l) after taking a supplement that gave her 186,900 IU of vitamin D3 per day for two months (9).

Someone asked what were the symptoms of overdose.

I screenshot the symptoms from a reliable website.

I gave a link to some case studies for what the presentations looked like. That was information.

NONE OF THAT IS SCAREMONGERING.

To screenshot symptoms of overdose without the fact that it is extremely rare and is because of excessive and prolonged consumption is scaremongering.