Vitamin D

[palacegirl77]

Apologies if there have been any posts about this (I know some people HATE duplicate posts being started but I couldnt be bothered to look beyond the first few pages!). Just wondered if anyone had researched the effects of Vit D (or the effect a lower level of it can have in worsening effects of covid). Lots of papers researching this. Made me wonder if this is a factor in the higher levels of BAME cases as the darker the skin the harder it is to absorb vitamin d from the sun. Public health England recommend everyone should take a supplement as we are all pretty deficient in it, due to lifestyle. New studies coming from China that many people that died from it had very low levels - more common than normal levels. Worth paying a tenner out for some supplements in my opinion but (apart from the panic buying thing) cant understand why the Government arent suggesting we all take it?

Yes imo quite likely.
There are a few threads

I agree with you. John Campbell covered this a few days ago - death rate among those deficient in vit D was 10x higher than for people with normal levels.

We’ve been taking it daily for the past 6 weeks.

Really 10 times??? thats insane! why arent we being asked to take it? Ive ordered some more for my dad. Luckily I take it routinely during the winter months but topping it up now too.

Nhs advice has generally been to supplement but i suspect most people dont maybe because other messages
You can get it from sun
You dont need vitamins if you eat healthy diet...
Conflict
Also not mentioned is that you may need more if overweight or bame.

I dont regularly eat vit d rich foods egg/salmon/tuna etc.

But the interesting fact is Scandinavian ountries have cod liver oil. High in vir d but also anticoagulant.
And that southerm hemisphete is doing much bettervas are african countries... Yet uk cant work out why??

Oh and over 40yo your skin doesnt make it as well and obviously elderly in care homes are very likely to be deficient as are
Hospitalised people
And actually shift workers (hcp/maybe bus /tube drivers...)

Vit d protects against cytokine storms which is why people end up in icu. And can affect blood clots. But also someone said your body uses it up when fighting infection

Iirc, you must take vit K2 if you are taking D3. Apparently it's not good to take one without the other. And you need quite high doses to affect lung capacity sufficiently to help if you got covid

Its interesting. The shift worker thing could definitely be an issue too - one of the cases of a 34 year old care worker stated he worked nights and lived in Scotland. Youd hazard a guess his 'natural' vit d levels would be low. My elder brother had yearly chest infections which would floor him each year. The last one he has he was so bad he could barely bend over - he had chest xrays and bloods. A couple of days later the doctor phoned and asked if her was feeling better - my brother said no and the doc said not surprised! His vit d levels were dangerously low. Hes been on max strength vit d since and hasnt had a cough or cold in 5 years!

MrsHunt - thank you will look into that now!

Is it true that you must take K2 if you are taking D3?

Yes. It can be dangerous if you don't take vitamin K with it.

Also in at least one study they discovered the vitamin D needs to be from the sun to be protective not from a bottle.

Thanks oldbagface. A nurse friend recommended vit d supplement and I am taking 4000iu daily. No Vit K though. Now I’m thinking it may not be safe.

@Inacountrygarden

Hi, I’ve just posted this on the other Vit D thread then saw your message on this one. Here’s a cut and paste FYI:

Lots of vitamins and minerals inter-play.
In terms of K and D they have an important relationship along with calcium.

D ensures that Calcium is absorbed by the body and K ensures that it goes to your bones (where it should go) and not to your arteries (which would cause calcification- not desirable at all!).
So without adequate K, if you take lots of supplementary D, it takes the calcium to the wrong places.
You can buy sprays which contain D and K together or if you supplement with D alone ensure you eat plenty of foods high in K:
dark chicken meat, egg yolks, liver and hard cheese (specifically Gouda/Jarlsberg).

HTH

CountryGarden - as they work synergistically with each other, just take a K2 supplement in tandem with vitamin D, or get it through diet... hard cheese like gouda or jarlsberg, dark chicken meat, liver, pâté, egg yolks, grass fed butter. Also fermented vegetables... the kind you get in the chiller at the health food store (or homemade) not the jars in the supermarket. K2 is different from K1 which is the green leafy kind. There’s limited conversion between the two, maybe something to do with gut bacteria, but not really understood.

kresserinstitute.com/vitamin-k2-consuming-enough/

All I can say is that my GP told me to take Vitamin C and Vitamin D because they think I am suffering post Covid 19. I doubt that they will ever put that in writing….

I am on prescription Vitamin D for ten years plus; doctor has never mentioned anything about Vitamin K or tested me for it!

I suspect that people who are old or ill already are more likely to be V D deficient and so that skews the research a touch.

5-10 minutes outside is sufficient.

5-10 minutes is not enough for everyone I’m afraid.

And it depends on the angle of the earth so you can only effectively manufacture D from the sun at the hottest parts of the day (generally 11-3) at certain times of the year on certain days. Although 2-3 times a week in the sun is probably enough, you don’t need every single day.

The darker your skin the longer you need.
Hence the link between BAME living in northern hemisphere and Covid risk.
A person of black African descent living in the U.K. could not spend 5 minutes a day in the sunshine and make enough D sadly.

GPs have next to no training in nutrition unfortunately. Yes they might test for D deficiency but they won’t know every other vitamin and mineral interaction. I cannot imagine a GP checking to see if you eat enough vitamin K. I wish they did give out more nutritional advice. It could help the British health crisis no end.

My BIL was diagnosed a few years ago with type 2 diabetes but has had to find out about how to balance blood sugar levels totally alone. All the gp does is monitor his bloods. That’s useful of course, but considering it can practically be reversed by diet and lifestyle it is shocking to me that no advice is given. Even Google can assist you more.