SEVERE COVID DAMAGE & DEATH HAND-IN-HAND WITH LOW VITAMIN D, yet another European study indicates.
“We are dealing with a novel virus where emerging observational data indicate significantly poorer outcomes in those who are vitamin D deficient,” stated Dr. Daniel McCartney, Ireland’s Technological University, calling for urgent widespread vitamin D supplementation to help resist Covid-19.
From Trinity College in Dublin: “We hypothesize vitamin D plays a role in severity of responses to Covid-19 and the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in Europe will be closely aligned to COVID-19 mortality,” the study began.
[BTW, don’t mess with that McCartney. That quote is from his ferocious rebuttal of a criticism of his study, and l tell you, it’s an enjoyable read—to all but the critics who must still be salving their sore buttholes.]
“Whereas there are currently no results from randomised controlled trials to conclusively prove that vitamin D beneficially affects COVID-19 outcomes,” said Professor Rose Anne Kenny, one of the Trinity authors, “there is strong circumstantial evidence of associations between vitamin D and the severity of COVID-19 responses, including death.”
Evidence Circumstantial, But Powerful
A lack of proper Vitamin D “is most prevalent with age, obesity, in men, in ethnic minorities, in people with diabetes, hypertension and in nursing homes,” Kenny said.
Those characteristics closely match covid victims in the USA, don’t they?
The Trinity study analyzed Vitamin D status in European countries infected by Covid-19, from published medical information, along with Covid-19 infection and death data from the World Health Organization.
This chart shows a rough but visible conclusion: countries with a higher level of Vitamin D had fewer deaths from covid. And just a little Vitamin D could mean a lot. The UK’s vitamin D level of 50, versus Italy’s D level of 34, for instance, meant a death rate of about 95 for UK, and a death rate of about 280 for Italy—about three times as many deaths per capita. And check out the difference between Ireland and Spain!
Well-Documented Assertions
Just below Figure 1, the Irish Medical Journal report cited four other studies (footnotes 20-23) backing this statement: “We observed that low 25(OH)D [blood level] concentrations appear to be associated with increased mortality from COVID-19.
“Countries with a formal vitamin D fortification policy appear to have the lowest rates of infection, while countries with no policy and highest deficiency rates appear to be more adversely affected,” the statement continued.
“Observational reports have also highlighted that COVID-19 infection and death rates appear to be higher in ethnic minority populations with darker skin, which research has shown to be at much higher risk of vitamin D deficiency.”
The study called for more research “urgently pursued,” admitting it is not perfect, due to “country by country. . . variation in testing” and other factors.
About “Older” and “Darker” People
Since it’s difficult to get enough vitamin D from food—especially inside nursing homes with their world-renowned cuisine—and since older people tend to stay out of the sun, it’s easy to reason that low D may be complicit in their covid slaughter, along with their general physical weakness and close proximity with others.
As for “darker skin,” the U.S. National Institutes of Health states:
“Greater amounts of the pigment melanin in the epidermal layer result in darker skin and reduce the skin’s ability to produce vitamin D from sunlight. Various reports consistently show lower serum 25(OH)D levels in persons identified as black compared with those identified as white. It is not clear that lower levels of 25(OH)D for persons with dark skin have significant health consequences.”
Well, the fact that U.S. minorities are getting slaughtered out of all proportion seems a f-ing significant f-ing consequence to me.
If I was older (and I am), or if I had darker skin, I would scream in the streets, “Soylent Green is People!” Er. . . well— that is, “Oh, wrong movie. No need to scoop me into that frontloader, officer. Please don’t dump me in that riot truck. I just need more Vitamin D. Yeah, that’s it. Don’t take me away, please. Just let me go, I’ll take some more D, honest.”
Seriously, we need to get the word out about this. Trump is peddling BS on TV, when inexpensive vitamin D can actually do lots of good. Just don’t get crazy and take like 6,000 units a day.
Mayo Clinic Guidelines:
The recommended daily amount of vitamin D is:
- 400 international units (IU) for children up to age 12 months,
- 600 IU for ages 1 to 70 years, and
- 800 IU for people over 70 years.
Taking more than 4,000 IU a day of vitamin D might result in:
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Poor appetite
- Constipation
But the gap between 800 IU and 4,000 IU is not mentioned, and that’s where most of the supplements range. Most common are 1,000 and 2,000 IU tablets or gelcaps. But before you jump, see the Mayo Clinic website for other side effects and check a bunch of interactions with brand-name drugs.
Sources and Costs
Amazon has 4.8/5-reviewed “Amazon’s Choice” “Nature Made Vitamin D3 1000 IU (25 mcg) Softgels, 100 Count” for $8.19 (8.2¢ each). Or another “Amazon’s Choice” (4.7/5), “Nature's Bounty Vitamin D3 1000 IU Softgels, 350 Softgels” for $11.96 (3.4¢ each).
I’ve found Pharmaca stuff very effective—their house brand (non-GMO, dairy-free, gluten-free, soy-free) “Pharmaca Vitamin D3 25mcg (1000IU) 180 softgels” is $7.99 (4.4¢ each). Two bottles and $5.95 shipping totals $21.93, plus tax. That provides 1,000 IU a day for a year.
I’ve taken 2,500 I.U. per day for years from my Shaklee multivitamins and D-boost supplement, but now that I know, I jumpED that up to 3,500 with a second D-boost yesterday. My blood test in May 2019 reported a “VIT D (25,OH) FRACT” of 37.4 ng/mL. Multiply that by 2.5 to get the European measurement result of 93.5 nmol/L—which would put me up off the chart of Figure 1, in a good way.
Bottom-line, I’ll push to get my “D” level to around 45, so I don’t have to be doing the chicken dance dirty-haired, sweaty, and stark naked in the ICU—bound to the bed with needle lines, sensor wires, catheters and soaked sheets—with a ventilator hose crammed down my throat, machines hooting and screeching all around, people dressed like space-walkers grabbing at me trying to push me down.
Nor do I care to suffer covid’s lifelong damage to my heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, and all my blood vessels. Wait til I diary about that nastiness next month—Ugh.
Meanwhile, gimme that bottle of Vitamin D! And send a couple bottles to folks you care about, would you please? Save them from the chicken dance!
P.S.: A side note on my lab test printout stated: “Vitamin D deficiency has been defined by the Institute of Medicine and an Endocrine Society practice guideline as a level of serum 25-OH vitamin D less than 20 ng/mL. The Endocrine Society went on to further define vitamin D insufficiency as a level between 21 and 29 ng/mL.” So my 37.4 doesn’t seem so high.
P.P.S: More from Wikipedia: “25(OH)D) is a prehormone that is produced in the liver by hydroxylation of vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) by the enzyme cholecalciferol 25-hydroxylase. Physicians worldwide measure this metabolite to determine a patient's vitamin D status. At a typical daily intake of vitamin D3, its full conversion to calcifediol takes approximately seven days.
“U.S. labs generally report 25(OH)D levels as ng/mL. Other countries often use nmol/L. Multiply ng/mL by 2.5 to convert to nmol/L.
“According to MedlinePlus, the normal range of calcifediol is 30.0 to 74.0 ng/mL.” Again, my 37.4 looks fine.