Over 80 percent of 200 COVID-19 patients in a hospital in Spain have vitamin D deficiency, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
Vitamin D is a hormone the kidneys produce that controls blood calcium concentration and impacts the immune system. Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to a variety of health concerns, although research is still underway into why the hormone impacts other systems of the body. Many studies point to the beneficial effect of vitamin D on the immune system, especially regarding protection against infections.
“One approach is to identify and treat vitamin D deficiency, especially in high-risk individuals such as the elderly, patients with comorbidities, and nursing home residents, who are the main target population for the COVID-19,” said study co-author José L. Hernández, Ph.D., of the University of Cantabria in Santander, Spain. “Vitamin D treatment should be recommended in COVID-19 patients with low levels of vitamin D circulating in the blood since this approach might have beneficial effects in both the musculoskeletal and the immune system.”
The researchers found 80 percent of 216 COVID-19 patients at the Hospital Universitario Marqués de Valdecilla had vitamin D deficiency, and men had lower vitamin D levels than women. COVID-19 patients with lower vitamin D levels also had raised serum levels of inflammatory markers such as ferritin and D-dimer.
Reference “Vitamin D Status in Hospitalized Patients With SARS-Cov-2 Infection” by José L Hernández, Daniel Nan, Marta Fernandez-Ayala, Mayte García-Unzueta, Miguel A Hernández-Hernández, Marcos López-Hoyos, Pedro Muñoz Cacho, José M Olmos, Manuel Gutiérrez-Cuadra, Juan J Ruiz-Cubillán, Javier Crespo and Víctor M Martínez-Taboada, 27 October 2020, Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
DOI: 10.1210/clinem/dgaa733
Other authors of the study include: Daniel Nan, José M. Olmos, Javier Crespo, and Víctor M. Martínez-Taboada of the University of Cantabria; Marta Fernandez-Ayala, Mayte García-Unzueta, Miguel A. Hernández-Hernández, Marcos López-Hoyos, Manuel Gutiérrez-Cuadra, and Juan J. Ruiz-Cubillán of the Hospital Marqués de Valdecilla-IDIVAL in Santander, Spain; Pedro Muñoz Cacho of the Servicio Cántabro de Salud in Santander, Spain;
The manuscript received funding from Instituto de Salud Carlos III.
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7 Comments
Stupid question, but what percentage of that population has Vitamin D deficiency?
It depends on the region; Lockdowns have a huge effect on sun exposure and thus vit D production; It is known Vit D has a major role in immunity, guess what if you tell people that, they will no longer stay at home; Vit D intake is a viable option to help against covid and other infections as well as other key vitamins/nutrients.
I had the same question and I don’t think it’s stupid.
What percentage of a random healthy similar age population, have Vitamin D deficiency?
That is a very smart question. I have been researching and it looks like most people are deficient in Vitamin D so the fact that 80% is not that fare above the typical population! https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3126987/
Most people have Vitamin D deficiencies so this study means absolutely nothing
If the truth be told, correct sunbathing, (which still gets enough BAD UV rays to damage the skin), should be done between 10am and 2pm, at lower latitudes, (at higher latitudes and other timings, the good rays bounce off the ionosphere), for 5 minutes a side, longer for darker skins, with no sunscreen, and the oils left on for a few hours. Special UV sunlamps do the same. One also needs a decent, life-giving high cholesterol diet, as that’s needed for D3 conversion. Mainstream Med. advises against supplementing or even going above their idiotically low RDA of 800iu D3. Yet, with the correct sunbathing protocols the blood levels of D3 will reach 60ng/mL of blood. To achieve this, one needs to supplement with 8000-10000iu of D3, which I do, (+ K2)! A person’s accidental ingestion of 1 million iu of D3 had no side effects. Caution. Most Multis contain the synthetic, toxic, almost useless and cheap Vit.D2! NOTE. When taking mega doses Vit.D supplements.. one should also take Vit.K2. Today K2 is often included in sensible mega Vit.D3 formulas. K2 directs calcium away from arteries and into bones. Nutto, fermented soy beans are very high in Vit.K2. As expected, the ignorant/crooked CDC won’t tell you any of this.. but only use it as a scare tactic against Vit.D supplementation.
Why did my comment disappear? Truth too hot to handle?