A new study from Spain looked at 216 hospital patients with COVID-19 and found that 80 percent didn’t have adequate levels of vitamin D in their blood, according to Healthline.com.
Recent research discovered a correlation between vitamin D deficiency and a higher risk of COVID-19. Now, another new study has found the same — noting that more than 80 percent of people with COVID-19 didn’t have adequate levels of the “sunshine vitamin” in their blood. “It looks like patients with a poor vitamin D status may have more severe COVID-19,” said Dr. Hans Konrad Biesalski, a professor at the University of Hohenheim who has evaluated vitamin D and COVID-19..
Vitamin D is a potent weapon against viruses and crucial for immune health — make sure you’re getting enough
There appears to be strong evidence that Vitamin D plays a critical role for your body’s immune system and can ward off respiratory infections. Vitamin D does not effect the viruses, but effects the way our immune system handles infections including viruses.
Boosting your immune system is one of the best things you can do because it is your body’s key defense when it comes to fighting a virus. Even if you are exposed to a virus and if your immune system is strong, you have a better chance of not getting sick.
A major 2017 study published in the British Medical Journal looked at vitamin D’s effectiveness against viral infections. Researchers analyzed 25 clinical trials that included 11,321 people. The data came from 14 countries, including the U.S., England, Japan, Australia, Canada, and Italy.
The study found that taking vitamin D supplements cuts in half the risk of respiratory infections caused by viruses.[1]
Many people recommend that people at high risk for COVID-19 — older adults, those with underlying conditions, and people in nursing homes — can be treated with vitamin D. “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,” Hernández said in a statement.
Many Americans have a vitamin D deficiency
Vitamin D supplements should be considered one of the many tools that might help when conventional therapies are not enough. Research has found that vitamin D improves viral immunity by strengthening your mucus membranes.
Vitamin D is a key nutrient for your immune system. Once thought as the vitamin for strong bones, vitamin D actually does a lot more for your body — including support your immune system.
The coronavirus and other viruses get into your body through entry points that are covered with mucus membranes. They include your nose, mouth, eyelids, lungs, trachea (windpipe).
A lab study at the University of Illinois found that vitamin D helps mucus membranes provide a stronger barrier to viruses by increasing the antimicrobial compounds in them.
COVID-19 patients with lower vitamin D levels also had raised serum levels of inflammatory markers such as ferritin and D-dimer.https://t.co/voIPrvHWmo
— Activist Post (@ActivistPost) December 9, 2020
With coronavirus pandemic, researchers have not yet had time to fully test vitamin D directly against it. But they say there’s no reason to think that it would not work just as well against coronavirus as it does against the flu, colds, and other upper respiratory viruses. “Very low vitamin D status has lots of negative consequences and this could be the case for COVID-19, but that’s not the same as saying that routine vitamin D supplementation will prevent severe infection,” he told Healthline.
- https://www.healthline.com/health-news/new-study-found-80-percent-of-covid-19-patients-were-vitamin-d-deficient
- https://www.bmj.com/content/356/bmj.i6583
- https://www.institutefornaturalhealing.com/2020/03/coronavirus-one-vitamin-may-be-the-key-to-stopping-it/
- https://www.bing.com/amp/s/www.cnet.com/google-amp/news/the-surprising-role-vitamin-d-plays-in-your-immune-health/