5 ms·

Vitamin D Supplementation Could Prevent and Treat Influenza, Coronavirus, etc

33 points by ColanR 7y ago

ColanR 7y ago
Title taken from the last line of the abstract. Below is the abstract in full: > Low vitamin D status in winter permits viral epidemics. During winter, people who do not take vitamin D supplements are likely to have low serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentrations. Vitamin D can reduce the risk of viral epidemics and pandemics in several ways. First, higher 25(OH)D concentrations reduce the risk of many chronic diseases, including cancers, cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory tract infections (RTIs), diabetes mellitus, and hypertension. Patients with chronic diseases have significantly higher risk of death from RTIs than otherwise healthy people. Second, vitamin D reduces risk of RTIs through three mechanisms: maintaining tight junctions, killing enveloped viruses through induction of cathelicidin and defensins, and reducing production of proinflammatory cytokines by the innate immune system, thereby reducing the risk of a cytokine storm leading to pneumonia. Observational and supplementation trials have reported higher 25(OH)D concentrations associated with reduced risk of dengue, hepatitis, herpesvirus, hepatitis B and C viruses, human immunodeficiency virus, influenza, respiratory syncytial virus infections, and pneumonia. Results of a community field trial reported herein indicated that 25(OH)D concentrations above 50 ng/ml (125 nmol/l) vs. <20 ng/ml were associated with a 27% reduction in influenza-like illnesses. From the available evidence, we hypothesize that raising serum 25(OH)D concentrations through vitamin D supplementation could reduce the incidence, severity, and risk of death from influenza, pneumonia, and the current COVID-19 epidemic.
pcvarmint 7y ago
Seattle has a severe Vitamin D deficiency, due to almost year-round cloudiness. I wonder if that has anything to do with the Seattle outbreak. I live only 3 miles from the Life Care Center nursing home. So far no coronavirus symptoms, but I'm staying home. I was diagnosed with osteomalacia in my 40s, with a DEXA Z score of -5, and I have suffered bone fractures three times, two of them spontaneously. I'm currently taking Fosamax (Alendronate), mega-Vitamin D (10,000+ IU a day), and Calcium.
- mrfusion 7y ago
  Surprisingly they have one of the highest rates of skin cancer too. I could never figure that one out.
  - jschwartzi 7y ago
    There's still a lot of UV that comes in through the cloud layer. It's one of the reasons it's recommended to wear sunglasses and sunscreen if you're hiking on snow on a cloudy day. You can still sunburn the inside of your eyes from UV exposure, and because it's not visible light your iris doesn't react to it the same way it would on a bright sunny day.
    - WalterSear 7y ago
      But, as a cause of skin cancer, that would preclude vitamin D deficiency, since it is also dependent on UV exposure.
      - enterabdazer 7y ago
        UV is a spectrum. UV-B is responsible for vitamin D production. Very little UV-B reaches us, even during the summer in the northern hemisphere. UV-A does damage, and reaches us much more strongly. You can receive damaging UV exposure while producing little to no vitamin D. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultraviolet#/media/File:Ozone_altitude_UV_graph.svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultraviolet#/media/File:Ozone_...
        WalterSear 7y ago
        I see.
- mygo 7y ago
  There’s lots of Vitamin D in Florida. There are Seattle-level outbreaks there, too. Just a few weeks behind.
TheHypnotist 7y ago
A lot of this is over my head, but I feel like I see this about Vitamin D for insert disease here all the time
- tomhoward 7y ago
  Well yeah, it’s pretty well established that Vit D deficiency causes a lot of problems in the body. The issue is whether supplementation is really an adequate substitute for natural sources like sunlight and dietary intake.
  - 1996 7y ago
    It makes me wonder, what other vitamins are we also deficient in? (or the recommended doses are seriously "off")
    - tomhoward 7y ago
      Yep, several - certainly A and B’s for many people. Not so much C as it’s a common one to supplement and is more common in the diet anyway. Modern diets/lifestyles are just so much lower in these nutrients, or less amenable to absorbing/utilizing them properly, e.g., due to inflammation. Chemicals in the air, water and food like mercury and lead, as well as fertilizer chemicals like perchlorate cause problems with nutrient availability and utilization too.
    - mrfusion 7y ago
      Wait until you find out about magnesium!
      - voisin 7y ago
        Tell us more!
  - erosenbe0 7y ago
    It is quite well established that Vitamin D supplementation is effective in resolving deficiency for otherwise healthy, non geriatric children and adults. However, when it comes to other populations you would have to consult the literature or a doctor to determine the efficacy of supplementation. Also, supplementation for non deficient individuals lacks long term evidence supportive of utility. Although many think it holds promise as an agent that reduces all cause mortality.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
kichik 7y ago
Please don't start randomly taking big amounts of vitamin D because of articles like this. It's one of the only supplements that actually gets absorbed by your body. Consult your doctor and get regular check-ups on your vitamin D levels if you start taking it. "The main consequence of vitamin D toxicity is a buildup of calcium in your blood (hypercalcemia), which can cause nausea and vomiting, weakness, and frequent urination. Symptoms might progress to bone pain and kidney problems, such as the formation of calcium stones." https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/expert-answers/vitamin-d-toxicity/faq-20058108 https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-h...
- 1996 7y ago
  To avoid the vascular problems, many people recommend taking vitamin K2 at the same time.
- saagarjha 7y ago
  Don't all the fat-soluble vitamins have this issue?
- themodelplumber 7y ago
  Isn't the toxicity danger something like > 40K IU / day for some extended time period on the order of weeks? I'd guess most people are going to take 5-10K IU daily...5K is also the version most commonly presented in Amazon searches for D3.
  - kichik 7y ago
    I don't have the right experience to give you a definite answer on this. All I can say is that my doctor had me reduce my dosage, which was 5K IU daily, because my levels were starting to get too high. So it's easy for me to see how someone reading this article would decide to take 10-20K ICU a day and quickly get to levels a doctor would consider out of healthy range.
  - the-peter 7y ago
    5K IU/day over the long term is the upper limit of safe D3 supplementation.
briandbutler 7y ago
skeptical. I remember seeing an article from the New York Times (2018) -- "Vitamin D, the Sunshine Supplement, Has Shadowy Money Behind It" -- saved link here: https://app.coursechunks.com/en/articles/7343 https://app.coursechunks.com/en/articles/7343
aazaa 7y ago
The first sentence from the abstract: > Low vitamin D status in winter permits viral epidemics. ... A scientific paper never starts this way, with the claim to be tested stated as fact. I'm immediately suspicious. The authors are affiliated with: - Sunlight, Nutrition, and Health Research Center - GrassrootsHealth Checking out the respective websites does not inspire confidence. They appear to be vitamin advocacy groups. There's only so much time in a day. Chasing rabbit holes from papers with suspect form isn't something I care to do.
- derision 7y ago
  "vitamin advocacy groups" What does that even mean? Are you implying that instructing people to supplement vitamins you're deficient in is somehow malicious? I don't understand
  - mey 7y ago
    They may have a specific interest in the outcome of the study. Like if Pepsi sponsors a study on the effects of sugar and diabetes. https://www.sunarc.org/benefactors.html https://www.sunarc.org/benefactors.html https://www.grassrootshealth.net/project/sponsors https://www.grassrootshealth.net/project/sponsors Cursory glance, Bio-Tech Pharmacal, a supplements mfg, seems to be a common sponsor.
- Alex3917 7y ago
  They basically just rewrote an existing paper and added Coronavirus to the title to get clicks. The claims themselves aren't wrong per se, at least as far into it as I read.
- ColanR 7y ago
  Well, there's more articles supporting the thesis. E.g. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2870528/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2870528/

33 points by ColanR 7y ago

Title taken from the last line of the abstract. Below is the abstract in full: > Low vitamin D status in winter permits viral epidemics. During winter, people who do not take vitamin D supplements are likely to have low serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentrations. Vitamin D can reduce the risk of viral epidemics and pandemics in several ways. First, higher 25(OH)D concentrations reduce the risk of many chronic diseases, including cancers, cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory tract infections (RTIs), diabetes mellitus, and hypertension. Patients with chronic diseases have significantly higher risk of death from RTIs than otherwise healthy people. Second, vitamin D reduces risk of RTIs through three mechanisms: maintaining tight junctions, killing enveloped viruses through induction of cathelicidin and defensins, and reducing production of proinflammatory cytokines by the innate immune system, thereby reducing the risk of a cytokine storm leading to pneumonia. Observational and supplementation trials have reported higher 25(OH)D concentrations associated with reduced risk of dengue, hepatitis, herpesvirus, hepatitis B and C viruses, human immunodeficiency virus, influenza, respiratory syncytial virus infections, and pneumonia. Results of a community field trial reported herein indicated that 25(OH)D concentrations above 50 ng/ml (125 nmol/l) vs. <20 ng/ml were associated with a 27% reduction in influenza-like illnesses. From the available evidence, we hypothesize that raising serum 25(OH)D concentrations through vitamin D supplementation could reduce the incidence, severity, and risk of death from influenza, pneumonia, and the current COVID-19 epidemic.

pcvarmint 7y ago

Seattle has a severe Vitamin D deficiency, due to almost year-round cloudiness. I wonder if that has anything to do with the Seattle outbreak. I live only 3 miles from the Life Care Center nursing home. So far no coronavirus symptoms, but I'm staying home. I was diagnosed with osteomalacia in my 40s, with a DEXA Z score of -5, and I have suffered bone fractures three times, two of them spontaneously. I'm currently taking Fosamax (Alendronate), mega-Vitamin D (10,000+ IU a day), and Calcium.

mrfusion 7y ago
Surprisingly they have one of the highest rates of skin cancer too. I could never figure that one out.
- jschwartzi 7y ago
  There's still a lot of UV that comes in through the cloud layer. It's one of the reasons it's recommended to wear sunglasses and sunscreen if you're hiking on snow on a cloudy day. You can still sunburn the inside of your eyes from UV exposure, and because it's not visible light your iris doesn't react to it the same way it would on a bright sunny day.
  - WalterSear 7y ago
    But, as a cause of skin cancer, that would preclude vitamin D deficiency, since it is also dependent on UV exposure.
    - enterabdazer 7y ago
      UV is a spectrum. UV-B is responsible for vitamin D production. Very little UV-B reaches us, even during the summer in the northern hemisphere. UV-A does damage, and reaches us much more strongly. You can receive damaging UV exposure while producing little to no vitamin D. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultraviolet#/media/File:Ozone_altitude_UV_graph.svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultraviolet#/media/File:Ozone_...
      - WalterSear 7y ago
        I see.
mygo 7y ago
There’s lots of Vitamin D in Florida. There are Seattle-level outbreaks there, too. Just a few weeks behind.

TheHypnotist 7y ago

A lot of this is over my head, but I feel like I see this about Vitamin D for insert disease here all the time

tomhoward 7y ago
Well yeah, it’s pretty well established that Vit D deficiency causes a lot of problems in the body. The issue is whether supplementation is really an adequate substitute for natural sources like sunlight and dietary intake.
- 1996 7y ago
  It makes me wonder, what other vitamins are we also deficient in? (or the recommended doses are seriously "off")
  - tomhoward 7y ago
    Yep, several - certainly A and B’s for many people. Not so much C as it’s a common one to supplement and is more common in the diet anyway. Modern diets/lifestyles are just so much lower in these nutrients, or less amenable to absorbing/utilizing them properly, e.g., due to inflammation. Chemicals in the air, water and food like mercury and lead, as well as fertilizer chemicals like perchlorate cause problems with nutrient availability and utilization too.
  - mrfusion 7y ago
    Wait until you find out about magnesium!
    - voisin 7y ago
      Tell us more!
- erosenbe0 7y ago
  It is quite well established that Vitamin D supplementation is effective in resolving deficiency for otherwise healthy, non geriatric children and adults. However, when it comes to other populations you would have to consult the literature or a doctor to determine the efficacy of supplementation. Also, supplementation for non deficient individuals lacks long term evidence supportive of utility. Although many think it holds promise as an agent that reduces all cause mortality.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

kichik 7y ago

Please don't start randomly taking big amounts of vitamin D because of articles like this. It's one of the only supplements that actually gets absorbed by your body. Consult your doctor and get regular check-ups on your vitamin D levels if you start taking it. "The main consequence of vitamin D toxicity is a buildup of calcium in your blood (hypercalcemia), which can cause nausea and vomiting, weakness, and frequent urination. Symptoms might progress to bone pain and kidney problems, such as the formation of calcium stones." https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/expert-answers/vitamin-d-toxicity/faq-20058108 https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-h...

1996 7y ago
To avoid the vascular problems, many people recommend taking vitamin K2 at the same time.
saagarjha 7y ago
Don't all the fat-soluble vitamins have this issue?
themodelplumber 7y ago
Isn't the toxicity danger something like > 40K IU / day for some extended time period on the order of weeks? I'd guess most people are going to take 5-10K IU daily...5K is also the version most commonly presented in Amazon searches for D3.
- kichik 7y ago
  I don't have the right experience to give you a definite answer on this. All I can say is that my doctor had me reduce my dosage, which was 5K IU daily, because my levels were starting to get too high. So it's easy for me to see how someone reading this article would decide to take 10-20K ICU a day and quickly get to levels a doctor would consider out of healthy range.
- the-peter 7y ago
  5K IU/day over the long term is the upper limit of safe D3 supplementation.

briandbutler 7y ago

skeptical. I remember seeing an article from the New York Times (2018) -- "Vitamin D, the Sunshine Supplement, Has Shadowy Money Behind It" -- saved link here: https://app.coursechunks.com/en/articles/7343 https://app.coursechunks.com/en/articles/7343

aazaa 7y ago

The first sentence from the abstract: > Low vitamin D status in winter permits viral epidemics. ... A scientific paper never starts this way, with the claim to be tested stated as fact. I'm immediately suspicious. The authors are affiliated with: - Sunlight, Nutrition, and Health Research Center - GrassrootsHealth Checking out the respective websites does not inspire confidence. They appear to be vitamin advocacy groups. There's only so much time in a day. Chasing rabbit holes from papers with suspect form isn't something I care to do.

derision 7y ago
"vitamin advocacy groups" What does that even mean? Are you implying that instructing people to supplement vitamins you're deficient in is somehow malicious? I don't understand
- mey 7y ago
  They may have a specific interest in the outcome of the study. Like if Pepsi sponsors a study on the effects of sugar and diabetes. https://www.sunarc.org/benefactors.html https://www.sunarc.org/benefactors.html https://www.grassrootshealth.net/project/sponsors https://www.grassrootshealth.net/project/sponsors Cursory glance, Bio-Tech Pharmacal, a supplements mfg, seems to be a common sponsor.
Alex3917 7y ago
They basically just rewrote an existing paper and added Coronavirus to the title to get clicks. The claims themselves aren't wrong per se, at least as far into it as I read.
ColanR 7y ago
Well, there's more articles supporting the thesis. E.g. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2870528/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2870528/