News: VD can help reduce coronavirus risk by 54%

https://www.bostonherald.com/2020/09/17/vitamin-d-can-help-reduce-coronavirus-risk-by-54-boston-university-doctor/amp/

Stop waiting for a miracle drug: A Boston University doctor says a sufficient amount of vitamin D can cut the risk of catching coronavirus by 54%.

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studied blood samples from Quest Diagnostics of more than 190,000 Americans from all 50 states and found that those who had deficient levels of vitamin D had 54% higher COVID positivity compared to those with adequate levels of vitamin D in the blood.

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“The higher your vitamin D status, lower was your risk,” Holick said.

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the sunshine vitamin is easy to find and relatively cheap in drug stores, and taking vitamin D pills comes at no risk. “It’s perfectly safe,” Holick said.

“It’s considered to be, by many, the nutrient of the decade,” Holick said.

COVID-19 positivity is strongly associated with vitamin D levels in the blood, a relationship that stayed the same across different races, sexes and age ranges, the study states.

Vitamin D suppresses excessive cytokine release that can present as a cytokine storm, a common cause of COVID-related morbidity and mortality.

A deficiency in the nutrient alters the immune system, making one more likely to get upper respiratory infections, Holick said.

 

 

PS

The research paper: 

SARS-CoV-2 positivity rates associated with circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0239252

In conclusion, SARS-CoV-2 NAAT positivity is strongly and inversely associated with circulating 25(OH)D levels, a relationship that persists across latitudes, races/ethnicities, sexes, and age ranges. Our findings provide further rationale to explore the role of vitamin D supplementation in reducing the risk for SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 disease. If controlled trials find this relationship to be causative, the implications are vast and would present a cheap, readily-available method for helping prevent infection, especially for those with vitamin D deficiency. This could be of increased importance for the African American and Latinx community, who are disproportionately affected by both COVID-19 and vitamin D deficiency. In the interim, the authors recommend responsible vitamin D supplementation based on personal needs, risk factors, and advice from personal physicians in accordance with existing Endocrine Society Guidelines

 

How much should be taken

https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/96/7/1911/2833671 

We suggest that the maintenance tolerable upper limits (UL) of vitamin D, which is not to be exceeded without medical supervision, should be 1000 IU/d for infants up to 6 months, 1500 IU/d for infants from 6 months to 1 yr, at least 2500 IU/d for children aged 1–3 yr, 3000 IU/d for children aged 4–8 yr, and 4000 IU/d for everyone over 8 yr. However, higher levels of 2000 IU/d for children 0–1 yr, 4000 IU/d for children 1–18 yr, and 10,000 IU/d for children and adults 19 yr and older may be needed to correct vitamin D deficiency