There is a lot information out there on the risks of getting Covid-19 and lots of different research groups are writing papers and journal articles describing test results. The research is global and much information comes from outside the United States. Below, I have tried to connect the dots to make the point that the more deficient you are on basic nutrients (such as vitamin D) the higher the incidence of health problems, and the more at risk you are for a worse outcome from any virus or disease. My family and I make sure we take enough vitamin D to ensure we have an adequate blood level of the vitamin. More on this below.
I have been following several websites for information on how nutritional status impacts health. These are:
Grassroots Health Nutrient Research
Some of you may question these websites, or may not have heard of them, but over the years I have found that they offer an alternative perspective on health and nutrition that we don’t get from the conventional medical system. (Doctors get very little training on nutrition). Since most of us don’t have the time to delve into the many research papers coming out now, these website are doing it for us! The information below is from the above sources.
Back in March of this year, the International Journal of Infectious Disease published an article on co-morbidities “Prevalence of comorbidities in the novel Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) infection: a systematic review and meta-analysis”. This article can be found here. The article is a meta-analysis of 46,000 patients. The authors concluded “We assessed the prevalence of comorbidities in the COVID-19 infection patients and found underlying disease, including hypertension, respiratory system disease and cardiovascular, may be a risk factor for severe patients compared with Non-severe patients”. From this article, it appears that people do worse with a Covid-19 infection when they have an underlying health condition. This makes sense, as the body is wrestling with multiple issues. Let’s look at the next point:
Researchers at GrassRootsHealth found that folks with co-morbidities also have very low nutritional status. Researchers discovered a strong correlation between low nutritional status (in particular vitamin D) and common health conditions. “Scientists’ Call to action – The Vitamin D Deficiency Epidemic”, 40-75% of the world’s population is vitamin D deficient”. The full article is here. It is thought that many of the world’s common diseases such as tuberculosis, MS, type 1 diabetes, high blood pressure, and some cancers could be reduced if the general public were to increase vitamin D intake either through food, supplements or UVB exposure. Most of the population has very low levels of vitamin D and are deficient. Folks with higher blood levels of vitamin D have fewer health issues. Remember, vitamin D is not really a vitamin but a HORMONE and as such is involved in many biochemical processes. Now let’s look at the next point-
An article in the journal Nutrients shows “Evidence that Vitamin D Supplementation Could Reduce Risk of Influenza and COVID-19 Infections and Deaths”. (The article is here.) It finds that “… vitamin D deficiency has been found to contribute to acute respiratory distress syndrome; and that case-fatality rates increase with age and with chronic disease comorbidity, both of which are associated with lower 25(OH)D vitamin D concentration”. This is the kind of research that is not glamorous and will never reach the headlines of prominent outlets, but is very important.
And, another article from Reina Sofía University Hospital in Córdoba, Spain is the first study that includes a randomized double blind design, the gold standard in research. “The first randomized controlled trial (RCT) of vitamin D in COVID-19 has just been published. The results are astounding: vitamin D nearly abolished the odds of requiring treatment in ICU. Although the number of deaths was too small to say for sure, vitamin D may actually abolish the risk of death from COVID-19” (See below to download Chris Masterjohn’s comments). A quote from the study itself: “Administration of a high dose of Calcifediol or 25-hydroxyvitamin D, a main metabolite of vitamin D endocrine system, significantly reduced the need for ICU treatment of patients requiring hospitalization due to proven COVID-19”. The high dose that the article talks about is upwards of 100,000 IU’s of vitamin D on the first day of hospitalization followed by 50,000 IU’s on subsequent days.
Now, let’s connect all the dots and pull it all together. If you have very poor nutritional status (such as is found in the elderly) you are at a higher risk for common diseases. If you have one or more of these common diseases (comorbidities) you are at a higher risk for a worse outcome after contracting a virus. It makes sense that increasing nutrition (in particular getting vitamin D to an acceptable blood level) will increase your chances of a good outcome.
What is an acceptable blood level of vitamin D? Under normal circumstances your blood level should be 40-60 ng/mL on a blood test (per Harvard Health). If covid-19 makes a second wave this fall, it is suggested that your blood level should be raised to between 60 ng per milliliter (ng/mL) and 80 ng/mL (article is here).
My family and I keep our blood levels at least 60 ng/mL and closer to 80 all the time. We do this with vitamin D supplements. The only way to know what your level is, is to get a blood test by your doctor. If you don’t want to leave home to do this, consider this inexpensive finger prick test. It works fairly well.
