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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsVitamin D appears to significantly reduce covid mortality
Covid-19: More deaths? More lockdown? More suffering?
Vitamin D deficiency causes a 10 times higher death rate in Covid-19 patients according to recent studies. What we can do to get the Covid-19 pandemic under control and avoid another lockdown.
https://borsche.de/res/Vitamin_D_Essentials_EN.pdf
uponit7771
(90,363 posts)SiliconValley_Dem
(1,656 posts)it is horribly researched.
yardwork
(61,703 posts)Shermann
(7,428 posts)tinrobot
(10,916 posts)And people who exercise don't get as sick.
eShirl
(18,503 posts)LiberalArkie
(15,728 posts)That is why the kids that swarmed to the beaches did not cause a disaster. However those that stayed inside getting drunk in bars with the area being full - did.
And nothing really from the daytime protests.
I had been wondering because where I live in the sticks in rural Arkansas, I don't think we have had anyone go to the hospital, no deaths, and very few causes and very few masks on the young. The seniors spend their time tending gardens, working on stuff outside and darting inside where it is cool and then back out.
Now what explains Texas, Florida and California now will have to be found out why it is different now than before. It might be the heat and people are just not staying out and if they do they may have dunked themselves in sunscreen first.
Ms. Toad
(34,087 posts)And plenty of beach bunnies also hang out in bars.
To maintain adequate levels of vitamin D, you need 15-20 minutes/day in lower midwestern - southerm climates. But if you are already deficienct, it takes 6-8 weeks of supplemental vitamin D to bring your levels up to normal. After that time you can keep your levels up by sunshine - if you live in the right place. Most people in Ohio (for example) need to take vitamin D to avoid vitamin D deficiency.
The difference between beach bunnies and bar hoppers is indoors (closed in space) v. outdoors.
Ex Lurker
(3,816 posts)or does the severe illness cause the deficiency?
LiberalArkie
(15,728 posts)the flu and coughing for a couple of days and coming down with pneumonia. Darker skinned people can not make as much Vitamin D in a period of time as a lighter skinned person. I am wondering if a heavily tanned person might also be possible to be Vitamin D deficient?
Science is going to learn a lot from covid. It should have been learned from the seasonal flu but no money on that research.
I was just thinking about the normal corporate cube person. Gets in car or on mass transit early before the sun is really out, stays in the building all day or darts out for lunch and then home in the car. Really no change to get any sun except for weekend.
Vitamin D also helps depression.
When I am getting my blood work done again I am going to add Vitamin D test to it, just to find out.
Response to LiberalArkie (Reply #5)
Chin music This message was self-deleted by its author.
SiliconValley_Dem
(1,656 posts)USALiberal
(10,877 posts)SiliconValley_Dem
(1,656 posts)and COVID has greatest lethality for elderly so it could be that correlation does not equate to causation even assuming the correlation coefficient is statistically significant
gelsdorf
(240 posts)People over age 50 have an increased risk of vitamin D deficiency and the risk increases with age. As people age they lose some of their ability to synthesize vitamin D from sunlight. Vitamin D also needs to be activated in the kidney before it can be used by the body and this function also decreases with age. Finally, elderly people who are homebound are less likely to get outdoor exercise and activity. Researchers have suggested that it takes up to 30 minutes of sun exposure twice a week to make a sufficient amount of vitamin D from sunlight.
I was found to have low Vitamin D levels at about 55
Who knows ?
Response to gelsdorf (Reply #8)
Chin music This message was self-deleted by its author.
I've been taking Vitamin D tabs for the past decade, but lately I'm making more of a point to go outside for some sun at least a few times a week. I'm not steady enough on my feet to go for a walk, but I pull out a lawn chair and keep the cats company in my backyard.
DFW
(54,436 posts)The only thing my wife got me for my birthday was a 100 day supply of vitamin D supplement pills.
OhZone
(3,212 posts)But I use a lot of sunscreen so I take supplements too.
Also why a PDF? I hate to read pdfs instead of html...
And it makes me suspicious of the info.
And I've read other studies say there is no correlation.
LiberalArkie
(15,728 posts)BTW this one has charts and graphs and maybe 8x10 color glossy photographs also.
Leith
(7,813 posts)With a paragraph on the back of each one describing what each one was to be used as evidence for vitamin D.
Right?
Codeine
(25,586 posts)orangecrush
(19,617 posts)lpbk2713
(42,766 posts)Were they trying to kill someone?
LiberalArkie
(15,728 posts)SiliconValley_Dem
(1,656 posts)first, encouraging people to get to sufficient levels of vitamin D and may have small but clinically beneficial effects on our immune system fighting worst affects if the coronavirus.
the below link from The Lancet is a much more data driven and circumspect review of the subject from just a few days ago:
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/landia/article/PIIS2213-8587(20)30268-0/fulltext
Bottom line: why not take enough Vitamin D? couldn't hurt.
But no credible scientific and medical org is saying any of these suggested wellness options are REPLACEMENTS for mask wearing, social distancing, and avoiding crowded situations.
Squinch
(51,004 posts)octoberlib
(14,971 posts)Ive had a deficiency problem because I dont like milk and wear sun block to protect against skin cancer. My D is at a good level right now.
alittlelark
(18,890 posts)ex-redhead, now champagne grey. I am extremely fortunate. I can sunblock my face and arms (seriously freckled and skin cancer risk) and wear shorts. My legs are not as freckled, good 'collectors'. My vit D intake is about as high as a person can take from the sun without skin cancer.
Those with darker skin NEED to take vit D supplements and contemplate sun lamps. Zinc supplements cannot hurt either.
We WILL get thru this.
Response to alittlelark (Reply #20)
Chin music This message was self-deleted by its author.
Chainfire
(17,636 posts)I knew it had to be good for me.
Xipe Totec
(43,890 posts)Dark skin reduces the body's natural production of vitamin D. Fair skin evolved to capture as much sunlight as possible to produce vitamin D in northern latitudes where there is little sunlight. Dark skin trades off production of vitamin D to protect against the destruction of Vitamin B, which is damaged by sunlight.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/skin-deep/
Sorry, just a reference to the article, not the article itself.
nuxvomica
(12,441 posts)He is very dark skinned, lives in New England and found to be very deficient in D. He takes a high dose every day now and a higher dose on the weekends. My sister can tell when he forgets to take it because he gets cranky. Being of French and Sicilian heritage, I'm also pretty well tanned year round and started taking 2000 UI a day on my own. When I told my doctor he added it to my chart as he said folks in this part of the country, Northern NY, are probably always a little deficient. It's the one vitamin that he recommends people supplement with.
BigmanPigman
(51,627 posts)each with a different primary care doctor, was told to take a ton more Vit D. What happened to promote this sudden drive by the medical community to jump on a Vit D bandwagon at this particular time? For 5 adults to be told this at around the same time caused me to became suspicious and I still am.
LiberalArkie
(15,728 posts)was happening, or maybe genetics in the family.