Submitted by Joel S. Hirschhorn, Ph.D.<\/p>\n
The movement to fight effective alternatives to COVID vaccines continues.\u00a0 A cheap and proven one is vitamin D – benefits without risks.<\/p>\n
Below are some key excerpts from this new Washington Post article<\/a>:<\/p>\n Its title is:<\/p>\n Ask a Doctor: How much vitamin D do I need? Should I take a supplement?<\/p>\n The MD who wrote it is senior member of the medical establishment:<\/p>\n JoAnn E. Manson is the preventive medicine chief at Brigham and Women\u2019s Hospital and a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.<\/p>\n \u201cThe vast majority of Americans are already getting all the vitamin D they need freedom their diet and the sun.\u201d This is pure crap. Contrary to solid research on D and clinical experience of the best doctors using alternatives to vaccines.<\/p>\n \u201cIn 2009, my colleagues and I started a study to help fill in the gaps, looking for clearer answers on whether supplementation can prevent heart disease, stroke and cancer. The nationwide randomized trial, called the VITAL Study, recruited nearly 26,000 adults and followed them for five years. Participants agreed to receive either a placebo or 2,000 international units (IU) of vitamin D per day, without knowing which one they were taking.\u201d What needs emphasis is that level is surely insufficient to get a blood level of 50 to 60 ng\/ml to prevent COVID, as the following articles detail; most people need from 4,000 to 5,000 units daily.<\/strong><\/p>\n Research article<\/a> by German scientists in 2021 had this title:<\/p>\n \u201cCOVID-19 Mortality Risk Correlates Inversely with Vitamin D3 Status, and a Mortality Rate Close to Zero Could Theoretically Be Achieved at 50 ng\/mL 25(OH)D3: Results of a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis\u201d<\/p>\n This was found: \u201cRegression suggested a theoretical point of zero mortality at approximately 50 ng\/mL D3. Conclusions: The datasets provide strong evidence that low D3 is a predictor rather than just a side effect of the infection. Despite ongoing vaccinations, we recommend raising serum 25(OH)D levels to above 50 ng\/mL to prevent or mitigate new outbreaks due to escape mutations or decreasing antibody activity.\u201d<\/p>\n A more recent 2022 article<\/a> by the same group concluded:<\/p>\n \u201cVitamin D supplementation could exert the previously discussed positive effects on COVID-19 clinical outcomes by enhancing the innate antiviral immune response and by facilitating the induction of antimicrobial peptides\/autophagy, with a critical modulatory role in the subsequent host reactive hyperinflammatory phase during COVID-19. In particular, vitamin D could reduce the cytokine\/chemokine storm, regulate the renin\u2013angiotensin\u2013bradykinin system, modulate neutrophil activity, and maintain the integrity of the pulmonary epithelial barrier through the stimulation of epithelial repair and by directly and indirectly decreasing the increased coagulability and prothrombotic tendency associated with severe COVID-19 and its complications. Furthermore, some data suggest that individuals undergoing vitamin D dietary supplementation before SARS-CoV-2 infection were less susceptible to severe disease during infection. Finally, vitamin D supplementation could also balance some negative effects of COVID-19, such as reduced sun exposition, glucocorticoid therapy, and reduced mobility, which are all well-known risk factors for osteoporosis.\u201d<\/p>\n A recent 2022 article<\/a> noted this: \u201cAn analysis of multiple studies showed that supplementing with vitamin D reduced the risk of severe disease by >60% and mortality risk by 65%. Following this up, the authors also observed that a dose-response relationship appeared to be present, where high-dose vitamin D improved the prognosis of such patients.\u201d<\/p>\n It also noted: \u201cAt least for those with borderline vitamin D deficiency, \u201cin the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, vitamin D supplementation seems to be an effective preventive and therapeutic tool to be considered.\u201d Being inexpensive and safe in most situations, the use of this vitamin at higher-than-normal doses could be recommended in light of multiple studies that show a favorable effect of this vitamin on COVID-19 prognosis.\u201d<\/p>\n