Patients with good levels of vitamin D are less likely to catch coronavirus – and are less likely to die from it.
Two new studies have researched the impact of the vitamin on the disease, with interesting results.
Dr Michael Holick, a vitamin D expert from the US, recently published a study which found good vitamin D levels can reduce the risk of catching Covid-19 by 54%.
And he found in patients older than 40, those who had sufficient levels of vitamin D were more than 51% less likely to die than patients who were deficient.
‘There is great concern that the combination of an influenza infection and a coronal viral infection could substantially increase hospitalisations and death due to complications from these viral infections,’ Dr Holick said.
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‘Because vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency is so widespread in children and adults in the US and worldwide, especially in the winter months, it is prudent for everyone to take a vitamin D supplement to reduce risk of being infected and having complications from Covid-19.’
He added the vitamin can also help against other viruses affecting the upper respiratory tract.
Boston University’s school of medicine also found sufficiency of the vitamin is linked with a significantly decreased level of inflammatory markets, and higher blood levels of immune cells.
The higher levels of lymphocytes were tied to the reduction in cytokine storms – the release of too many proteins into the blood too quickly – which is one of the ways the coronavirus infections can kill.
The study, published in the PLOS ONE journal, analysed blood samples from 235 patients admitted to hospital with Covid-19.
These patients were then analysed for the severity of their infections, whether they lost consciousness, if they had difficulty breathing, or if they died.
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