Study suggests high vitamin D levels may protect against COVID-19

Via University of Chicago

vitamin d

A new research study at the University of Chicago Medicine has found that when it comes to COVID-19, having vitamin D levels above those traditionally considered sufficient may lower the risk of infection, especially for Black people.

The study, published in JAMA Open Network on March 19, retrospectively examined the relationship between vitamin D levels and likelihood of testing positive for COVID-19. While levels of 30 ng/ml or more are usually considered sufficient, the authors found that Black individuals who had levels of 30 to 40 ng/ml had a 2.64 times higher risk of testing positive for COVID-19 than people with levels of 40 ng/ml or greater. Statistically significant associations of vitamin D levels with COVID-19 risk were not found in white people. The study looked at data from more than 3,000 patients at UChicago Medicine who had had their vitamin D levels tested within 14 days before a COVID-19 test.

 

The research team is now recruiting participants for two separate clinical trials testing the efficacy of vitamin D supplements for preventing COVID-19.

This research is an expansion of an earlier study showing that a vitamin D deficiency (less than 20 ng/ml) may raise the risk of testing positive for COVID-19. In the current study, those results were further supported, finding that individuals with a vitamin D deficiency had a 7.2% chance of testing positive for the virus. A separate study recently found that more than 80% of patients diagnosed with COVID-19 were vitamin D deficient.

“These new results tell us that having vitamin D levels above those normally considered sufficient is associated with decreased risk of testing positive for COVID-19, at least in Black individuals,” said David Meltzer, MD, PhD, Chief of Hospital Medicine at UChicago Medicine and lead author of the study. “This supports arguments for designing clinical trials that can test whether or not vitamin D may be a viable intervention to lower the risk of the disease, especially in persons of color.”

Meltzer was inspired to investigate this topic after seeing an article in early 2020 that found people with vitamin D deficiency who were randomly assigned to receive vitamin D supplementation had much lower rates of viral respiratory infections compared to those who did not receive supplementation. He decided to examine data being collected at UChicago Medicine on COVID-19 to determine the role that vitamin D levels might be playing.

“There’s a lot of literature on vitamin D. Most of it has been focused on bone health, which is where the current standards for sufficient vitamin D levels come from,” Meltzer explained. “But there’s also some evidence that vitamin D might improve immune function and decrease inflammation. So far, the data has been relatively inconclusive. Based on these results, we think that earlier studies may have given doses that were too low to have much of an effect on the immune system, even if they were sufficient for bone health. It may be that different levels of vitamin D are adequate for different functions.”

Vitamin D can be obtained through diet or supplements, or produced by the body in response to exposure of the skin to sunlight. Meltzer noted that most individuals, especially people with darker skin, have lower levels of vitamin D; roughly half of the world’s population has levels below 30 ng/ml.

“Lifeguards, surfers, those are the kinds of folks who tend to have more than sufficient vitamin D levels,” he said. “Most folks living in Chicago in the winter are going to have levels that are well below that.”

While vitamin D supplements are relatively safe to take, excessive consumption of vitamin D supplements is associated with hypercalcemia, a condition in which calcium builds up in the blood stream and causes nausea, vomiting, weakness, and frequent urination. If left unchecked, it can further lead to bone pain and kidney stones.

“Currently, the adult recommended dietary allowance for vitamin D is 600 to 800 international units (IUs) per day,” said Meltzer. “The National Academy of Medicine has said that taking up to 4,000 IUs per day is safe for the vast majority of people, and risk of hypercalcemia increases at levels over 10,000 IUs per day.”

One of the challenges of this study is that it is currently difficult to determine exactly how vitamin D may be supporting immune function.

“This is an observational study,” Meltzer said. “We can see that there’s an association between vitamin D levels and likelihood of a COVID-19 diagnosis, but we don’t know exactly why that is, or whether these results are due to the vitamin D directly or other related biological factors.”

Prompted by the evidence that people with vitamin D deficiency are more likely to test positive for COVID-19 and experience significant symptoms, a team from the University of Chicago and Rush University is conducting two studies to learn whether taking a daily vitamin D supplement can help prevent COVID-19 or decrease the severity of its symptoms. The Ingalls Development Foundation recently committed $35,000 to help fund the study. Individuals who would like to learn more about the study and determine their eligibility may visit https://chess.uchicago.edu/vitd/

-----------------------------------------------------
It is my sincere desire to provide readers of this site with the best unbiased information available, and a forum where it can be discussed openly, as our Founders intended. But it is not easy nor inexpensive to do so, especially when those who wish to prevent us from making the truth known, attack us without mercy on all fronts on a daily basis. So each time you visit the site, I would ask that you consider the value that you receive and have received from The Burning Platform and the community of which you are a vital part. I can't do it all alone, and I need your help and support to keep it alive. Please consider contributing an amount commensurate to the value that you receive from this site and community, or even by becoming a sustaining supporter through periodic contributions. [Burning Platform LLC - PO Box 1520 Kulpsville, PA 19443] or Paypal

-----------------------------------------------------
To donate via Stripe, click here.
-----------------------------------------------------
Use promo code ILMF2, and save up to 66% on all MyPillow purchases. (The Burning Platform benefits when you use this promo code.)
Click to visit the TBP Store for Great TBP Merchandise
Subscribe
Notify of
guest
37 Comments
Auntie Kriest
Auntie Kriest
April 8, 2021 6:45 pm

Auntie is thinking that vitamin D ( see work by Dr. Lindaus, a German, for discoveries and Nobel Prize for work regarding vit. D), is probably rayssiss and also product of systemic whiteness which oppresses persons of color: yes/no/maybe?

https://academic.oup.com/jn/article/134/6/1299/4688802

Iska Waran
Iska Waran
  Auntie Kriest
April 8, 2021 6:52 pm

5,000 iu of vitamin D costs almost ten cents a day. How can black & brown people afford that?!?! So yes, racism.

Anonymous
Anonymous
  Iska Waran
April 8, 2021 7:21 pm

Like they pay for any of the shit they shoplift.

Auntie Kriest
Auntie Kriest
  Anonymous
April 8, 2021 7:32 pm

FYI them’s “reparations”:

ReluctantWarrior
ReluctantWarrior
  Auntie Kriest
April 9, 2021 5:28 am

Are you saying that vitamin D is racist?

diverdown
diverdown
  ReluctantWarrior
April 9, 2021 7:02 am

RW, considering that white skin is 400 times more efficient at
converting sunshine into Vitamin D than black skin, it is quite
obviously raysiss……….

Iska Waran
Iska Waran
April 8, 2021 6:57 pm

Fauci is on record saying he takes 8-9,000 international units of vitamin D each day during the fall & winter. Did he or the CDC or the National Institutes of Health suggest that Americans supplement with vitamin D? No. For them he recommended totally-worthless Remdesivir @ $3,300 per treatment. He’s been interviewed three times a day for the last 400 days and not one single “journalist” has ever asked whether he’s ever had any financial interest in Gilead Sciences (maker of Remdesivir). I’d also like to know if he owns stock in any casket companies.

Anonymous
Anonymous
  Iska Waran
April 8, 2021 7:26 pm

He’ll be hired by one of these companies after the fact. That’s how it works.

Same with the upper rank military officers and defense contractors.

Ken31
Ken31
  Anonymous
April 9, 2021 2:50 am

If someone bothers to look it up, I am sure it is on record which ones are paying him. And then assume a lot more like what you are saying.

Ghost
Ghost
April 8, 2021 7:02 pm

This should be called the Vitamin Duh post!

hardscrabble farmer
hardscrabble farmer
April 8, 2021 7:28 pm

“A separate study recently found that more than 80% of patients diagnosed with COVID-19 were vitamin D deficient.”

Is there a name for people who know these things a year ahead of the scientists?

GNL
GNL
  Administrator
April 8, 2021 7:35 pm

comment image

Iska Waran
Iska Waran
  Administrator
April 8, 2021 11:52 pm

Hey – I guess I’m a farmer! Woo hoo! And here I thought growing a few green beans was an accomplishment.

very old white guy
very old white guy
  Administrator
April 9, 2021 8:19 am

Farmers and old white guys.

Anonymous
Anonymous
April 8, 2021 7:42 pm

And this is one of the reasons we know that this circus was a fraud and psyop. Those running this operation never spoke of nutrition, they never spoke of the immune system, they never spoke of personal responsibility – it was never about being healthy, it was about being injected with a mystery solution.

Auntie Kriest
Auntie Kriest
  Anonymous
April 8, 2021 8:00 pm

Chicken dinner!

TheAssegai
TheAssegai
  Anonymous
April 8, 2021 9:29 pm

And what’s up with the alzheimer administration having to spend ONE BILLION dollars in propaganda advertising to encourage people to get injected?

hardscrabble farmer
hardscrabble farmer
  TheAssegai
April 8, 2021 9:35 pm

They got a discount from Facebook?

TheAssegai
TheAssegai
  hardscrabble farmer
April 8, 2021 9:41 pm

Oh, I didn’t realize it was that simple. I thought perhaps the injection manufacturers threw in a billion out of the 100 billion they will make. Bottom line, I do know of one assegai that will not be impressed with their effort.

Iska Waran
Iska Waran
  TheAssegai
April 8, 2021 11:55 pm

It would be kind of funny if people who have Alzheimers kept forgetting they’d gotten the vaccine and kept going back over and over and over. Meanwhile the thirtysomething worriers would wonder when they’re ever going to get their turn.

very old white guy
very old white guy
  Iska Waran
April 9, 2021 8:21 am

The 30 something worriers should hope they never get the shot.

TheAssegai
TheAssegai
  Iska Waran
April 9, 2021 9:43 am

Then we would truly have super shedders

TheAssegai
TheAssegai
  Anonymous
April 8, 2021 10:31 pm

And here is another one of their stupid/ignorant/fear-mongering commands that just came tumbling down.

“The CDC relaxed its rules on cleaning to prevent COVID-19, saying intense disinfectants are likely doing us more harm than good”. One year later, they have now figured out they were wrong regarding cleanliness, but the miracle juices that we are injecting you with, trust us on those!

The CDC said “The coronavirus very rarely spreads to people from surfaces, the agency said. ” To repeat, they did not know jack about cleanliness, but they are total experts at Warp Speed inventing never before been done miracle injections!

https://www.businessinsider.com/cdc-relaxed-cleaning-rules-disinfectants-for-covid-19-not-necessary-2021-4?op=1

Ken31
Ken31
  Anonymous
April 9, 2021 2:52 am

They did get people staying indoors all winter. Just one of the many practices to drum up a false sense of a pandemic and even that was pathetic. The masks and the distancing were all designed to INCREASE infection rates.

Hope
Hope
April 8, 2021 8:17 pm

Gee…..

Stop an epidemic with an OTC med that costs pennies…

OR

Pump bullshit 24/7 to an isolated scared population, pimp expensive meds/demon vaxs you get paid billions for with zero liability, get OrangeManBad out and go for total control of the US.

I guess it is door #2!!

We. Are. Doomed.

Auntie Kriest
Auntie Kriest
  Hope
April 8, 2021 8:45 pm

Yup.

Ken31
Ken31
  Hope
April 9, 2021 2:53 am

I’ll be just fine. All the way until I am not. Same as always.

Kevin
Kevin
  Hope
April 9, 2021 10:23 am

Im not doomed.

Phil
Phil
April 8, 2021 10:13 pm

Lots of ‘studies “suggest”‘ a lot of things. If the PROOF is not apparent or overwhelming, reject the premise.

Iska Waran
Iska Waran
  Phil
April 8, 2021 11:59 pm

That’s kind of like why people kept smoking cigarettes (“coffin nails”) throughout the 20th century – because it wasn’t “proven” to cause lung cancer. It just correlated amazingly closely.

Yahsure
Yahsure
April 9, 2021 12:02 am

Like every flu season. Take care of yourself. Vitamin D and C, some Zinc. Get the sun on the skin if possible.

Anonymous
Anonymous
  Yahsure
April 9, 2021 4:51 am

Another fine software product from bill gates!

Doc Adams
Doc Adams
April 9, 2021 5:19 am

Starting in 2015 there were reports by a Canadian group and then followed up by a California university that the group that sets RDAs made a calculation error (more like a blunder, but no one lost their job) that resulted in the RDA for vitamin D being severely understated. Their corrected calculations provided a range between approximately 7,000 and 9,000 IU/day for adults. Of course, all that happened before Dr. Fookery’s chinese friends invented the covid bug. A simple search on something like “vitamin D RDA error” will lead you there.

ReluctantWarrior
ReluctantWarrior
April 9, 2021 5:27 am

Vitamin D, primarily in the form of sunshine, is the number one booster of the immune system and is the first line of defense against harmful viruses. This is a lesson for today and for the future when the Global powers that be unleash more viruses against us.

KaD
KaD
April 9, 2021 10:56 am

Vitamin D be rassis. Must be white people’s fault.

Zulu Foxtrot Golf
Zulu Foxtrot Golf
April 9, 2021 12:23 pm

And in other news: oxygen is needed to live.

Between the Ivermectin, hcq, vitamin d charade the FDA pulled and CDC, it is safe to say that no lawsuit regarding EUA for the human extinction vax when perfectly safe alternative treatments were available will see a trial.

Vitamnin d, sun, water, exercise and proteins/ fats diet will keep you living a lot longer than the fuck fuck goose game the feds are shoveling.

ZFG, out.

P.S. Fraudci even admits to taking 8,000 to 9,000 iu of D a day. Now if only a blue whale pod would give him the whale D up his weasel ass then all would be good.