Several studies show 4 out of 5 Covid patients are vitamin D deficient
CTV recently reported that a study done in Spain showed more than 80 per cent of COVID-19 patients at a hospital had a vitamin D deficiency.
I don’t know about you, but I find there are so many differing opinions and so much information in the media right now regarding Covid, and how to help prevent it, how you contract it, etc, that its hard to sort out what’s important…
What does it all mean???
Here I will try to help break down the info about vitamin D and sort through the various theories to share the practical, consistent message from the trusted sources.
I personally have been taking Vitamin D since I was diagnosed with MS about 13 years ago. Generally, the recommended dose for me ranged from 1000iu (International Units) to 10,000iu.
I have asked multiple doctors and have done a ton of research and the general range for a healthy individual is between 2,000-5,000iu, and those with higher risk of deficiency usually look at 5,000-10,000iu daily.
The product you choose and its bioavailability can be a factor as well. In my case, I was prescribed 10,000iu a day… and the standard pill contained 1000. Yes, it was a lot of pills… and that was only ONE of the supplements I was taking. Eventually I was introduced to a brand called Isotonix. It comes as a powder, that when mixed with the right amount of water, becomes the same pressure as your body fluids. So, absorption is much better than pills and WAY easier to take.
Not to mention, in general pills have binders and fillers in them, which can be hard for even a healthy stomach to break down. For those with immunity issues, it is even more difficult. Absorption can make a difference in the dosage too due to not needing as much product if your body is getting more from each serving.
Why is D recommended??
Vitamin D plays an important role in fighting illness because it helps keep the immune system balanced without provoking an overreaction known as a “cytokine storm”, which is when the immune system attacks itself instead of fighting off the infection.
Web MD reported that in many of the sickest patients with COVID-19, their blood is teeming with high levels of cytokines, which is most prevalent in people with auto immune diseases.
Vitamin D helps steer the immune system away from the inflammatory pathways and towards a pathway that is more regulated.
An article on Heathline.com shared “There’s a lot of evidence that we should be taking [vitamin D deficiency] very seriously,”. “If you’re taking a reasonable dose of vitamin D, it’s hard to see how it hurts and it could help a lot.”
“If you’re deficient in vitamin D that does have an impact on your susceptibility to infection,” agreed Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, in a recent interview with actress Jennifer Garner. “I would not mind recommending and I do it myself, taking vitamin D supplements.”
How do you know it you are deficient?? Always ask your doctor to do bloodwork, but here are some signs that you may need some extra D!
Final word
I hope this helped to clarify that trusted resources like Healthline, WebMD, and CTV News all confirmed that there are several studies to show that Vitamin D can help prevent or at least protect against the severity of Covid.
For those of us that are higher risk, it is very important to add it to your daily regime, but also to look for a supplement with maximum absorption.
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