Over 100 Scientists, Doctors, & Leading Authorities Call For Increased Vitamin D Use To Combat COVID-19: https://vitamind4all.org/letter.html
“To all governments, public health officials, doctors, and healthcare workers, Research shows low vitamin D levels almost certainly promote COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations, and deaths. Given its safety, we call for immediate widespread increased vitamin D intakes.”
Vitamin D modulates thousands of genes and many aspects of immune function, both innate and adaptive. The scientific evidence shows that:
● Higher vitamin D blood levels are associated with lower rates of SARS-CoV-2 infection.
● Higher D levels are associated with lower risk of a severe case (hospitalization, ICU, or death).
● Intervention studies (including RCTs) indicate that vitamin D can be a very effective treatment.
● Many papers reveal several biological mechanisms by which vitamin D influences COVID-19.
● Causal inference modeling, Hill’s criteria, the intervention studies & the biological mechanisms indicate that vitamin D’s influence on COVID-19 is very likely causal, not just correlation.
“It has been shown that 3875 IU (97mcg) daily is required for 97.5% of people to reach 20ng/ml, and 6200 IU (155mcg) for 30ng/ml, intakes far above all national guidelines. Unfortunately, the report that set the US RDA included an admitted statistical error in which required intake was calculated to be ~10x too low.”
“Numerous calls in the academic literature to raise official recommended intakes had not yet resulted in increases by the time SARS-CoV-2 arrived. Now, many papers indicate that vitamin D affects COVID-19 more strongly than most other health conditions, with increased risk at levels < 30ng/ml (75nmol/L) and severely greater risk < 20ng/ml (50nmol/L).”
Evidence to date suggests the possibility that the COVID-19 pandemic sustains itself in large part through infection of those with low vitamin D, and that deaths are concentrated largely in those with deficiency.
“Even without more data [AND NOW WE HAVE MUCH MORE DATA – SEE MY OTHER ARTICLES], the preponderance of evidence indicates that increased vitamin D would help reduce infections, hospitalizations, ICU admissions, & deaths.”
“Therefore, we call on all governments, doctors, and healthcare workers worldwide to immediately recommend and implement efforts to increase vitamin D, at least until the end of the pandemic. Specifically to:
1. Recommend amounts from all sources sufficient to achieve 25(OH)D serum levels over 30ng/ml (75nmol/L), a widely endorsed minimum with evidence of reduced COVID-19 risk.
2. Recommend to adults vitamin D intake of 4000 IU (100mcg) daily (or at least 2000 IU) in the absence of testing. 4000 IU is widely regarded as safe.
3. Recommend that adults at increased risk of deficiency due to excess weight, dark skin, or living in care homes may need higher intakes (eg, 2x). Testing can help to avoid levels too low or high.
4. Recommend that adults not already receiving the above amounts get 10,000 IU (250mcg) daily for 2-3 weeks (or until achieving 30ng/ml if testing), followed by the daily amount above. This practice is widely regarded as safe. The body can synthesize more than this from sunlight under the right conditions (e.g., a summer day at the beach). Also, the NAM (US) and EFSA (Europe) both label this a “No Observed Adverse Effect Level” even as a daily maintenance intake.
5. Measure 25(OH)D levels of all hospitalized COVID-19 patients & treat w/ calcifediol or D3, to at least remedy insufficiency <30ng/ml (75nmol/L), possibly with a protocol along the lines of Castillo et al ‘20 or Rastogi et al '20 , until evidence supports a better protocol.”
“Decades of safety data show that vitamin D has very low risk: Toxicity would be extremely rare with the recommendations here.”
“Vitamin D’s safety is more like that of face masks. There is no need to wait for further clinical trials to increase use of something so safe, especially when remedying high rates of deficiency/insufficiency should already be a priority.” [WE NOW HAVE THE CLINICAL TRIAL DATA – SEE MY OTHER ARTICLES]
Szabo, Z et al. (2020) The Potential Beneficial Effect of EPA and DHA Supplementation Managing Cytokine Storm in Coronavirus Disease. Frontiers in Physiology 11: Article 752
“Summary: Based on the available data, the supplementation of EPA and DHA in COVID-19 patients appears to have potential beneficial effect in managing the “cytokine storm.””
“Therefore, the use of EPA and DHA supplementation should be considered as both a supportive therapy and a prevention strategy in SARS-Cov-2 infection.”
Grant et al. (April 2020) Evidence that Vitamin D Supplementation Could Reduce Risk of Influenza and COVID-19 Infections and Deaths Nutrients 12, 988; doi:10.3390/nu12040988
“To reduce the risk of infection, it is recommended that people at risk of influenza and/or COVID-19 consider taking 10,000 IU/d of vitamin D3 for a few weeks to rapidly raise 25(OH)D concentrations, followed by 5000 IU/d.”
“The goal should be to raise 25(OH)D concentrations above 40–60 ng/mL (100–150 nmol/L).”
“For treatment of people who become infected with COVID-19, higher vitamin D3 doses might be useful.”
Bettoun Burris, et al. Retinoid X Receptor Is a Nonsilent Major Contributor to Vitamin D Receptor-Mediated Transcriptional Activation. Molecular Endocrinology 17: 2320–2328, 2003
“In summary, we describe a unique and unexpected facet of intermolecular cross-talk between VDR and RXR and demonstrate that RXR actively participates in RXR-VDR-mediated gene transcription by directly recruiting coactivators in response to 1,25-(OH)2D3.”
In layperson terms vitamin A (retinoid) is required to activate the expression of vitamin D controlled genes. In other words, without sufficient amounts of vitamin A, the actions of vitamin D can be impaired or even blocked. Vitamin A and Vitamin D work synergistically.
Mawson, A. (2013) Role of Fat-Soluble Vitamins A and D in Pathogenesis of Influenza: A New Perspective. Infectious Diseases http://dx.doi.org/10.5402/2013/246737.
“This paper presents a new model of the etiopathogenesis of influenza, suggesting that host resistance and susceptibility depend importantly on the ratio of vitamin D to vitamin A activity.”
“Retinoid [Vit A] concentrations within normal physiological limits appear to inhibit influenza pathogenesis whereas higher background concentrations [i.e., very low vitamin D:A ratios] increase the risk of severe complications of the disease.”
Prietl, B. et al. (2013) Vitamin D and Immune Function. Nutrients, 5, 2502-2521; doi: 10.3390/nu5072502
“Besides enhancing chemotaxis and phagocytic capabilities of innate immune cells, the complex of calcitriol [Vit D], VDR [Vit D Receptor], and retinoid X [Vit A] receptor directly activates the transcription of antimicrobial peptides such as defensin β2 and cathelicidin antimicrobial peptides.”
Vitamin A and D TOGETHER activate the transcription (production/epigenetic expression) of AMPs (anti-microbial proteins) by innate immune cells (macrophages and neutrophils) which KILL VIRUSES.
Levine, SA. The importance of a balanced approach to vitamin D supplementation. Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine. 2011;26(1):15-20.
“Vitamin A and vitamin D balance, enhance, and contain each other through the retinoid X receptor (RXR).”
“Because they share a receptor, if we supplement either vitamin D or vitamin A in an unbalanced fashion, we create a functional deficiency of the one not supplemented.”
The Scientific Evidence is Clear that:
1. sufficient intake of omega-3 fatty acids and Vitamins A + D is essential for immune function, especially immune defense against Influenza (flu), Rhino (cold) , and Corona (covid) viruses,
2. deficiencies in these essential nutrients leads to reduced baseline immune defense against these viruses and/or to increased hyper-inflammatory responses to these viruses leading to cytokine storm and Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS)
3. supplementation with sufficient daily amounts (not mega or bolus doses) of these essential nutrients has been clinically shown to decrease inflammation and thus the risk of cytokine storm and/or ARDS and/or to decrease the risk of infection and/or reduce severity of infection from these viruses
4. the Vitamin A and Vitamin D receptors on immune cells (phagocytes and T-cells) require proper synergistic amounts of both Vitamins A and Vitamin D to properly up-regulate these receptors to allow sufficient intake of these vitamins into the immune cells to express proper immune function
5. Innate Choice OmegA+D Sufficiency is the only supplement in the world that combines fish oil, cod liver oil (with naturally occurring pre-formed Vitamins A and D), and extra vitamin D in order to provide sufficient amounts of Omega-3 and Vitamins A and D, AND, provide the proper synergistic amounts of Vitamins A and D
Thus, I have developed the following evidence-based COVID-19/Influenza prevention and risk reduction supplementation protocol and adamantly state that this should become standard of care.
GEL CAPS:
First month – 4 caps of OmegA+D Sufficiency™ and 12 drops of Vitamin D Sufficiency DAILY;
This provides 10,000 IU/day of Vitamin D and sufficient and synergistic amounts of Omega-3 and Vitamin A.
Ongoing – 4 caps of OmegA+D Sufficiency™ and 2 drops of Vitamin D Sufficiency DAILY;
This provides 5,000 IU/day of Vitamin D and sufficient and synergistic amounts of Omega-3 and Vitamin A.
