fbpx

Scientists: Severe Illness With Covid Has A Lot To Do With Vitamin D Deficiency

Scientists: Severe Illness With Covid Has A Lot To Do With Vitamin D Deficiency

Vitamin D deficiency

Image credit: Lacheev / iStock https://www.istockphoto.com/portfolio/Lacheev?mediatype=photography

Severe illness and death from covid-19 have been connected to vitamin D deficiency, according to a new study published in the journal PLOS ONE.

Vitamin D is important for every system in the body including immune function and bone health. It may also protect against a range of diseases and conditions, such as type 1 diabetes. It regulates insulin levels, supports lung health, and early in the pandemic, health officials encouraged the public to take vitamin D supplements to boost immune response and protect against covid.

Vitamin D deficiency is more widespread among Black Americans than others in the U.S. Having more melanin reduces the body’s ability to synthesize vitamin D from the sun, resulting in lower levels, according to the National Library of Medicine, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Israeli scientists compared patients who had sufficient vitamin D to those who had a deficiency prior to contracting covid, and they found marked differences in the chances of getting seriously ill from covid-19.

“We found it remarkable, and striking, to see the difference in the chances of becoming a severe patient when you are lacking in vitamin D compared to when you’re not,” said Dr. Amiel Dror, a study author and physician at the Galilee Medical Center.

Researchers analyzed the records of 253 patients with positive covid-19 tests, who were admitted between April 2020 and February 2021 to the Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya, Israel.

Patients with vitamin D deficiency were 14 times more likely to have severe or critical cases of covid than those with sufficient vitamin D.

The mortality rate was high in patients who had vitamin D deficiency at 25.6 percent, compared to patients with sufficient vitamin D levels — 2.3 percent.

The differences remained after the researchers controlled for patient age, gender, and history of chronic diseases.

“This study contributes to a continually evolving body of evidence suggesting that a patient’s history of vitamin D deficiency is a predictive risk factor associated with poorer covid-19 clinical disease course and mortality,” said study co-author Michael Edelstein, a professor at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University.

“It is still unclear why certain individuals suffer severe consequences of Covid-19 infections while others don’t. Our finding adds a new dimension to solving this puzzle,” he said

There was a question of whether the coronavirus caused the vitamin D deficiency in the first place.

Dr. Dror and colleagues analyzed the data among the Israeli patients to understand their vitamin D levels before covid-19 infection.

Listen to GHOGH with Jamarlin Martin | Episode 74: Jamarlin Martin Jamarlin returns for a new season of the GHOGH podcast to discuss Bitcoin, bubbles, and Biden. He talks about the risk factors for Bitcoin as an investment asset including origin risk, speculative market structure, regulatory, and environment. Are broader financial markets in a massive speculative bubble?

“We checked a range of timeframes and found that wherever you look over the 2 years before infection, the correlation between vitamin D and disease severity is extremely strong,” Dror said.

There is no evidence that vitamin D supplements lower the risk of getting covid-19, however, it is important to be screened and check vitamin D levels if you are concerned, said Dr. Brian Hollenbeck, an infectious diseases specialist at New England Baptist Hospital in Boston.

Most vitamin D comes from direct sunlight on the skin. It is also found in foods such as fatty fish, mushrooms, egg yolks and in supplements.

READ MORE: Why Are Black Americans Considered Vitamin D Deficient? Some Answers On Genetics And The Testing Process

Image credit: Lacheev / iStock https://www.istockphoto.com/portfolio/Lacheev?mediatype=photography