Vitamin D: Government Should Have Promoted to Combat Pandemic
Medical evidence strongly justifies a proactive approach for using vitamin D
There seems to be an endless refusal by the public health establishment to fight the pandemic with the best science-based tools. Instead, they keep pushing vaccines.
Great German research provides unequivocal medical evidence that the government should be strongly advocating two actions: 1. Take vitamin D supplements and 2. Have your blood tested for vitamin D.
The title for this October 2021 journal article says it all: “COVID-19 Mortality Risk Correlates Inversely with Vitamin D3 Status, and a Mortality Rate Close to Zero Could Theoretically Be Achieved at 50 ng/mL 25(OH)D3: Results of a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” [25(OH)D3 refers to metabolite of the vitamin in blood]
In other words, there is clear evidence that the lower your vitamin D level the greater your risk of dying from COVID infection. Moreover, the data clearly show that you need a blood level of at least 50 ng/mL.
Odds are, however, that very, very few people have been tested for their vitamin D level. This is a situation where waiting for testing is not the prudent approach. Vitamin D pills are pretty cheap and it is perfectly safe to take a healthy daily dose to maintain a good immune system. I take 4,000 IUs twice daily.
Here are a number of highlights from this research and other sources; the discussion is aimed at informing people with information not provided by Big Media, Big Government and Big Pharma.
Vitamin D is an accurate predictor of COVID infection. Its deficiency is just as significant, and perhaps more so, than more commonly discussed underlying medical conditions, including obesity.
To be clear, there is a level of vitamin D for an effective strategy at the personal and population level to prevent or mitigate new surges and outbreaks of COVID that are related to reduced vaccine effectiveness and new variants.
In the German study, fifteen other studies were cited that showed low vitamin D levels were related to cases of severe COVID infection, and seven studies that found positive results from treating ill patients with the vitamin.
The German study noted: “The finding that most SARS-CoV-2 patients admitted to hospitals have vitamin D3 blood levels that are too low is unquestioned even by opponents of vitamin D supplementation.” The German study “followed 1,601 hospitalized patients, 784 who had their vitamin D levels measured within a day after admission and 817 whose vitamin D levels were known before infection. And the researchers also analyzed the long-term average vitamin D3 levels documented for 19 countries. The observed median vitamin D value over all collected study cohorts was 23.2 ng/mL, which is clearly too low to work effectively against COVID.”
Why does this vitamin work so well? The German study explained: A main cause of a severe reaction from COVID results from a “cytokine storm.” This refers to the body’s immune system releasing too many toxic cytokines as part of the inflammatory response to the virus. Vitamin D is a main regulator of those cells. A low level of the vitamin means a greater risk for a cytokine storm. This is especially pertinent for lung problems from COVID.
Other studies
On a par with the German study was an important US medical article from May 2021: Vitamin D and Its Potential Benefit for the COVID-19 Pandemic. It noted: “Experimental studies have shown that vitamin D exerts several actions that are thought to be protective against coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infectivity and severity. … There are a growing number of data connecting COVID-19 infectivity and severity with vitamin D status, suggesting a potential benefit of vitamin D supplementation for primary prevention or as an adjunctive treatment of COVID-19. … there is no downside to increasing vitamin D intake and having sensible sunlight exposure to maintain serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D at a level of least 30 ng/mL and preferably 40 to 60 ng/mL to minimize the risk of COVID-19 infection and its severity.” This confirms the German study and its finding of a critical vitamin level of 50 ng/mL.
Daniel Horowitz has made this correct observation about vitamin D supplementation: “An endless stream of academic research demonstrates that not only would such an approach have worked much better than the vaccines, but rather than coming with sundry known and unknown negative side effects.“
There are now 142 studies vouching for the near-perfect correlation between higher vitamin D levels and better outcomes in COVID patients.
From Israel came work that showed 25% of hospitalized COVID patients with vitamin D deficiency died compared to just 3% among those without a deficiency. And those with a deficiency were 14 times more likely to end up with a severe or critical condition.
Also from Israel, data on 1,176 patients with COVID infection admitted to the Galilee Medical Center, 253 had vitamin D levels on record and half were vitamin D-deficient. This was the conclusion: “Among hospitalized COVID-19 patients, pre-infection deficiency of vitamin D was associated with increased disease severity and mortality.”
Several studies have come from the University of Chicago. One found that a vitamin D deficiency (less than 20 ng/ml) may raise the risk of testing positive for COVID-19, actually a 7.2% chance of testing positive for the virus. And that more than 80% of patients diagnosed with COVID-19 were vitamin D deficient. And 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.
On the good news side is a new study from Turkish researchers. They focused on getting people’s levels over 30 ng/mL with supplements. At that level there was success compared to people without supplementation. This was true even if they had comorbidities. They were able to achieve that blood level within two weeks. Those with no comorbidities and no vitamin D treatment had 1.9-fold increased risk of having hospitalization longer than 8 days compared with cases with both comorbidities and vitamin D treatment.
Another option
Some people may have absorption problems. The solution is to use the active form of D – either calcifediol or calcitriol – to raise their levels more quickly. This bypasses the liver’s metabolic process very effectively. Studies have shown that people hospitalized with low levels but given the active form of D did not progress to the ICU. Places that sell vitamin D often sell the concentrated active form.
I have a supply of cholecalciferol pills that provide 50,000 IUs, compared to ordinary D pills typically with 2,000 IUs. A reasonable use of the high concentration pills is in the event of coming down with a serious COVID infection. This may be a sensible strategy for those who do not know what their level is or have not taken the normal pills for some period. It can take months to raise a very low level to above the critical level the German study found necessary for the best protection.
Deficiency
Aside from dealing with COVID, two pertinent questions are: Is there an optimal level of vitamin D and are Americans deficient in it? For the first, this has been said: “While blood levels of 30 ng/mL or higher are considered normal, the optimal blood level of vitamin D has not yet been established.” From the Cleveland Clinic is this: “Normal vitamin D levels are usually between 20-80 NG/ML. If supplementation is recommended, remember to take it with a meal and on a full stomach to help absorption. Unfortunately, about 42% of the US population is vitamin D deficient with some populations having even higher levels of deficiency.”
A Mayo Clinic study said this: “Vitamin D deficiency is more common than previously thought. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported that the percentage of adults achieving vitamin D sufficiency as defined by 25(OH)D of at least 30 ng/mL has declined from about 60% in 1988-1994 to approximately 30% in 2001-2004 in whites and from about 10% to approximately 5% in African Americans during this same time. Furthermore, more people have been found to be severely deficient in vitamin D [ <10 ng/mL]. Even when using a conservative definition of vitamin D deficiency, many patients routinely encountered in clinical practice will be deficient in vitamin D.”
Clearly, personal deficiency can only be determined by a blood test that prudent people will request their doctors to order for a lab test.
Conclusions
Seeing vitamin D as crucial to surviving COVID is supported by solid medical research. There is good data to support a desired level of 50 ng/mL. Whether a person has this level requires a blood test for the vitamin, not something that most physicians normally call for when ordering blood tests for other reasons.
As the US approaches 800,000 COVID related deaths it is reasonable to believe that perhaps hundreds of thousands of lives could have been saved if the government had strongly supported vitamin D blood testing and supplementation if needed. But in the absence of such a COVID policy, people have good reasons to use D supplements if they are not routinely exposed to sunlight without using sunscreen products.
Many physicians have issued protocols for preventing and treating COVID that include vitamin D supplements. For example, the esteemed Dr. Zelenko uses the following: 5,000 IU 1 time a day for 7 days for low risk patients, and for high risk patients: 10,000 IU once a day for 7 days or 50,000 IU once a day for 1-2 days.
However, continuing its stupidity, NIH maintains that “There is insufficient evidence to recommend either for or against the use of vitamin D for the prevention or treatment of COVID-19.” This too was said: “Vitamin D deficiency (defined as vitamin D ≤20 ng/mL) is common in the United States, particularly among persons of Hispanic ethnicity and Black race. These groups are also overrepresented among cases of COVID-19 in the United States. Vitamin D deficiency is also more common in older patients and patients with obesity and hypertension; these factors have been associated with worse outcomes in patients with COVID-19.” Sounds smart to fight deficiency for avoiding COVID health impacts.
Sadly, we cannot count on the public health establishment to take a science-based, aggressive policy on using vitamin D supplements as an alternative to COVID vaccines or expensive medicines. Its up to individuals to protect their own lives by being well informed and proactive.
"seems to directly resemble" is NOT the same as a direct equivalent, or exact replicate.
Hence a problem with your theory.
"but can't involve microbes"
I was talking about the natural process of natural synthesis "in" the "skin".
You are misconstruing and confusing/convoluting my words, thus basing a false premise on a false basis.
Which makes for an illogical argument.
Have you studied the arts of rhetoric, dialect, debate, and such?
Because you are violating several basic tenets of logical debate.
"this hardly matters since the molecule is the same as that produced in the factory."
Yet another fallacy, and short sighted view/approach.
As I already mentioned, though a particular compound may technically be replicated, that does NOT mean they are the same thing.
One problem lies in the very nature of refinement.
In the process of refinement, other compounds are removed.
Compounds that may be (and often are) as important.
The natural processes that create vitamins in Nature do not create only vitamins. Other compounds are also produced. Other interactions are also involved.
Consider this:
Fritz Haber was a German Jewish Chemist whom is recognized as the creator of the Haber Process (later Haber-Bosch process) of Nitrogen synthesis.
Fritz Haber received a Nobel Prize for the creation of that process, but warned in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech against reliance on that process, stating that:
"It may be that this solution is not the final one. Nitrogen bacteria teach us that Nature, with her sophisticated forms of the chemistry of living matter, still understands and utilizes methods which we do not as yet know how to imitate."
Whereas Nitrogen has been recognized a highly-beneficial and necessary for plant growth, mere reliance on that Nitrogen alone itself is short-sighted (even the term "Nitrogen" is a highly-reductionist narrative, as there are several forms of Nitrogen, some being far more useful to plants than others, others being far for useful for microbes than others, and so forth).
The natural biological process (and resultant numerous interactions) underlying that natural production of Nitrogen are as important in the natural & healthy growth & development of plants.
The very presence of microbes, and their numerous, various and complex interactions and processes similarly play important roles in holistic plant growth & healthy development as does the compound Nitrogen itself present.
By substituting these complex and holistic processes of natural production of Nitrogen, with just Nitrogen itself, one undercuts the various other roles & functions of microbes, as they naturally produce that Nitrogen (i.e. - by simply adding Nitrogen to soils & plants, you are omitting the various steps, like the decomposition of organic matter by microbes, that 1. Feed those microbes, keeping them active & healthy; 2. Produce other compounds; 3. Produce more bioactive and diverse biota; and many other factors).
A key take away being that shortcuts to complex natural processes, can and often do, create more damage & problems than those shortcuts attempt to remedy.
Merely augmenting "vitamins" with synthetic "supplements" undercuts the numerous complex processes that create those "vitamins" in the first place.
Thus likely interfering with the development of a more solid & sound foundation of a healthy microbiome, and related.
And though correlation does not necessarily mean causation, the increasing uses of synthetic fertilizers on foods & crops has been met with decreasing levels of various natural nutrients in those foods & crops (again, as simply adding synthesized & refined "fertilizers" to soils does not provide the diverse dietary needs nor natural healthy development of microbes and the surrounding biota of those soils, which then work to create more natural nutrients in those foods).
Thereby requiring even more human dietary "supplements" to replace those inadequate levels of natural nutrients in those foods.
Leading to a VICIOUS CIRCLE of non sustainability.
The relationship being that if you're simply relying on synthetic (even natural) supplements to satisfy your "vitamin" requirements, you're likely ignoring better dietary & other habits that are necessary for better & more natural biological processes that create those "vitamins", creating more natural health.
And in case you still can't understand the relevance herein, one last attempt:
Whereas "vitamins" may play an important role in natural health, those natural biological processes that naturally produce those "vitamins" may be as, if not more important, than the vitamins themselves.
Consider the vital role of "probiotics", which are important in supporting the microbes that form a very bases of all life.
The concept behind "probiotics" is providing those food stuffs and other vital constituents that lead to healthier, more abundant, and naturally created microbes that are necessary for healthier natural biological functions.
If you simply add microbes to an environment, but fail to account for and provide for their biological needs, they won't survive (for long).
"Probiotics" help account for, and provide for their needs.
If humans simply take more & more vitamins, disregarding the numerous other constituents and processes that naturally produce those vitamins, true health cannot be achieved.
So, rather than simply relying more more "supplements", the best approach is to reevaluate and reinstate those complex natural processes that result in more natural production of those "supplements".
Beyond this last-ditch attempt, I can't help if you still can't understand this concept.
Also, I seek to present more in-depth knowledge and comprehensive data to allow people to engage in more deliberative and thoughtful cognitive processes.
I'm not so insecure that I feel the need to beat /force my ideas onto others.
True progress, innovation, discover, knowledge, etc are often the result of collaborative processes.
"Science", "medicine" and such are like Philosophy (or should be, at least).
True Philosophy relies on never knowing for certain, and knowing one doesn't know for certain.
Always seeking knowledge, relying on evidence, but knowing that one is never certain about what they think they may know, thus continuing to seek knowledge.
And realizing what they may believe today may in fact be proven completely wrong in the future.
I seek to encourage people to seek out more independence.
I was Stock Broker for a long time, and I know that there are massive power & profit motives behind systems of growing dependence.
Reliance on lab-created (aka synthetic) "vitamins" is one of those dependencies.
But hey if you don't want to consider any of this, that is certainly your prerogative.
Ignorance IS bliss.
If you truly think you have all the answers, that is your problem.
If you want to continue buying supplements from those whom seek those power 7 profit motives from selling those, rather than engaging in the holistic practices that naturally produce those vitamins that those supplements are supposed to replicate, that is your business.
Beyond that, I'm done here.
I can only suggest you consider more, and seek to argue less.
Consideration is a basic tenet of truly advancing one's level of continuance of true knowledge.
Hippocrates, often known as the "Father of modern medicine", reportedly wrote:
"Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food."
Most all natural vitamins, natural antibiotics, and other highly-beneficial compounds known to humans are created by the interactions of microbes (bacteria, fungi, etc.) as they work with enzymes, secondary metabolites, and other compounds.
No doubt vitamins, like Vitamin D, are necessary for truly natural & effective human health.
But, most all commercially-available vitamins today are synthesized, not natural. They are largely products of the mining, oil refining, and lab-created chemical processes.
The power of money and massive marketing.
Synthetic Vitamin D is NOT equivalent to natural Vitamin D.
Ditto for vitamins A, B's, C, E, and so on.
But all these synthetic "equivalents" are being touted as good & effective as their natural counterparts (for profit, of course), by those companies with the billions to invest in massive PR campaigns.
In fact, many, of not most, commercially-available synthetic "vitamins" are created from industrial wastes.
Thymol is a phytochemical (plant-derived compound) that is recognized for being as effective at killing over 99.9 percent of germs (bacteria, viruses, etc.) as is the synthetic active ingredients in the disinfectant in Lysol.
Thymol is often found naturally in herbs like Thyme, Basil, Oregano, and others.
Thymol is a natural monoterpenoid phenol derivative, a type of polyphenol, many of which are considered secondary metabolites, as they play vital roles in metabolic processes of/by microbes, as those microbes interact with enzymes and other compounds, as they decompose organic matter.
Natural vitamins are created in this same way (though much highly-narrative reports & articles state that the "skin" makes Vitamin D from the sun's rays, truth is that the massive colonies of microbes that live in the "skin" are responsible for that synthesis of Vitamin D from the sun's rays. Those microbial cells often out-populate "human" cells by a 10:1 ratio or higher, thus most of our bodies are composed of "foreign", highly-beneficial cells. Hence a reason why the contemporary "war on microbes" is heavily-misguided, and completely disastrous).
Natural antibiotics are created this same way (as "good" microbes seek to destroy "bad" microbes via natural antibiotic "chemical warfare" - a statement that by itself is highly-narrative, but provided here merely for sake of brevity).
But Thymol is only one of thousands of polyphenols & phytochemicals.
Which work to create effective natural health.
Along with natural vitamins.
Herbs & spices are way more useful than merely for flavoring.
The highly-beneficial compounds they contain provide for natural health, including immunity.
The highly-beneficial compounds they contain provide natural support for the beneficial microbes that serve as a basis for all life, and natural health.
The modern human diet has largely become complete garbage.
With more over-processed, synthetic, and highly-refined ingredients replacing more natural, healthy & beneficial ingredients.
Just as soft drinks devolved from more beneficial root, herb & tonic medicines (i.e. "bitters", aka polyphenols) of the past, into synthetic, sugary, non-nutritive, even unhealthy & hazardous junk foods, so too is much modern food being turned into garbage.
More naturally nutritious compounds have been removed from more foods.
Leading to the need for more synthetic vitamins, antibiotics, etc., each of which are now causing their own problems.
A vicious circle of ill health.
The same largest Big Asset Management firms & Big Banks that own the largest "competing" corporations that are profiting from destroying our foods, and our health, are also profiting by selling us their synthetic "remedies" to that degrading health problem.
Completely negating & destroying that wise, age-old adage:
"Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food."
THIS IS HOW THE CORPORATO-SOCIALIST NEO-FEUDAL SYSTEM IS CONSTRUCTED.
More humans are being relegated as mere serfs & peasant, existing most solely to work for, consume from, and continue to enrich the neo-feudal Lords, whom now control most everything.
Whilst this is an interesting article, more people should be taught to engage in more habits & actions & activities that spur more natural health.
Rather than encouraged to just buy more "supplements" from the neo-feudal Lords whom control & have bastardized those synthetic "supplements".
WHERE YOU HAVE SYSTEMS OF GROWING DEPENDENCE, YOU HAVE AN INCREASING ABSENCE OF INDEPENDENCE.
THERE ARE MASSIVE POWER & PROFIT MOTIVES BEHIND SYSTEMS OF GROWING DEPENDENCE.
PEOPLE WILL NEVER TAKE PERSONAL POWER BACK FROM THE NEO-FEUDAL LORDS AS LONG AS THEY CONTINUE TO WILLINGLY SURRENDER THAT PERSONAL POWER TO THOSE NEO-FEUDAL LORDS.
WE ARE LIVING IN THE DARK AGES OF THE 21ST CENTURY.
PEOPLE HAVE LARGELY FORGOTTEN THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE PAST, THE KNOWLEDGE OF NATURE & NATURAL SYSTEMS, THEY ARE NO LONGER ENLIGHTENED BY THE LIGHT OF NATURAL TRUTHS.