Sunshine or Supplements

If you live on planet earth, where a pandemic is ripping through humanity, killing and harming vast numbers of persons of all ages, especially the elderly, and you are not either taking vitamin D supplements or getting plenty of sunshine on skin, you are putting yourself in grave danger of suffering and death, unnecessarily.

19 studies, by 116 total authors, show that having high blood levels of vitamin D reduces Covid-19 risks, including risk of infection [7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 14, 16], risk of having a severe case [1, 3, 4, 5, 15, 17], of needing hospitalization, ICU care, and/or mechanical ventilation [2, 10, 14, 15], as well as the risk of dying from Covid-19 [4, 6, 7, 9, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19].

Why would anyone, knowing this, not take vitamin D supplements to increase their blood levels to obtain the risk reduction found by those 19 studies?

In addition to reducing various types of risk related to Covid-19, vitamin D has other health benefits. Studies have shown that a high intake of vitamin D reduces risk of stroke [28], multiple sclerosis [29], rheumatoid arthritis [30], type 2 diabetes [31], breast cancer [32], prostate cancer [33], colon cancer [34], and all-cause mortality [35].

If, for some reason, you cannot obtain vitamin D supplements, then you can make vitamin D by exposing your skin to sunshine (not through a window pane). Get outside and expose skin to sunshine. This produces plenty of vitamin D with one hour of sunshine at least three days per week. If you have light skin and sunburn easily, reduce to one-half hour.

Religious leaders and government officials are going to need to help relax certain customs, in some regions, which prevent persons, especially women, from exposing skin to sunshine. This is necessary and should be acceptable, for the sake of those who are suffering.

What would happen if EVERYONE took this advice? The pandemic would be reduced by many fewer cases and many fewer deaths. A vast amount of suffering and death would be averted. By vitamin D supplements or sunshine. We could send our children back to school or college. We could open more businesses and allow larger gatherings. We would have reduced the burden on our healthcare system.

And why aren’t we doing this yet? It’s because certain few persons are the gatekeepers of information and truth. If they don’t proclaim it, too few persons accept it as true. The pandemic is highlighting a problem in our society with information and its evaluation and dissemination.

The Second Wave

This next point is EXTREMELY Important. The other human coronaviruses, the ones that cause colds, have all been proven to be seasonal [20, 21, 22]. Covid-19 itself has been shown by multiple studies to be seasonal [23, 24]. And the main reason for seasonality is low levels of vitamin D in winter months. If we do not undertake a vitamin D Supplements or Sunshine program soon, it will be too late to avert the Second Wave of Covid-19 cases and deaths. Monthly deaths in the U.S. could reach over 300,000 deaths per month. And the monthly case rate will overwhelm the healthcare system.

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Vitamin D Studies

1. Alipio, Mark. “Vitamin D Supplementation Could Possibly Improve Clinical Outcomes of Patients Infected with Coronavirus-2019 (COVID-19).” SSRN 3571484 (9 April 2020). Study Link

2. Lau, Frank H., et al. “Vitamin D insufficiency is prevalent in severe COVID-19.” medRxiv (28 April 2020). Study Link

3. Daneshkhah, Ali, et al. “The Possible Role of Vitamin D in Suppressing Cytokine Storm and Associated Mortality in COVID-19 Patients.” medRxiv (2020). Study Link

4. Davies, Gareth, Attila R. Garami, and Joanna C. Byers. “Evidence Supports a Causal Model for Vitamin D in COVID-19 Outcomes.” medRxiv (2020). Study Link

5. De Smet, Dieter, et al. “Vitamin D deficiency as risk factor for severe COVID-19: a convergence of two pandemics.” medRxiv (2020). Study Link

6. Raharusun, Prabowo, et al. “Patterns of COVID-19 Mortality and Vitamin D: An Indonesian Study.” (2020). PDF file

7. Ilie, Petre Cristian, Simina Stefanescu, and Lee Smith. “The role of vitamin D in the prevention of coronavirus disease 2019 infection and mortality.” Aging Clinical and Experimental Research (2020): 1. Study Link

8. D’Avolio, Antonio, et al. “25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations are lower in patients with positive PCR for SARS-CoV-2.” Nutrients 12.5 (2020): 1359. Study Link

9. Laird, E., et al. “Vitamin D and Inflammation: Potential Implications for Severity of Covid-19.” Ir Med J; Vol 113; No. 5; P81: 2020. PDF file

10. Faul, J.L., et al. “Vitamin D Deficiency and ARDS after SARS-CoV-2 Infection.” Ir Med J; Vol 113; No. 5; P84: 2020. PDF file

11. Meltzer, David O., et al. “Association of Vitamin D Deficiency and Treatment with COVID-19 Incidence.” medRxiv (2020). Study Link

12. Li, Yajia, et al. “Sunlight and vitamin D in the prevention of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infection and mortality in the United States.” (2020). PDF file

13. Pugach, Isaac Z. and Pugach, Sofya “Strong Correlation Between Prevalence of Severe Vitamin D Deficiency and Population Mortality Rate from COVID-19 in Europe.” medRxiv (2020). Study Link

14. Merzon, Eugene, et al. “Low plasma 25(OH) vitamin D3 level is associated with increased risk of COVID-19 infection: an Israeli population-based study.” medRxiv (2020). Study Link

15. Panagiotou, Grigorios et al., “Low serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) levels in patients hospitalised with COVID-19 are associated with greater disease severity: results of a local audit of practice.” medRxiv (2020). PDF file Link

16. Chang, Timothy S., et al. “Prior diagnoses and medications as risk factors for COVID-19 in a Los Angeles Health System.” medRxiv (2020). Study Link

17. Maghbooli, Zhila, et al. “Vitamin D Sufficiency Reduced Risk for Morbidity and Mortality in COVID-19 Patients.” Available at SSRN 3616008 (2020). Study Link

18. Panarese and Shahini, “Letter: Covid-19 and Vitamin D” Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics, April 12, 2020. Link to Letter

19. Carpagnano, Giovanna Elisiana, et al. “Vitamin D deficiency as a predictor of poor prognosis in patients with acute respiratory failure due to COVID-19.” Journal of Endocrinological Investigation (2020): 1-7. Study Link

20. Komabayashi, Kenichi, et al. “Seasonality of human coronavirus OC43, NL63, HKU1, and 229E infection in Yamagata, Japan, 2010–2019.” Japanese Journal of Infectious Diseases (2020): JJID-2020. PDF file of Study

21. Monto, Arnold S., et al. “Coronavirus occurrence and transmission over 8 years in the HIVE cohort of households in Michigan.” The Journal of infectious diseases (2020). Study Link

22. Edridge, Arthur WD, et al. “Coronavirus protective immunity is short-lasting.” Amsterdam. MedRxiv (2020). Study PDF

23. Sajadi, Mohammad M., et al. “Temperature, Humidity, and Latitude Analysis to Estimate Potential Spread and Seasonality of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).” JAMA Network Open 3.6 (2020): e2011834-e2011834. Study Link

24. Kaplin, Adam Ian, et al. “Evidence and magnitude of seasonality in SARS-CoV-2 transmission: Penny wise, pandemic foolish?.” medRxiv (2020). Study PDF

Vitamin D commentary

25. Grant, William B., et al. “Evidence that vitamin D supplementation could reduce risk of influenza and COVID-19 infections and deaths.” Nutrients 12.4 (2020): 988. Study Link
— “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…. For treatment of people who become infected with COVID-19, higher vitamin D3 doses might be useful.”

26. Garland, Cedric F., et al. “Vitamin D supplement doses and serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D in the range associated with cancer prevention.” Anticancer research 31.2 (2011): 607-611. Study Link
— “Results: Serum 25(OH)D rose as a function of self-reported vitamin D supplement ingestion in a curvilinear fashion, with no intakes of 10,000 IU/d or lower producing 25(OH)D values above the lower-bound of the zone of potential toxicity (200 ng/ml). Unsupplemented all-source input was estimated at 3,300 IU/d. The supplemental dose ensuring that 97.5% of this population achieved a serum 25(OH)D of at least 40 ng/ml was 9,600 IU/d. Conclusion: Universal intake of up to 40,000 IU vitamin D per day is unlikely to result in vitamin D toxicity.”

27. Charoenngam and Holick, “Immunologic Effects of Vitamin D on Human Health and Disease.” Nutrients 2020, 12(7), 2097; Study Link
— “It is therefore proposed that supplementation of vitamin D can reduce the risk and severity of COVID-19 infection.”

Vitamin D vs. Other Diseases

28. Marniemi et al., Dietary and serum vitamins and minerals as predictors of myocardial infarction and stroke in elderly subjects; Nutrition, Metabolism & Cardiovascular Diseases. Volume 15, Issue 3 , Pages 188-197, June 2005. Study Link

29. Munger et al., Vitamin D intake and incidence of multiple sclerosis; Neurology. January 13, 2004 vol. 62 no. 1, p. 60-65. Study Link

30. Merlino et al., Vitamin D intake is inversely associated with rheumatoid arthritis: Results from the Iowa Women’s Health Study; Arthritis & Rheumatism. Volume 50, Issue 1, pages 72-77, January 2004. Study Link

31. Pittas et al., Vitamin D and Calcium Intake in Relation to Type 2 Diabetes in Women; Diabetes Care. March 2006 vol. 29 no. 3 650-656. Study Link

32. Garland et al., Vitamin D and prevention of breast cancer: Pooled analysis; The Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Volume 103, Issues 3-5, March 2007, Pages 708-711; Study Link

33. Garland et al., The Role of Vitamin D in Cancer Prevention; American Journal of Public Health. 2006 February; 96(2): 252-261. Study Link

34. Gorham et al., Optimal Vitamin D Status for Colorectal Cancer Prevention: A Quantitative Meta-Analysis; American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Volume 32, Issue 3 , Pages 210-216, March 2007; Study Link

35. Garland et al., The Role of Vitamin D in Cancer Prevention; American Journal of Public Health. 2006 February; 96(2): 252-261. Study Link