Vitamin D Supplementation Could Prevent and Treat Influenza, Coronavirus, etc | Hacker News Reader

Vitamin D Supplementation Could Prevent and Treat Influenza, Coronavirus, etc

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33 pointsColanR29 comments

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The first sentence from the abstract:

> Low vitamin D status in winter permits viral epidemics. ...

A scientific paper never starts this way, with the claim to be tested stated as fact.

I'm immediately suspicious. The authors are affiliated with:

- Sunlight, Nutrition, and Health Research Center

- GrassrootsHealth

Checking out the respective websites does not inspire confidence. They appear to be vitamin advocacy groups.

There's only so much time in a day. Chasing rabbit holes from papers with suspect form isn't something I care to do.

"vitamin advocacy groups"

What does that even mean? Are you implying that instructing people to supplement vitamins you're deficient in is somehow malicious? I don't understand

They may have a specific interest in the outcome of the study. Like if Pepsi sponsors a study on the effects of sugar and diabetes.

https://www.sunarc.org/benefactors.html https://www.grassrootshealth.net/project/sponsors

Cursory glance, Bio-Tech Pharmacal, a supplements mfg, seems to be a common sponsor.

They basically just rewrote an existing paper and added Coronavirus to the title to get clicks. The claims themselves aren't wrong per se, at least as far into it as I read.

Well, there's more articles supporting the thesis. E.g. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2870528/

Title taken from the last line of the abstract. Below is the abstract in full:

> Low vitamin D status in winter permits viral epidemics. During winter, people who do not take vitamin D supplements are likely to have low serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentrations. Vitamin D can reduce the risk of viral epidemics and pandemics in several ways. First, higher 25(OH)D concentrations reduce the risk of many chronic diseases, including cancers, cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory tract infections (RTIs), diabetes mellitus, and hypertension. Patients with chronic diseases have significantly higher risk of death from RTIs than otherwise healthy people. Second, vitamin D reduces risk of RTIs through three mechanisms: maintaining tight junctions, killing enveloped viruses through induction of cathelicidin and defensins, and reducing production of proinflammatory cytokines by the innate immune system, thereby reducing the risk of a cytokine storm leading to pneumonia. Observational and supplementation trials have reported higher 25(OH)D concentrations associated with reduced risk of dengue, hepatitis, herpesvirus, hepatitis B and C viruses, human immunodeficiency virus, influenza, respiratory syncytial virus infections, and pneumonia. Results of a community field trial reported herein indicated that 25(OH)D concentrations above 50 ng/ml (125 nmol/l) vs. <20 ng/ml were associated with a 27% reduction in influenza-like illnesses. From the available evidence, we hypothesize that raising serum 25(OH)D concentrations through vitamin D supplementation could reduce the incidence, severity, and risk of death from influenza, pneumonia, and the current COVID-19 epidemic.

Seattle has a severe Vitamin D deficiency, due to almost year-round cloudiness.

I wonder if that has anything to do with the Seattle outbreak.

I live only 3 miles from the Life Care Center nursing home. So far no coronavirus symptoms, but I'm staying home.

I was diagnosed with osteomalacia in my 40s, with a DEXA Z score of -5, and I have suffered bone fractures three times, two of them spontaneously. I'm currently taking Fosamax (Alendronate), mega-Vitamin D (10,000+ IU a day), and Calcium.

Surprisingly they have one of the highest rates of skin cancer too. I could never figure that one out.

There's still a lot of UV that comes in through the cloud layer. It's one of the reasons it's recommended to wear sunglasses and sunscreen if you're hiking on snow on a cloudy day. You can still sunburn the inside of your eyes from UV exposure, and because it's not visible light your iris doesn't react to it the same way it would on a bright sunny day.

But, as a cause of skin cancer, that would preclude vitamin D deficiency, since it is also dependent on UV exposure.

UV is a spectrum. UV-B is responsible for vitamin D production. Very little UV-B reaches us, even during the summer in the northern hemisphere. UV-A does damage, and reaches us much more strongly. You can receive damaging UV exposure while producing little to no vitamin D.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultraviolet#/media/File:Ozone_...

I see.

There’s lots of Vitamin D in Florida. There are Seattle-level outbreaks there, too. Just a few weeks behind.

Please don't start randomly taking big amounts of vitamin D because of articles like this. It's one of the only supplements that actually gets absorbed by your body. Consult your doctor and get regular check-ups on your vitamin D levels if you start taking it.

"The main consequence of vitamin D toxicity is a buildup of calcium in your blood (hypercalcemia), which can cause nausea and vomiting, weakness, and frequent urination. Symptoms might progress to bone pain and kidney problems, such as the formation of calcium stones."

https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-h...

To avoid the vascular problems, many people recommend taking vitamin K2 at the same time.

Don't all the fat-soluble vitamins have this issue?

Isn't the toxicity danger something like > 40K IU / day for some extended time period on the order of weeks? I'd guess most people are going to take 5-10K IU daily...5K is also the version most commonly presented in Amazon searches for D3.

I don't have the right experience to give you a definite answer on this. All I can say is that my doctor had me reduce my dosage, which was 5K IU daily, because my levels were starting to get too high. So it's easy for me to see how someone reading this article would decide to take 10-20K ICU a day and quickly get to levels a doctor would consider out of healthy range.

5K IU/day over the long term is the upper limit of safe D3 supplementation.

if you are pissing all the time / vomiting that seems like a good feedback that you are doing it wrong.

I've never witnessed Hypervitaminosis D in real life, although it's theoretically possible. Vitamin D deficiency is much more common.

The plasma calcium level is very complicated, and it can't solely blamed on Vitamin D intake. The functioning of the parathyroids and kidneys have as much, if not more, to do with it, and it's a complicated feedback mechanism. Any endocrinologists here who can explain it better?

If you live near Seattle, or are not exposed to sunlight very often, then maybe some supplemental Vitamin D and calcium is in order.

Disclaimer: This is not medical advice. Always consult your physician before changing medications / supplements :)

A lot of this is over my head, but I feel like I see this about Vitamin D for insert disease here all the time

Well yeah, it’s pretty well established that Vit D deficiency causes a lot of problems in the body.

The issue is whether supplementation is really an adequate substitute for natural sources like sunlight and dietary intake.

It makes me wonder, what other vitamins are we also deficient in? (or the recommended doses are seriously "off")

Yep, several - certainly A and B’s for many people. Not so much C as it’s a common one to supplement and is more common in the diet anyway.

Modern diets/lifestyles are just so much lower in these nutrients, or less amenable to absorbing/utilizing them properly, e.g., due to inflammation.

Chemicals in the air, water and food like mercury and lead, as well as fertilizer chemicals like perchlorate cause problems with nutrient availability and utilization too.

Wait until you find out about magnesium!

Tell us more!

It is quite well established that Vitamin D supplementation is effective in resolving deficiency for otherwise healthy, non geriatric children and adults.

However, when it comes to other populations you would have to consult the literature or a doctor to determine the efficacy of supplementation.

Also, supplementation for non deficient individuals lacks long term evidence supportive of utility. Although many think it holds promise as an agent that reduces all cause mortality.

skeptical. I remember seeing an article from the New York Times (2018) -- "Vitamin D, the Sunshine Supplement, Has Shadowy Money Behind It" -- saved link here: https://app.coursechunks.com/en/articles/7343

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