Does vitamin D help with COVID? Testing for vitamin D and using it as a supplement can prevent COVID patients from having serious complications
The media have been telling us how to “stay safe” during the COVID pandemic. We are told to wear masks, social distance, get vaccinated, and little else. There has been much coverage about hospitals filled to capacity, overworked doctors and nurses, and ICU beds filling up. There is one thing that can help alleviate these problems, and it’s asking the question: Does vitamin D help with COVID?
A simple thing that we can be doing to ensure our patients do not have a severe case of COVID, should they get it, is to check serum vitamin D. Vitamin D can protect against a severe case of COVID.
Defense against inflammation
Pneumonia, severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (SARS-CoV-2), myocarditis, microvascular thrombosis and/or cytokine storms, all of which involve underlying inflammation,1 characterize severe cases of COVID. Release of cytokines and uncontrolled inflammation can severely injure the lungs and other vital organs. Decreasing inflammation can help keep patients out of the hospital and ICU. Even addressing it during the illness may save the patient from a trip to ICU as well as provide time for the development of specific acquired immunity against it.1,2
Defense against uncontrolled inflammation, and against viral infection in general, is provided by T regulatory lymphocytes (Tregs). Treg levels have been reported to be low in many COVID-19 patients and especially low in patients with a severe case of the disease.2 In general, high Treg level is associated with a lower incidence of viral respiratory disease.3
Tregs can be increased by vitamin D supplementation.4,5 Low vitamin D levels have been associated with an increase in inflammatory cytokines and a significantly increased risk of pneumonia and viral upper respiratory tract infections.6,7
Does vitamin D help with COVID? The relationship with inflammatory cytokines
The relationship between inflammatory cytokines and vitamin D has been studied. One study, looking at healthy women between the ages of 25-82, found that serum vitamin D is inversely related to TNF-alpha concentrations in healthy women. The authors felt that this result, in part, may explain vitamin D’s role in the prevention and treatment of inflammatory diseases.8
Complications related to blood clotting are common in severe cases of COVID. D dimer levels (protein fragment that’s made when a blood clot dissolves in your body) tend to be elevated in these patients. More than 50% of patients with a severe case of COVID have elevated D dimer levels. This is important because vitamin D is involved in the regulation of thrombotic pathways, and vitamin D deficiency is associated with an increase in thrombotic episodes.9
Vitamin D and COVID severity
German researchers were impressed with research showing that vitamin D levels correlate strongly with COVID infection severity. They set out to determine if the low vitamin D levels were the result of the infection, or if a vitamin D deficiency negatively affects immune defense.12
The authors of the German study stated, “One population study and seven clinical studies were identified, which reported D3 blood levels pre-infection or on the day of hospital admission. The datasets provide strong evidence that low D3 is a predictor rather than just a side effect of the infection. Despite ongoing vaccinations, we recommend raising serum 25(OH)D levels to above 50 ng/mL to prevent or mitigate new outbreaks due to escape mutations or decreasing antibody activity.”12 In addition the authors found that a threshold level of 30 ng/mL, mortality decreases considerably.
They go on to say, “From a medical point of view, this will not only save many lives but also increase the success of vaccination. From a social and political point of view, it will lower the need for further contact restrictions and lockdowns. From an economical point of view, it will save billions of dollars worldwide, as vitamin D3 is inexpensive and — together with vaccines — provides a good opportunity to get the spread of SARS-CoV-2 under control.”12
Populations and vitamin D status
Much has been made of the tendency for Americans of African, Asian, or Hispanic descent to have serious complications when infected with COVID. Politicians like to say that this is due to socioeconomic issues, but maybe there is a simpler solution. This may be due to vitamin D status. Testing serum vitamin D in this population may be an especially good idea. Those with darker skin tend to have lower serum vitamin D.10,11
There is so much in the media stressing vaccination, masks, and social distancing. It would be nice for them to encourage testing vitamin D levels — especially in those who have not gotten infected yet. True, vitamin D is not patentable, making it unlikely to get any media publicity. Maybe they could make an exception here.
Does vitamin D help with COVID? Testing for vitamin D and using it as a supplement can be an effective strategy to prevent COVID patients from having serious complications (or protecting the uninfected from having a serious case). Many doctors have incorporated it into their treatment plans. It would be nice if the media would focus on this issue.
PAUL VARNAS, DC, DACBN, is a graduate of the National College of Chiropractic and has had a functional medicine practice for 34 years. He is the author of several books and has taught nutrition at the National University of Health Sciences. For a free PDF of “Instantly Have a Functional Medicine Practice,” email him at paulgvarnas@gmail.com.
REFERENCES
- Clin Med (Lond). 2020 Jul; 20(4): e107–e108. Does vitamin D deficiency increase the severity of COVID-19?
- J Clin Invest. 2020 May 1; 130(5):2620-2629. Clinical and immunological features of severe and moderate coronavirus disease 2019.
- Immune biomarkers predictive of respiratory viral infection in elderly nursing home residents. PLoS One. 2014; 9(9):e108481.
- The role of vitamin D in increasing circulating T regulatory cell numbers and modulating T regulatory cell phenotypes in patients with inflammatory disease or in healthy volunteers: A systematic review. PLoS One. 2019; 14(9):e0222313.
- High-dose cholecalciferol supplementation significantly increases peripheral CD4+ Tregs in healthy adults without negatively affecting the frequency of other immune cells. Eur J Nutrition 2014;53:751–9.
- Link between community-acquired pneumonia and vitamin D levels in older patients. Z Gerontol Geriatr. 2018 Jun; 51(4):435-439.
- Low serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D level and risk of upper respiratory tract infection in children and adolescents. Clin Infect Dis. 2013 Aug; 57(3):392-7.
- Serum tumor necrosis factor-alpha concentrations are negatively correlated with serum 25(OH)D concentrations in healthy women. J Inflamm (Lond). 2008 Jul 24; 5():10.
- Emerging Role of Vitamin D and its Associated Molecules in Pathways Related to Pathogenesis of Thrombosis. Biomolecules. 2019 Oct 24; 9(11)
- BMC Public Health. 2014; 14: 597
- Dermatology News · March 07, 2017
- Journals Nutrients Volume 13 Issue 10 3390/nu13103596 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