Catching Vit D lately?

Collect the sunshine or a supplement. Now many of you know, I prefer food over supplements always!!!! But sometimes we see studies that warrant a supplement. Studies are finding an association between lower vitamin D levels and high numbers of COVID-19 cases and mortality (1,2,3,4). Countries such as Italy and Spain, both of which are experiencing high COVID-19 mortality rates, have lower average vitamin D levels than most northern European countries.

While it is important to note that correlation does not necessarily mean causation, there is mounting evidence that vitamin D levels could affect immunity and infection outcomes. Several meta-analyses have concluded that vitamin D supplementation reduces the risk of respiratory tract infections in both children and adults (5,6,7,8,9).

Vitamin D sources
The main source of vitamin D for humans is from ultraviolet B (UVB) exposure which stimulates vitamin D3 synthesis in the skin from provitamin D3. Exposure to sunlight increases the synthesis of Vit D in the skin. 5 - 10 minutes of exposure of the arms and legs to direct sunlight UVB radiation equates to approximately 3,000 IU of D3, depending on the time of day, season, latitude, skin sensitivity and pigmentation

Dietary sources of vitamin D3 are predominantly animal-derived foods. Oily fish is the most important, non-fortified, food source.
Vitamin D2 is naturally found in very low concentrations in plant sources, for example, sun-exposed mushrooms. However, dietary intake is often insufficient to cope with seasonal deficits of sunlight exposures during winter

Vit D is a fat-soluble vitamin. this means it gets stored in your organs if you have too much. Please do not take any supplements without a consult to your accredited nutritionist or someone on our team at www.ahealthyview.com or simply email me michele@ahealthyview.com

References:

1. Ilie PC, Stefanescu S, Smith L. The role of vitamin D in the prevention of coronavirus disease 2019 infection and mortality. Aging Clin Exp Res. 2020 May 6:1.1. Ilie PC, Stefanescu S, Smith L. The role of vitamin D in the prevention of coronavirus disease 2019 infection and mortality. Aging Clin Exp Res. 2020 May 6:1.
2 Rhodes JM, Subramanian S, Laird E, Kenny RA. Editorial: low population mortality from COVID-19 in countries south of latitude 35 degrees North supports vitamin D as a factor determining severity. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2020 Apr 20.
3 Daneshkhah A, Eshein A, Subramanian H, Backman V. The Role of Vitamin D in Suppressing Cytokine Storm in COVID-19 Patients and Associated Mortality. medRxiv. 2020 Jan 1;20.
4 Marik PE, Kory P, Varon J. Does vitamin D status impact mortality from SARS-CoV-2 infection? Med Drug Discov. 2020 Apr 29;100041.
5 Martineau AR, Jolliffe DA, Hooper RL, Greenberg L, Aloia JF, Bergman P, et al. Vitamin D supplementation to prevent acute respiratory tract infections: systematic review and meta-analysis of individual participant data. BMJ. 2017 Feb 15;356:i6583.
6 Bergman P, Lindh ÅU, Björkhem-Bergman L, Lindh JD. Vitamin D and Respiratory Tract Infections: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. PLoS One. 2013;8(6).
7 Charan J, Goyal JP, Saxena D, Yadav P. Vitamin D for prevention of respiratory tract infections: A systematic review and meta-analysis. J Pharmacol Pharmacother. 2012;3(4):300–3.
8 Rejnmark L, Bislev LS, Cashman KD, Eiríksdottir G, Gaksch M, Grübler M, et al. Non-skeletal health effects of vitamin D supplementation: A systematic review on findings from meta-analyses summarizing trial data. Slominski AT, editor. PLOS ONE. 2017 Jul 7;12(7):e0180512