Association between Vitamin D supplementation and Covid infection and mortality

I don’t have the source, but on a podcast I listened to recently I recall the guest discussing that vitamin D is just one byproduct of sun exposure, and that the correlation between endogenous D levels and cancer/CV health is a function of the other related molecules produced due to sun exposure.

This researcher does think sunlight exposure does more than manufacture vitamin D:

https://theconversation.com/secret-to-health-benefits-of-sun...

It's not too weird if you think about it. Vitamin D boosts calcium serum levels in the blood. There are other factors, like adequate vitamin K, that prevent that calcium from precipitating on artery walls as plaque. So if someone's calcium metabolism is leading to calcification, vitamin D alone could accelerate that.

But incidentally, that's one of several reasons vitamin D is thought to protect from bad covid outcomes: in studies, people with higher blood calcium levels were also shown to do better. Other electrolytes were also positively correlated with better covid outcomes as well.

Aside from raising calcium serum levels vitamin D also directly modulates genes involved in the regulating angiotensin-renin system, including ACE-2.

The third thing, vitamin D is involved in circadian rhythm signaling. Good sleep is important for overall well-being! Especially if you're sick.

There are lots of papers and books about this stuff yet for some reason people still doubt that adequate vitamin D is important.

The real atrocity of it is that some people with more melanin in their skin store less vitamin D, since more melanin means their skin can make it quicker in the presence of sunlight. But in regions where there's less sunlight, these people aren't keeping around as much vitamin D. I'm convinced this is one reason for disparity in COVID outcomes and it really bothers me that the early studies and theory papers about the vitamin D / calcium / COVID connection got so ignored in the face of blatant racial disparities in COVID outcomes.

Vitamin D3 + K2 had huge potential to save lives, and people who knew what they were talking about advocated for this early on. I'm still frustrated that it took so long to catch on.

Vitamin D is incredible, from time to time my mind starts the day with negative thoughts and if I take a Vitamin D suplement they go away, I feel happier, act happier and have more energy to start my day.

Testing the actual intervention seems arguably more useful than testing blood concentrations.

Huh. I'm on 50k once a week and was under the impression that that was a lot.

Get blood tests and use those to determine how much you take, don't guesstimate or take large amounts like that without doing so, because you can overdose on it and it can do damage as a result.

I was taking 5k once a day but not even every day and tested almost above the high limit.

10k a day is a lot, one would be strongly advised to regularly check blood levels if you want to keep that up.

I maintain stable levels long term with 5K every other day, which roughly matches most dosage recommendations for people without acute deficiency. But as a sibling comment says, you should check your levels and adjust accordingly. 10K per day is already a lot if you don’t have an acute high deficiency.

That was probably the cumulative. But they were also monitoring the blood levels.

Absolutely should not do anything like 50k per day. I found that 5k could help but if I did that every day it felt like maybe too much.

yeah that's a crazy amount. the absolute max I've seen for "long term" varies from 1000 to 10000. I take 2000 (d3 in oil) myself as I don't get a lot of sun. That's as a result of having "pretty low" vit D after not having had a physical/labs for several years. Over that time I went from being outdoors a lot to being indoors and programming a lot :) . My numbers were up in the normal range (middling value) after doing that for a couple of months and going back for new blood work. I refused the 50k or so superdose they want to give me for a few goes if I recall correctly. Didn't seem like a good idea to me, and I wasn't feeling "bad" per se. I honestly didn't notice any difference other than my blood work came back normal. I continue to take 2k per day and my GP has no issue with that

you should test your serum levels and go from there. 50k IUs a day is a lot if your blood level of d3 is already 50 nmol/l or higher, it's probably the right dose if your level is 19 nmol/l and you are being supervised by a doctor to recheck on regular intervals to back the dosage off once you get the serum level close to where you want it to be. Me personally any more than 5000 IUs a day I would be checking my levels at least once a year just to make sure I'm not slowly poisoning myself (I'm an obese guy who has tested low before that lives in the northern hemisphere and likes to use computers all day and not go outside much. If I was smaller/lived closer to equator/spent more time outside I would want to test at least yearly over 4000 IUs a day, but this is just my personal opinion none of this is medical advice).

Vitamin 'D' : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_D

Vitamin 'D' Deficiency : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_d_deficiency

Vitamin 'D' Toxicity or Hypervitaminosis 'D' : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_D_overdose

Vitamin 'D' (disambiguation) : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_D_(disambiguation)

that wouldn't surprise me, maybe the body uses the sunlight for not yet documented uses other than making D. I was suffering from very low levels of vitamin d evidently but taking it didn't really change anything, and I felt just fine before and after. currently take 2k a day and my blood work stays "normal" range for the past few years. I still don't get much sunlight. I do a 10k walk but do it pretty early or pretty late as I live in Texas and 3/4 of the years it's just too hot and sweaty :)

The guy that promoted Ivermectin. He is a proven crank at this stage

Windows block most of the UV light that causes Vit D synthesis.

"Panarese and Shahini ranked the 108 countries with at least 100 COVID-19 cases on 2 April 2020 by latitude, demonstrating visually that, overall, deaths per million were higher in the northern-most countries, whose citizens would be the most likely to be vitamin D deficient from the dark winter (198). Following up on Panarese and Shahini's work, Rhodes et al., compared the 120 countries with more than 150 COVID-19 cases by 15 April 2020, finding that COVID-19 mortality rates were significantly correlated with latitude (r = 0.53, p < 0.0001) (26). Rhodes et al., used a simple scatter-graph to illustrate that the COVID-19 mortality rates per million population were dramatically lower in countries with capitals south of 35°N, where sunshine in the time immediately preceding the pandemic made maintaining vitamin D levels possible (26)." https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2020.0051...

Sure but there are a lot of people that barely go outside these days. Suppose they are wearing a hat and long sleeves and walk 60 seconds to their car.

Even if you have nice big windows the UV doesn't pass through so inside regardless of where you are does next to nothing for you.

Some people, especially those with darker skin living outside the tropics during winter months, find it impossible to maintain the recommended blood levels just by eating good food. While overdosing can be dangerous, that would take a pretty extreme amount of supplementation for most people.

I was tested recently and my doctor said I had dangerously low Vitamin D. It was so low they were going to proscribe high dose supplements. I eat very healthy, mostly salads and a bit of dairy and fish here and there. I bet a lot of people didn't get enough sunlight during covid. Also people with darker skin need more sun exposure to get enough. (Among Black people in snowy climates something like 70% of the population have a Vitamin D deficiency)

If you take over-the counter supplements and follow the instructions you're unlikely to overdose.

If you want to go the "natural" route then you need to have significant direct sunlight exposure.

Doesn't have to mean tanning for half an hour. But more than walking to your car.