Vitamin D and COVID 19: The Evidence for Prevention and Treatment of Coronavirus (SARS CoV 2)

Professor Roger Seheult, MD explains the important role Vitamin D may have in the prevention and treatment of COVID-19. Dr. Seheult illustrates how Vitamin D works, summarizes the best available data and clinical trials on vitamin D, and discusses vitamin D dosage recommendations.

Roger Seheult, MD is the co-founder and lead professor at https://www.medcram.com​
He is an Associate Professor at the University of California, Riverside School of Medicine and Assistant Prof. at Loma Linda University School of Medicine
Dr. Seheult is Quadruple Board Certified: Internal Medicine, Pulmonary Disease, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine

00:01:25 – Vitamin D is not only a vitamin, it is also a hormone that affects gene transcription.
00:03:53 – The difference between a vitamin and a hormone.
00:04:27 – Sources and metabolism of vitamin D https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7679797/ https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327816878_Vitamin_D_and_Vitamin_D_Deficiency_in_Ireland_-_A_Call_to_Action
00:07:30 – High fructose corn syrup increases the conversion of active-1,25-Vitamin D to the inactive-1,24,25-Vitamin D. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23571713/
00:07:51 – A major cause of vitamin D deficiency is inadequate exposure to sunlight. Americans only spend on average 7% of the day outside. https://www.nature.com/articles/7500165
00:08:56 – Why the protective effect of vitamin D for respiratory infections is likely not due to confounding factors.
00:10:03 – The incidence of influenza is highest during months when vitamin D levels are lowest. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2870528/
00:10:16 – Vitamin D levels are lower in those with higher BMI and renal disease. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10966885/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15951480/
00:10:35 – Vitamin D deficiency has been associated with increased risk of infections. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0960076006004304 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2870528/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15321847/
00:11:51 – Defining vitamin D deficiency, insufficiency, and optimal blood levels.
00:13:20 – Aging decreases the capacity of human skin to produce vitamin D3. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2997282/
00:13:46 – People of with darker skin have lower levels of vitamin D. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20848081/
00:15:29 – Vitamin D supplementation promotes bone health and cardiovascular health, although dosing is still unclear. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4600954/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21505219/
00:16:19 – Epidemiological data shows that vitamin D levels are inversely associated with respiratory infection mortality. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7468980/
00:18:25 – A systematic review and meta-analysis shows that vitamin D supplementation reduces the risk of respiratory tract infections. https://www.bmj.com/content/356/bmj.i6583
00:20:40 – “Randomized trial of vitamin D supplementation to prevent seasonal influenza A in schoolchildren” https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20219962/
00:22:01 – Similarities between COVID-19 and Vitamin D deficiency.
00:22:56 – Vitamin D deficiency mirrors other viral infections.
00:23:30 – Autopsies of patients with COVID-19 show a 9-fold increase in lung blood clots. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2015432
00:23:50 – People who are more likely to be vitamin D deficient also are more likely to die from COVID-19. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2521-4
00:25:14 – Does smoking decrease the risk of COVID-19 mortality?
00:26:52 – COVID-19 mortality risk increases with higher latitudes. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32311755/
00:28:18 – Countries with higher overall vitamin D levels have lower COVID-19 infection rates and mortality rates. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7202265/
00:29:37 – A positive COVID-19 tests is associated with a lower vitamin D status. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32397511/
00:30:30 – Vitamin D levels modestly drop when the immune system is activated. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33217408/
00:31:11 – Those with lower vitamin D levels had increased risk of contracting COVID-19. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7404739/ https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.09.04.20188268v1.full.pdf https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0239252
00:37:33 – Is vitamin D a proxy for good health or a determinant of good health?
00:38:58 – Of those who are infected with COVID-19, lower vitamin D levels are associated with worse symptoms. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7456620/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32927735/
00:41:07 – A prospective, placebo-controlled, randomized trial showed that taking vitamin D early in hospitalization significantly decreased the risk of requiring ICU level of care. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7456194/
00:43:45 – Elderly individuals in France who supplemented with 80,000IU of vitamin D within the previous month had a higher survival rate than those who supplemented over a month ago. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096007602030296X
00:44:41 – Vitamin D did not improve mortality or symptom severity of hospitalized COVID-19 patients when given late and in a single, large dose. https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.11.16.20232397v1
00:46:18 – 60,000 IU of daily vitamin D for a week in COVID-19 patients increased the likelihood of testing negative by day 21. https://pmj.bmj.com/content/early/2020/11/12/postgradmedj-2020-139065
00:47:20 – In those with COVID-19, having serum vitamin D levels <20 ng/mL was associated with significantly higher mortality and higher inflammatory markers (IL-6, TNFalpha, ferritin). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-77093-z
00:49:11 – Vitamin D fortification and supplementation practices vary by country. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30096919/ https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/96/7/1911/2833671
00:51:47 – Vitamin D is one of the safest fat soluble vitamins and toxicity is extremely rare https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6158375/
00:54:19 – Bioavailability of vitamin D is high for low doses and plateaus out as dose increases. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25372709/
00:57:58 – Concluding thoughts.

Professor Roger Seheult, MD explains the important role Vitamin D may have in the prevention and treatment of COVID-19. Dr. Seheult illustrates how Vitamin D works, summarizes the best available data and clinical trials on vitamin D, and discusses vitamin D dosage recommendations.

Roger Seheult, MD is the co-founder and lead professor at https://www.medcram.com​
He is an Associate Professor at the University of California, Riverside School of Medicine and Assistant Prof. at Loma Linda University School of Medicine
Dr. Seheult is Quadruple Board Certified: Internal Medicine, Pulmonary Disease, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine

Interviewer: Kyle Allred, Producer and Co-Founder of MedCram.com

REFERENCES:

The National Human Activity Pattern Survey (NHAPS)… (J. of Exposure A. and Env. Epidem.) | https://www.researchgate.net/publicat…​

Aging decreases the capacity of human skin to produce vitamin D3 (The J. of Clin. Invest.) | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2997282/​

Racial differences in the relationship between vitamin D… (Osteoporosis Int.) | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti…​

Decreased bioavailability of vitamin D in obesity (The American J of Clin. Nutrition) | https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article…​

Vitamin D Insufficiency and Deficiency and Mortality from Respiratory Diseases … (Nutrients) | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/12/8/2488​

Vitamin D supplementation to prevent acute respiratory tract infections: systematic review and meta-analysis… (BMJ) | https://www.bmj.com/content/356/bmj.i…​

Randomized trial of vitamin D supplementation to prevent seasonal influenza A… (The American J.of Clin. Nutrition) | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20219…​

Vitamin D and SARS-CoV-2 infection… (Irish J. of Med. Sci.) | https://link.springer.com/article/10….​

Factors associated with COVID-19-related death… (Nature) | https://www.nature.com/articles/s4158…​

Editorial: low population mortality from COVID-19 … (Alimentary Pharm. & Therap.) | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32311…​

The role of vitamin D in the prevention of coronavirus … (Aging Clin. & Exper. Res.) | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti…​

25-Hydroxyvitamin D Concentrations Are Lower in Patients with … SARS-CoV-2 (Nutrients) | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/12/5/1359​

Vitamin D deficiency in COVID-19: Mixing up cause and consequence (Metabolism) | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti…​

Low plasma 25(OH) vitamin D level… increased risk of COVID-19… (The FEBS J.) | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32700…​

The link between vitamin D deficiency and Covid-19… | https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.11…​

SARS-CoV-2 positivity rates… with circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels (PLOS One) | https://journals.plos.org/plosone/art…​

Vitamin D status and outcomes for… COVID-19 (Post. Med. J.) | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti…​

Vitamin D Deficiency and Outcome of COVID-19… (Nutrients) | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/12/9/2757​

“Effect of calcifediol treatment…” (J. of Steroid Bio. Molec. Bio.) | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti…​

Vitamin D and survival in COVID-19 patients… (J. of Steroid Bio. Molec. Bio.) | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti…​

Effect of Vitamin D3 … vs Placebo on Hospital Length of Stay…: A Multicenter, Double-blind, RCT | https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.11…​

Short term, high-dose vitamin D… for COVID-19 disease: RCT [SHADE study] (Postgrad. Med. Journal) | https://pmj.bmj.com/content/early/202…​

Association of Vitamin D Status… With COVID-19 Test Results (JAMA Network Open) | https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama…​

Evaluation, treatment, and prevention of vitamin D deficiency: an Endocrine Society clinical practice guideline (JCEM) | https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article…​

Vitamin D Fortification of Fluid Milk … A Review (Nutrients) | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti…​

Analysis of vitamin D level among asymptomatic and critically ill COVID-19 patients… (Scientific Reports from the Journal Nature) | https://www.nature.com/articles/s4159…​

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