Vitamin D deficiency: Health Secretary launches review to increase intake of vital nutrient

[SWAlexander]

A lack of the vital vitamin is linked to rickets in children, and bone or muscle weakness among adults.

A new review will focus on the importance of vitamin D and how to increase its intake - a lack of which can lead to rickets in children, and bone or muscle weakness among adults.

Around one in five children and about one in six adults in the UK have a vitamin D deficiency, according to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).

Studies have also shown that certain groups have lower levels than average, such as older people, the housebound, and people from black and Asian communities.

The review into improving vitamin D levels will look into the options of supplements and fortified food and drinks.

It will gather views from the public, public health experts, retailers, food manufacturers and other industry bodies.

Read more: Vitamin D reduces infection and impact of COVID-19, studies find

The review comes ahead of the Health Disparities White Paper, due to be published later this year, which the DHSC said will set out action to reduce health inequalities in different communities and regions.

According to the DHSC, people in the UK receive the majority of vitamin D from sunlight on their skin during spring and summer, as dietary sources of Vitamin D are limited.

'Longer, healthier and happier lives'

Current advice suggests all adults and children take a 10 microgram supplement of vitamin D every day between the less sunny months of October to March.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid said: "We must break the link between background and prospects for a healthy life as I am determined to level up the health of the nation and tackle disparities."

He added that the reason for launching his call for evidence is to "identify innovative ways we can encourage people to increase their vitamin D intake and help people live longer, healthier and happier lives".

https://news.sky.com/story/vitamin-...f-vital-nutrient-12580591?dcmp=snt-sf-twitter

 

[Judee]

I was just watching a video about the study out of Israel about people with low Vitamin D levels doing poorer when they caught Covid.

I also think there is a connection with autoimmune conditions. (I don't think that was mentioned in the study in the video though.)

 

[SWAlexander]

I was just watching a video about the study out of Israel about people with low Vitamin D levels doing poorer when they caught Covid.

I also think there is a connection with autoimmune conditions. (I don't think that was mentioned in the study in the video though.)

You are right. However, there is a lot of confusion about Vit D.
Here is some explanation:
Vitamin D dose:

and: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/13/10/3596

 

[Judee]

He has some newer videos on Vitamin D since making that one. I wonder if he has any updates on the amount based on any newer studies. I'm burnt out right now but will have to try to watch them soon and see.

Plus, those amounts might not factor in things like VDR gene issues. I think a lot of us in the chronic illness community have those.

Edit: Ken Lassessen also did a blog on vitamin D levels a while back.https://forums.phoenixrising.me/blo...o-b-vit-thus-autoimmune-and-lousy-sleep.2521/ (You have to page down a bit to get to the place where he talks about how to calculate dosage based on a person's last blood test.)

 

[SWAlexander]

Ken Lassessen also did a blog on vitamin D levels a while back.

Great, thank you. I believe most people don´t know about their Vit D level.

 

[BrightCandle]

The problem with Vitamin D generally in the science is that while low Vitamin D does result in worse effects from infections its also mostly just correlated with being ill. Studies on Vitamin D supplementation haven't shown any benefits, not during infection or preventative doses. It is one of those measures that is a proxy for sickness, ill people get out less. Forcing everyone to take in more Vitamin D in their bread or whatever will not fix the underlying health problems that people have. I would love for supplementing it to be a nice simple answer to reducing infections and severity of results but alas from all the hundreds of papers on it the picture is murky at best.

 

[Crux]

I haven't been able to tolerate much vitamin D without side effects. Couldn't figure it out for a dozen years.
Now , after taking calcium alone for 8 mths. , I'm beginning to tolerate it.

I put a drop of D3 1000 mg. on wrist, with no side effects.
Even with cutting the calcium dose in half, paresthesia from low calcium is diminishing.

Hope there is more benefit to vitamin D. It's been hard to believe the claims.

 

[hapl808]

I would love for supplementing it to be a nice simple answer to reducing infections and severity of results but alas from all the hundreds of papers on it the picture is murky at best.

This is what I wonder about. It seems intuitively that Vit D should make a huge difference in our health, but all the larger studies seem to present a murky picture at best. I still take around 2000 IU per day (partially because I get minimal sun and don't eat many natural sources), but I have no idea if it's doing anything.

 

[Judee]

Studies on Vitamin D supplementation haven't shown any benefits, not during infection or preventative doses.

It seems intuitively that Vit D should make a huge difference in our health, but all the larger studies seem to present a murky picture at best. I still take around 2000 IU per day (partially because I get minimal sun and don't eat many natural sources), but I have no idea if it's doing anything.

I just watched this video on a 5-year study that sounds like it was done very well. It was easy to watch because he talks at a very moderate rate throughout. Plus, he gives a lot of very clear visuals.

It isn't regarding infections but autoimmune diseases. However, for those it does show there is benefit per this study.

He also references another video regarding sunlight that I want to watch soon.

 

[Howard]

I just watched this video on a 5-year study that sounds like it was done very well. It was easy to watch because he talks at a very moderate rate throughout. Plus, he gives a lot of very clear visuals.

It isn't regarding infections but autoimmune diseases. However, for those it does show there is benefit per this study.

He also references another video regarding sunlight that I want to watch soon.

I found it fascinating that an individuals BMI is so significantly impactful in regards to Vitamin D supplementation autoimmune success - in the 5-year study, a BMI of 18 had a 53% effective rate versus a BMI of 30 having no statistical impact.

I am currently just shy of an 18 BMI and have been positively impacted by daily sunlight exposure to a remarkable extent (past 5 months at 5-8 hours outdoors daily Arizona, USA).

Prior to my purposeful sunlight exposure, I was in the "low average" range for vitamin D.

 

[Rvanson]

Vitamin C is the key vitamin. It's kept the wrinkles away and a head still full of brown, and not receding as much as most men of my age bracket. Most mammals produce their own, but humans cannot do so. I've been using it since I was 12 years old.

 

[keenly]

Sunlight is number 1.

 

[keenly]

Vitamin C is the key vitamin. It's kept the wrinkles away and a head still full of brown, and not receding as much as most men of my age bracket. Most mammals produce their own, but humans cannot do so. I've been using it since I was 12 years old.

Vitamin C is a light issue, not a food one.

 

[keenly]

Get sunlight, not supplements

 

[Pyrrhus]

The problem with Vitamin D generally in the science is that while low Vitamin D does result in worse effects from infections its also mostly just correlated with being ill. Studies on Vitamin D supplementation haven't shown any benefits, not during infection or preventative doses. It is one of those measures that is a proxy for sickness

Well said. Any type of inflammation, even sub-clinical inflammation, will decrease vitamin D levels, as documented in numerous studies. When the inflammation goes away, the vitamin D levels rise back to standard levels. Therefore, anyone with low vitamin D should be evaluated for inflammation.

Unfortunately, some people like to reverse cause-and-effect, claiming that low vitamin D is the cause of the inflammation, not a result of it.

 

[SWAlexander]

Prevalence of vitamin D deficiency among patients attending Post COVID-19 follow-up clinic: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Objective: Post-COVID-19 syndrome appears to be a multi-organ illness with a broad spectrum of manifestations, occurring after even mild acute illness. Limited data currently available has suggested that vitamin D deficiency may play a role in COVID-19 cases. However, to our knowledge, no study has examined the frequency of vitamin D deficiency in post-COVID-19 cases and its effect on the symptom severity. The aim of this study is to both screen the frequency of vitamin D deficiency in post-COVID-19 syndrome patients and to study its relation to persistent symptoms.

Patients and methods: A cross-sectional, single-center study was conducted involving all cases attending post-COVID-19 follow-up clinic from November 2020 to May 2021. Complete history, clinical examination, and laboratory analysis [kidney functions, serum calcium, C-reactive protein, serum ferritin, Serum 25-(OH) vitamin D] was done as well as HRCT chest.

Results: The study included 219 post-COVID-19 cases, 84% had deficient vitamin D levels (< 20 ng/dL); 11.4% had insufficient level (20-30 ng/dL) and only 4.9 % reported normal level. There was no link between levels of vitamin D with either the acute or post-COVID-19 symptoms in the studied groups.

Conclusions: Despite the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency among the study population, no association was observed between the levels of vitamin D and post-COVID-19 symptoms. It appears that post-COVID-19 syndrome pathophysiology involves a more complex interaction with the immune system. Dedicated clinical trials are advised to better study vitamin D levels and the related disease severity in COVID-19 patients.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35503606/