Treatment of
hospitalized COVID-19 patients with vitamin D supplements reduces the number of
admissions to intensive care units and the number of deaths. This is the
encouraging conclusion of the study carried out at the Reina Sofia University
Hospital in Cordoba.
The research,
led by Dr. José Manuel Quesada and to be published in The Journal of Steroid
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, adds to the growing scientific evidence
that vitamin D effectively helps the body fight COVID-19 infection.
Vitamin D is
synthesized in the skin when exposed to sunlight, but even in a country like
Spain, half of the population and 87% of people over 60 years of age are
deficient.
Vitamin
D Reduces Covid-19 Deaths
The researchers
explain that vitamin D regulates the immune response and prevents the so-called
"cytokine storm" that damages lung tissue and causes the death of
those affected. It may also reduce thrombus formation and other vascular
alterations that are blamed for sequelae associated with COVID-19.
The study
included 76 hospitalized patients with COVID-19. All patients received the same
protocol treatment: hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin. In addition, fifty of
the patients received vitamin D supplementation as additional therapy, while
the remaining 26 patients did not receive any dose of vitamin D.
Only one
patient in the vitamin D-supplemented group was admitted to the intensive care
unit, while 13 of the 26 patients not treated with vitamin D were eventually
admitted to the ICU.
Of the 13
patients in the untreated group who were admitted to the ICU, two unfortunately
died and the remaining 11 were discharged.
Although the study
has its limitations, as it is a pilot study, with no double-blind comparison,
and with a small number of people, the authors see it as evidence that vitamin
D can be part of an effective treatment. This idea may be reinforced as the
results of other trials being carried out in 14 Spanish hospitals become
available.
What
Form of Vitamin D Is Most Effective?
Various forms
of vitamin D, or rather precursors of active vitamin D, can be found in
pharmacies, para-pharmacies and herbal health food stores. In the study at the
Reina Sofia University Hospital, calcifediol was administered to patients
according to the following protocol: 0.532 mg on the first day of
hospitalization; 0.266 mg on the third and seventh day, and the same dose every
7 days.
Calcifediol,
which is also called 25-hydroxyvitamin D or calcidiol, is technically an active
hormonal metabolite of vitamin D3. Dr. Quesada, in statements to Teknautas, has
insisted that the benefits discovered can only be attributed to calcifediol,
not to the other forms of vitamin D. Calcifediol is only available by
prescription.
The
concentration of calcifediol in the blood is increased by taking other forms of
vitamin D, such as vitamin D3. This, which is also known as cholecalciferol, is
converted in the liver to calcifediol. Vitamin D3 is available as an
over-the-counter food supplement in pharmacies, para-pharmacies and herbal
health food stores.
José Carlos
Tutor, researcher at the University of Santiago de Compostela, recommends a
dose of 5,200 IU (international units) per day of cholecalciferol to achieve
optimal levels of calcidiol in the blood.
Sunbathing is
another possibility. It is estimated that 15-20 minutes of sun exposure can
generate 10,000 to 20,000 IU of vitamin D in a healthy person (depending on
season, latitude, skin type and surface area exposed).
Vitamin
D for All as Prevention
The evidence in
favor of vitamin D is already so strong that the researcher of the Spanish
National Research Council José María Benlloch has proposed that a moderate dose
be administered preventively to the entire population to flatten the second
wave of the pandemic. The vitamin could reduce the viral load in those infected
and reduce the chances of the virus spreading.
Benlloch, who directs the Institute of Instrumentation for Molecular Imaging (I3M) at the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV), is in favor of "giving not too high doses that would raise the vitamin D level of the entire population as prevention".