Vitamin D: why it could be a potentially anti-Covid cure
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Currently, several research teams are testing vitamin D to limit coronavirus infection or Covid-19 severity. Since this vitamin has many health benefits and winter is often synonymous with deficiency, a little cure might be welcome.
For several months, scientific studies have multiplied on the potential virtues of vitamin D to counteract infection by the Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus. So this vitamin was part of the therapeutic arsenal that US President Donald Trump received after his infection, along with a host of other molecules.
A link between vitamin D deficiency and the severe form of Covid-19?
The last study to date on the alleged link between vitamin deficiency and the severe form of Covid-19 is Spanish and was published on October 27 in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. When comparing the clinical data, the researchers found that 80% of the 216 patients with Covid-19 treated at the Hospital Universitario Marqués de Valdecilla (Santander) had a vitamin D deficiency.
As early as last May, the French National Academy of Medicine touted the benefits of vitamin D to prevent severe forms of Covid-19. The Academy stated in a press release that vitamin D "plays a role in regulating and suppressing the inflammatory response of cytokines in the origin of the acute respiratory distress syndrome that characterizes the severe and often fatal forms of COVID-19" .
A vitamin D deficiency is often found in patients who develop a severe form of the disease, while asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic people have less vitamin D deficiency. "This would explain that babies who regularly receive vitamin D are asymptomatic by Covid -19 and there are fewer complications, "he added.
Although this link between vitamin D deficiency and the increased risk of the severe form of Covid-19 has yet to be confirmed and verified by new studies, it seems good to recommend everyone to take a vitamin D cure as the disease approaches. winter.
In December 2019, the French public health organization published the results of the Esteban study, conducted between 2014 and 2016 on a randomly selected sample of children aged 6 to 17 and adults aged 18 to 74. Regarding vitamin D, it revealed that 1 in 4 adults and 3 in 10 children reached an adequate threshold for vitamin D. The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency affected almost 7% of adults and 4% of children and reached 13%. in adolescents. "While the situation has improved since 2006 among women, there is nevertheless an increase in deficiency among men aged 55 to 74," they noted in their report.
Important for bone health as it aids in calcium absorption, vitamin D is also involved in nerve transmission, muscle function, and blood clotting.
If it has a dual origin, since it is provided by food (exogenous production, in particular through the consumption of dairy products and fatty fish) and is synthesized by the body (endogenous production) at the level of the skin due to the action of rays solar, vitamin D is usually lacking in winter due to less sunlight.
Finally, it should be taken into account that the bodys ability to absorb or synthesize vitamin D decreases with age, which is why supplementation is particularly indicated in the elderly, who are also at higher risk of severe forms of Covid-19.
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