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Science - This Cheap Nutrient Fights Viruses

50% of the world population is deficient in this key nutrient

By Dean GeePublished 3 years ago 4 min read
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Science - This Cheap Nutrient Fights Viruses
Photo by Emma Simpson on Unsplash

It is rare in life when something so simple has a profound effect on our lives, our health and wellbeing.

When clinical trials and scientific studies and meta — analyses of multiple studies back up the efficacy of this nutrient it’s time to get excited, I know I am.

I have been taking 6 times the recommended daily amount of this supplement for months together with some other nutrients and I have not even had a cold since doing this.

When something so simple can enhance our lives and longevity and protect us to a large extent against viruses, cancers, respiratory diseases including the likes of COVID-19. A nutrient that has a profoundly positive effect on multiple sclerosis, obesity and cognitive function, it is time to sing from the rooftops and spread the good news.

There are some key factors that we need to consider when taking this supplement. Taking smaller doses daily is better than taking a large dose once a week.

This supplement is also fat soluble, so it is better to take it with foods containing fat, to increase bioavailability.

50% of the World lacks one essential nutrient

When we know that 50% of the world’s population is deficient in this nutrient could you imagine if we just did the most simple action and increased this nutrient for everyone to levels that have been effective. I wonder how many lives we could save from various diseases and chronic conditions?

Few foods contain this nutrient, so we need to supplement this nutrient into our diets.

So what is this amazing nutrient and what have the clinical trials and scientific studies shown?

The nutrient is Vitamin D (Personally I prefer Vitamin D3, as my research shows that Vit D3 has better absorption in the body versus Vit D2)

I quote from the articles that I have linked to the sources below:

Emerging research supports the possible role of vitamin D against cancer, heart disease, fractures and falls, autoimmune diseases, influenza, type-2 diabetes, and depression. Many health care providers have increased their recommendations for vitamin D supplementation to at least 1000 IU.[6] A meta-analysis published in 2007 showed that vitamin D supplementation was associated with significantly reduced mortality.

We know vitamin D as the sunshine vitamin but deficiency is prevalent and growing even in countries like Australia. Australians are well aware of the skin cancer risks associated with too much sun exposure and therefore actually now have a large percentage of the population that are Vitamin D deficient.

Children now spending more time indoors and Covid lockdowns in many cities are exacerbating this problem.

The elderly too are a high-risk group for Vitamin D deficiency

People who battle to absorb fat (fat malabsorption) also have a higher risk of Vitamin D deficiency because Vitamin D is fat soluble.

People with darker skin do not absorb as much Vitamin D through their skin from sun exposure because of melanin concentrations versus lighter skinned people. So people with darker skin would be prime candidates for Vitamin D supplementation.

Covid implications

A study linked below completed in 2021 showed that Vitamin D has direct antiviral effects against enveloped viruses and COVID-19 is an enveloped virus.

The levels of Vitamin D in your system is related to your susceptibility to influenza and respiratory tract infections.

In a meta analysis (analysis of several studies) the following was the conclusion and I quote from the sources linked below:

In sum, 77.8% of the articles reviewed showed that vitamin D status was related to the infection, prognosis, and mortality of COVID-19.

In conclusion, most of the articles showed that blood vitamin D status could be used to assess the risk of catching COVID-19, the seriousness of COVID-19 disease, and death. Therefore, maintaining appropriate levels of vitamin D through supplementation or naturally through sunshine is recommended for the public to cope with the pandemic.

A further source and study showed: (this is from the BioMed Central publication)

Vitamin D reduces the risk of microbial infection and death.

Vitamin D supplementation has shown favourable effects in viral infections including influenza and HIV.

Vitamin D increases expression and concentration of ACE2, MasR and Ang-(1–7) and has a potential protective role against acute lung injury/acute respiratory distress syndrome.

The same publication concludes that they need to do more research to classify Vitamin D as an antiviral agent.

Final thoughts

There is a lot of evidence that Vitamin D has a positive effect on the immune response of your body. Personally I believe that Vitamin D is key to health and immunity, but each person should decide for themselves what works best for them.

I hope that this was news to you and can assist you in better health. Always remember to consult your doctor before deciding what is right for you from a health supplement point of view.

Sources:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7800698/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3356951/

https://clinicalmolecularallergy.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12948-020-00139-0

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/vitamin-d-coronavirus#does-it-protect-against-covid-19

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About the Creator

Dean Gee

Inquisitive Questioner, Creative Ideas person. Marketing Director. I love to write about life and nutrition, and navigating the corporate world.

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