Η βιταμίνη D
Βιταμίνη D και σχέση με νόσηση
από κορωνοϊό Covid-19
Η βιταμίνη D ενισχύει την
άμυνα του ανοσοποιητικού συστήματος και κατά του κορωνοϊού. Μια νέα ισραηλινή
επιστημονική έρευνα δείχνει ότι η ανεπάρκεια βιταμίνης D πριν την μόλυνση από
τον κορωνοϊό αυξάνει την πιθανότητα σοβαρής Covid-19, νοσηλείας και θανάτου. Οι
ερευνητές της Ιατρικής Σχολής του Πανεπιστημίου Μπαρ-Ιλάν, με επί κεφαλής τον
δρ. Αμιέλ Ντρορ, οι οποίοι έκαναν τη σχετική δημοσίευση στο επιστημονικό
περιοδικό PLoS One, ανέλυσαν στοιχεία για 1.176 ασθενείς που είχαν νοσηλευθεί
το 2020 και το 2021 στο Ιατρικό Κέντρο της Γαλιλαίας.
Διαπιστώθηκε ότι όσοι είχαν
έλλειψη βιταμίνης D (κάτω των 20 ng/mL) πριν την μόλυνσή τους από τον κορωνοϊό,
η οποία είχε διαγνωστεί με θετικό τεστ PCR, είχαν κατά μέσον όρο 14 φορές
μεγαλύτερη πιθανότητα να νοσήσουν βαρειά ή να βρεθούν σε κρίσιμη κατάσταση, σε
σχέση με εκείνους που είχαν επίπεδα βιταμίνης D άνω των 40 ng/mL πριν την
λοίμωξη. Επίσης η πιθανότητα θανάτου μεταξύ των ασθενών με προτέρα ανεπάρκεια
αυτής της βιταμίνης ήταν σχεδόν 26%, έναντι μόνο 2,3% μεταξύ όσων είχαν επαρκή
επίπεδα της D προηγουμένως.
ΠΗΓΗ: «Ισραήλ-έρευνα: Η ανεπάρκεια βιτ. D αυξάνει την πιθανότητα σοβαρής Covid-19 και θανάτου», ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ, 4.2.2022.
Vitamin D is more effective than flu vaccine
Η βιταμίνη D είναι πιο αποτελεσματική
από το εμβόλιο της γρίπης
By dr. Joseph Mercola (*)
If you've repeatedly fallen for this annual propaganda campaign, you may be surprised to find the medical literature suggests vitamin D may actually be a FAR more effective strategy, and the evidence for this goes back at least a decade.
Dr. John Cannell, founder of the Vitamin D Council, was one of the first to introduce the idea that vitamin D deficiency may actually be an underlying CAUSE of influenza.
His hypothesis1 was initially published in the journal Epidemiology and Infection in 2006.2 It was subsequently followed up with another study published in the Virology Journal in 2008.3
The following year, the largest nationally representative study4 of its kind to date discovered that people with the lowest vitamin D levels indeed reported having significantly more colds or cases of the flu.
In conclusion, lead author Dr. Adit Ginde stated: "The findings of our study support an important role for vitamin D in prevention of common respiratory infections, such as colds and the flu. Individuals with common lung diseases, such as asthma or emphysema, may be particularly susceptible to respiratory infections from vitamin D deficiency."
Vitamin D Works Better Than Flu Vaccine If Your Levels Are Low
Overall, the studies included nearly 11,000 individuals from more than a dozen countries. As reported by Time Magazine:7
"… [P]eople who took daily or weekly vitamin D supplements were less likely to report acute respiratory infections, like influenza or the common cold, than those who did not …
"For people with the most significant vitamin D deficiencies (blood levels below 10 [ng/mL]), taking a supplement cut their risk of respiratory infection in half.
"People with higher vitamin D levels also saw a small reduction in risk: about 10 percent, which is about equal to the protective effect of the injectable flu vaccine, the researchers say."
Like Cannell before them, the researchers believe vitamin D offers protection by increasing antimicrobial peptides in your lungs, and that "[t]his may be one reason why colds and flus are most common in the winter, when sunlight exposure (and therefore the body's natural vitamin D production) is at its lowest …"8
According to this international research team, vitamin D supplementation could prevent more than 3.25 million cases of cold and flu each year in the U.K. alone.9 Another statistic showing vitamin D is a more effective strategy than flu vaccine is the "number needed to treat" (NNT).
Overall, one person would be spared from influenza for every 33 people taking a vitamin D supplement (NNT = 33), whereas 40 people have to receive the flu vaccine in order to prevent one case of the flu (NNT = 40).
Among those with severe vitamin D deficiency at baseline, the NNT was 4. In other words, if you're vitamin D deficient to begin with, vitamin D supplementation is 10 times more effective than the flu vaccine.
Optimizing Vitamin D May Be Your Best Defense Against Influenza
Your diet also plays a significant role of course, as it lays the foundation for good immune function.
A high-sugar diet is a sure-fire way to diminish your body's innate ability to fight off infections of all kinds by radically impairing the functioning of your immune system.
However, I do not agree that fortifying more processed foods with vitamin D is the best solution, although I realize it could potentially have a more widespread impact among people who remain unaware of the beneficial health effects of sunlight in general.
I believe sensible sun exposure is the ideal way to optimize your vitamin D. Taking a vitamin D3 supplement is only recommended in cases when you simply cannot obtain sufficient amounts of sensible sun exposure.
It's also important to point out that, contrary to what's reported by most mainstream media, including NPR report above, most people cannot optimize their vitamin D levels by getting the recommended 600 IUs of vitamin D from fortified foods.
The dose you need really depends on your current blood level of vitamin D.
If it's very low, you may need 8,000 to 10,000 IUs of vitamin D3 per day in order to reach and maintain a clinically relevant level of 45 to 60 nanograms per milliliter (ng/mL). The only way to know how much you need is to get tested at least once or twice each year.
If you've been supplementing for some time and your levels are still below 45 ng/mL, you then know you have to increase your dose further.
If using an oral supplement, also make sure to boost your vitamin K2 and magnesium intake, as these nutrients help optimize vitamin D levels.
Other Studies Supporting Link Between Vitamin D Deficiency and Influenza
The randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled study included 430 children, half of which were given 1,200 IUs of vitamin D3 per day while the other half received a placebo.
Overall, children in the treatment group were 42 percent less likely to come down with the flu.
According to the authors:
"This study suggests that vitamin D3 supplementation during the winter may reduce the incidence of influenza A, especially in specific subgroups of schoolchildren."
Another study11 published that same year concluded that infection-fighting T-cells need help from vitamin D in order to activate. This is yet another mechanism that helps explain why vitamin D is so effective against infections.
When a T cell recognizes foreign invaders like bacteria or viruses, it sends activating signals to the vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene.
The VDR gene then starts producing a protein that binds vitamin D in the T cell. A downstream effect of this is PLC-gamma1 protein production, which subsequently enables the T cell to fight the infection.
At the time, lead researcher Carsten Geisler told Food Consumer:12
"When a T cell is exposed to a foreign pathogen, it extends a signaling device or 'antenna' known as a vitamin D receptor, with which it searches for vitamin D.
"This means the T cell must have vitamin D or activation of the cell will cease. If the T cells cannot find enough vitamin D in the blood, they won't even begin to mobilize."
With that understanding, it's no wonder flu shots don't work. Flu vaccines do absolutely nothing to address the underlying problem of vitamin D deficiency, which is effectively hindering your immune system from working properly.
In fact, flu vaccines tend to deteriorate your immune function, and their side effects can be significant.
'Gold Standard' Studies Ignored by Mainstream Media
In 2010, Cochrane published the following bombshell conclusion, which was completely ignored by mainstream media:13
"Influenza vaccines have a modest effect in reducing influenza symptoms and working days lost. There is no evidence that they affect complications, such as pneumonia, or transmission. WARNING: This review includes 15 out of 36 trials funded by industry (four had no funding declaration).
"An earlier systematic review of 274 influenza vaccine studies published up to 2007 found industry funded studies were published in more prestigious journals and cited more than other studies independently from methodological quality and size. Studies funded from public sources were significantly less likely to report conclusions favorable to the vaccines …"
So, despite the fact that 15 of the 36 studies included were biased by industry interests, they still couldn't come up with evidence supporting the conventional claim that flu vaccines are the best and most effective prevention available against influenza!
Scientific Reviews Show Vaccinating Children and Elderly Is Ineffective
1. A large-scale, systematic review14 of 51 studies, published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews in 2006, found no evidence that the flu vaccine is any more effective than a placebo in children under two. The studies involved 260,000 children, age 6 to 23 months.
2. In 2008, another Cochrane review15 again concluded that "little evidence is available" that the flu vaccine is effective for children under the age of two. Even more disturbingly, the authors stated that:
"It was surprising to find only one study of inactivated vaccine in children under two years, given current recommendations to vaccinate healthy children from six months old in the USA and Canada.
"If immunization in children is to be recommended as a public health policy, large-scale studies assessing important outcomes and directly comparing vaccine types are urgently required."
3. In a 2012 review,16 Cochrane concluded that "in children aged from two years, nasal spray vaccines made from weakened influenza viruses were better at preventing illness caused by the influenza virus than injected vaccines made from the killed virus.
Neither type was particularly good at preventing "flu-like illness" caused by other types of viruses. In children under the age of two, the efficacy of inactivated vaccine was similar to placebo."
The available evidence with regards to protecting the elderly is equally abysmal.
4. In 2010, Cochrane concluded that:17 "The available evidence is of poor quality and provides no guidance regarding the safety, efficacy or effectiveness of influenza vaccines for people aged 65 years or older."
5. Cochrane also reviewed whether or not vaccinating health care workers can help protect the elderly patients with whom they work. In conclusion, the authors stated that:18
"[T]here is no evidence that vaccinating health care workers prevents influenza in elderly residents in long-term care facilities."
Annual Flu Vaccinations May Raise Risk of More Serious Infections
Research published in 2014 concluded that vaccine-induced protection against influenza was greatest among those who had NOT received a flu shot in the previous five years.21
The flu vaccine may also increase your risk of contracting other, more serious influenza infections.
Data shows people who received the seasonal flu vaccine in 2008 had twice the risk of getting the H1N1 "swine flu" compared to those who didn't receive a flu shot.22
Compared to children who do not get an annual flu vaccine, those who receive influenza vaccinations have a three times higher risk of hospitalization due to influenza.23
Research also shows that statin drugs — taken by 1 in 4 Americans over the age of 45 — may undermine your immune system's ability to respond to the flu vaccine.24,25,26
When you consider the low efficacy rate of the flu vaccine in any given year, getting vaccinated if you're on a statin may well be a moot point.
Independent science reviews have also concluded that influenza vaccine does not appear to prevent influenza-like illness associated with other types of viruses responsible for about 80 percent of all respiratory or gastrointestinal infections during any given flu season.27,28,29,30
Other Foods and Supplements That Send Pathogens Packin'
Garlic:31 Garlic has natural antiviral, antibiotic and antifungal activity and has long been hailed for its immune boosting effects.
The Cochrane Database, which has repeatedly demonstrated that the science in support of the flu vaccine is flimsy at best, has also reviewed studies on alternatives, including garlic.32
Unfortunately, such research is harder to come by, as there's no financial incentive driving it.
Still, in the singular study identified by the Cochrane group, those who took garlic daily for three months had fewer colds than those who took a placebo, and, when they did come down with a cold, the duration of illness was shorter — an average of 4.5 days compared to 5.5 days for the placebo group.
While this may not seem overly impressive, it's still better than the results achieved by the flu drug Tamiflu!
Zinc: A Cochrane Database Review of the medical research on zinc found that when taken within one day of the first symptoms, zinc can cut down the time you have a cold by about 24 hours.
Zinc was also found to greatly reduce the severity of symptoms. Zinc was not recommended for anyone with an underlying health condition, like lowered immune function, asthma or chronic illness.
I do not recommend taking more than 50 mg a day, and I do not recommend taking zinc on a daily basis for preventive purposes as you could easily develop a copper imbalance that way.
Vitamin C: A very potent antioxidant; use a natural form such as acerola, which contains associated micronutrients.
You can take several grams every hour (use the liposomal form so you don't get loose stools), till you are better. I never travel without a bottle of our liposomal C.
A tea made from a combination of elderflower, yarrow, boneset, linden, peppermint and ginger; drink it hot and often for combating a cold or flu. It causes you to sweat, which is helpful for eradicating a virus from your system.
Oregano Oil: The higher the carvacrol concentration, the more effective it is. Carvacrol is the most active antimicrobial agent in oregano oil.
Medicinal mushrooms, such as shiitake, reishi and turkey tail.
Propolis: A bee resin and one of the most broad-spectrum antimicrobial compounds in the world; propolis is also the richest source of caffeic acid and apigenin, two very important compounds that aid in immune response.
Olive leaf extract is widely known as a natural, non-toxic immune system builder.
Vitamin D Is Important for Optimal Health and Disease Prevention Year-Round
The video above discusses research33 showing vitamin D extends lifespan in nematode worms by 30 percent and helps slow or even reverse accumulation of beta amyloid protein, which is a hallmark of Alzheimer's.
Vitamin D deficiency has also been linked to heart disease, cancer, diabetes, depression, autoimmune disease and many other chronic diseases. As noted in a recent issue of Orthomolecular Medicine News:34
"Research on the health benefits of vitamin D continues at a rapid pace. There were 4,356 papers published in 2015 with vitamin D in the title or abstract and 4,388 in 2016 …"
Among some of the most impactful studies are ones demonstrating:
• Health benefits from sun exposure unrelated to vitamin D production. One recent review concluded benefits of sun exposure includes lower rates of cancer, heart disease, dementia, myopia, macular degeneration, diabetes and multiple sclerosis.
My belief is that the majority of these benefits are due to the near-, mid- and far-infrared wavelengths.
Avoiding the Sun's Rays is a Misinformed Trend Causing Global Rise in Cancers
According to the author:
"The message of sun avoidance must be changed to acceptance of non-burning sun exposure sufficient to achieve [vitamin D] concentrations of 30 ng/mL or higher … and the general benefits of UV exposure beyond those of vitamin D."
Also, while intermittent sun exposure is associated with higher rates of skin cancer, "the risks of these cancers is dwarfed by the reduced risk of internal cancers from sun exposure," William Grant, Ph.D. writes.
• Benefits of higher vitamin D levels during pregnancy. Research demonstrates preterm births steadily decrease as vitamin D levels increase among pregnant women. In one study, raising vitamin D blood concentrations from 20 to 40 ng/mL decreased preterm births by 59 percent.
• Reduction in cancer risk from vitamin D supplementation. One pooled analysis showed that women with higher levels of vitamin D had much lower incidence rates of cancer — from a 2 percent per year cancer incidence rate at 18 ng/mL to 0.4 percent at 63 ng/mL.
Overall, maintaining a vitamin D serum level of 45 to 60 ng/mL year-round may be one of the simplest and most efficient ways to safeguard yourself against chronic disease and acute infections.
When it comes to seasonal colds and influenza, the rate of protection you get from vitamin D is actually greater than what you'd get from a flu vaccination, and you don't have to worry about potential side effects either — which in the case of the flu vaccine can be far worse than the original complaint.
While death and complete disability from a flu vaccine may be rare, so is dying from the flu itself. I strongly recommend weighing the risk of suffering a debilitating side effect of the flu vaccine relative to the more likely potential of spending a week in bed with the flu.
Remember, most deaths attributed to influenza are actually due to bacterial pneumonia, and these days, bacterial pneumonia can be effectively treated with advanced medical care and therapies like respirators and parenteral antibiotics.
(*) From the author: The existing medical establishment is responsible for killing and permanently injuring millions of Americans, but the surging numbers of visitors to Mercola.com since I began the site in 1997 - we are now routinely among the top 10 health sites on the Internet - convinces me that you, too, are fed up with their deception. You want practical health solutions without the hype, and that's what I offer.
Sources and References:
1 Epidemic Influenza and Vitamin D by JJ Cannell, September 15, 2006
2 Epidemiology and Infection 2006 Dec;134(6):1129-40
3 Virology Journal 2008, 5:29
4 Archives of Internal Medicine 2009;169(4):384-390
5 BMJ 2017; 356:i6583
6 NPR February 16, 2017
7, 8 Time February 16, 2017
9 BBC.com February 16, 2017
10 American Journal of Clinical Nutrition May 2010; 91(5): 1255-1260
11 Nature Immunology 2010 Apr;11(4):344-9
12 Food Consumer July 3, 2010
13 Cochrane Database Systematic Reviews 2010 Jul 7;(7):CD001269
14, 15 Cochrane Database Systematic Reviews 2006 Jan 25;(1):CD004879
16 Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2012; Issue 8
17, 18 Cochrane Database Systematic Reviews 2010 Feb 17;(2):CD004876
19 Vaccine December 1998;16(20):1929-32
20 STAT News November 11, 2015
21 Clinical Infectious Diseases 2014; 59 (10): 1375-1385
22 CIDRAP April 6, 2010
23 Science Daily May 20, 2009
24 STAT News October 29, 2015
25 STAT News September 28, 2016
26 Journal of Infectious Disease October 28, 2015
27 FDA. 94th Meeting of Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee Transcript. Feb. 20, 2003
28 CDC Seasonal Influenza Q&A. Aug. 15, 2014
29 CDC 2014-2015 Influenza Season Week 51 Ending December 20, 2014
30 JAMA Internal Medicine 2013; 173(11): 1014-1016
31 PreventDisease.com January 20, 2013
32 Cochrane , Garlic for the Common Cold, November 11, 2014
33 ABC7 News February 10, 2017
34 Orthomolecular Medicine News February 13, 2017.
ΠΗΓΗ: Humans are free.
Vitamin D may be your best defense against respiratory infections
Η βιταμίνη D μπορεί να είναι η καλύτερη άμυνα
κατά των λοιμώξεων
του αναπνευστικού συστήματος
by Earl Garcia
The research team found that vitamin D supplementation provided a modest protective effect against respiratory infections. Lead researcher Dr. Adrian Martineau said vitamin D supplements helped reduce the risk of developing respiratory illnesses such as colds and flu by 10 percent. Participants suffering vitamin D deficiency were shown to benefit more from supplementation.
According to researchers, vitamin D supplementation may help prevent respiratory infection in one out of 33 individuals. In contrast, flu vaccination may prevent infection in one out of 40 individuals. This suggests that vitamin D supplementation could be a more ideal preventive against respiratory conditions. The findings were published in the British Medical Journal.
Vitamin D’s protective effects seen in more studies
Vitamin D supplementation helped reduce respiratory infections in elderly population, according to a 2016 study. As part of the study, researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus examined 107 patients with an average age of 84 years old. The patients were given either higher monthly vitamin D doses or lower daily vitamin D doses. The study revealed that patients who had higher doses exhibited a 40 percent reduction in acute respiratory diseases after a year. However, researchers stressed that the findings warrant further research.
“This finding requires a confirmatory trial…This is a potentially life-saving discovery. There is very little in a doctor’s arsenal to battle ARI, especially since most are viral infections where antibiotics don’t work. But vitamin D seems able to potentially prevent these infections. If our results are confirmed by a larger trial, high dose vitamin D, ideally using daily dosing to minimize fall risk, has the potential for substantial public health benefit through ARI prevention for the large and growing population of long term care residents,” wrote lead author Dr. Adit Ginde in ScienceDaily.com. The finding were published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
Another study revealed that higher vitamin D intake may cut the risk of respiratory tract infections. To carry out the study, researchers examined 140 volunteers who were given either vitamin D supplements or placebo. The researchers found that patients in the vitamin D group had a 25 percent decrease in respiratory tract infections at the end of the study period compared with those in the placebo group. The research team also found that patients who took vitamin D supplements reduced their antibiotic use by nearly 50 percent.
“Our research can have important implications for patients with recurrent infections or a compromised immune defense, such as a lack of antibodies, and can also help to prevent the emerging resistance to antibiotics that come from overuse. On the other hand, there doesn’t seem to be anything to support the idea that vitamin D would help otherwise healthy people with normal, temporary respiratory tract infections,” said researcher Dr. Peter Bergman in MedicalNewsToday.com. The results appeared in the journal BMJ Open.
A small study published in 2010 also revealed that vitamin D supplementation helped reduce the incidence of influenza A in children. To assess this, Japanese researchers examined more than 3oo children and found that the incidence of influenza-A infection was only 10.8 percent in those who took vitamin D supplements, compared with 18.6 percent in the control group. The findings were published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
βιταμινη D νοσηση, κορωνοιος κορονοιος Covid-19 Ισραηλ, Covid 19 εμβολιο εμβολια γριπης, γριπη, γριππη αμυνα λοιμωξη αναπνευστικου συστηματος, αναπνευστικο συστημα, ανοσοποιητικο, θανατος νοσηλεια
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