What Role Does Vitamin D Play In COVID-19?

1. Huateng Pharma https://en.huatengsci.com What Role Does Vitamin D Play In COVID-19? Vitamin D is a group of fat-soluble steroids responsible for increasing intestinal absorption of calcium, magnesium and phosphate, and has a variety of other biological effects. In humans, the most important compounds in this group are vitamin D3 (also known as cholecalciferol) and vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol). What role does vitamin D play in COVID-19? Credit: CC0 Public Domain After studying global data from COVID-19 pandemic, the researchers analyzed patient data from 10 countries, they found a strong correlation between severe vitamin D deficiency and mortality. Vitamin D enhances innate immunity and prevents overactive immune responses. Led by Northwestern University, the team conducted a statistical analysis of data from hospitals and clinics in China, France, Germany, Italy, Iran, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States. The researchers noted that patients from countries with high COVID-19 mortality rates, such as Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, had lower levels of

2. Huateng Pharma https://en.huatengsci.com vitamin D compared to countries that were not severely affected. Vadim Backman of Northwest Research who led the research said: “Although I think it is important for people to know that vitamin D deficiency may play a role in mortality, we don’t need to push vitamin D to everyone "This requires further research, and I hope that our work will stimulate interest in this area. These data can also clarify the mechanism of mortality, and if this is proved, it may lead to new therapeutic targets.." After noticing the unexplained COVID-19 mortality differences between countries, Backman and his team were inspired to check vitamin D levels. Some people hypothesized that differences in healthcare quality, age distribution of the population, the detection rate or different strains of coronavirus might be responsible. But Backman is still skeptical. "None of these factors seem to play an important role." Backman said."The health care system in northern Italy is one of the best in the world. Even the death rate of people of the same age varies. Although the restrictions on testing are indeed different, even in countries or populations with similar testing rates, differences in mortality rates still exist. "Instead, we found a significant correlation between vitamin D deficiency and disease." he said. By analyzing globally available patient data, Backman and his team found a strong correlation between vitamin D levels and cytokine storm (a highly inflammatory disease caused by an overactive immune system), as well as vitamin D deficiency and Correlation between mortality rates. Daneshkhah said: "Cytokine storms can severely damage the lungs and cause acute respiratory distress syndrome and death." "This seems to be the reason for killing most patients with COVID-19, not the destruction of the lungs by the virus itself. Is a complication of a misleading fire in the immune system. " This is where Backman believes that vitamin D plays an important role. Vitamin D not only enhance our innate immune system, but also prevents our immune system from becoming dangerously overactive. This means that having healthy levels of vitamin D can protect patients from serious complications of COVID-19, including death. "Our analysis shows that it may reduce the mortality rate by half." Backman said. "This will not prevent patients from getting the virus, but it will reduce complications and prevent the death of infected persons."

3. Huateng Pharma https://en.huatengsci.com Backman pointed out carefully that people should not take excessive doses of vitamin D, which may cause negative side effects. He said the subject needs more research to understand how to use vitamin D most effectively to prevent COVID-19 complications. "It is difficult to say which dose is most beneficial to COVID-19," Backman said. "However, it is clear that vitamin D deficiency is harmful and can be easily resolved with appropriate supplementation. This may be another key to help protect people who are susceptible to vitamin D, such as African American and elderly patients." Hunan Huateng Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. is a leading and professional manufacturer which can provided fine chemicals, PEG derivatives, biochemical reagents, pharmaceutical intermediates, APIs, Vitamin D Derivatives for our customers. We committed to providing cost-effective pharmaceutical products and services to customers around the world with the belief of “Strive for the Human Health". Source: Materials provided by Northwestern University. Original written by Amanda Morris.