I hope this blog post finds you in a good place mentally, emotionally, physically and everything in between. This week has certainly been an uneasy one as we are all figuring out life with this virus together as each day passes.
For me personally when I feel stress or fear of the unknown I look to reading and research to find my center. As I discussed on my latest podcast episode “Science-based Tips to Enhance Your Immunity” one of the top supplements I found backed by science to help with preventing acute respiratory illness (which is associated with COVID-19) is Vitamin D3. I am not saying taking Vitamin D3 will cure the virus, but I am wanting to show the correlation between supplementation of Vitamin D as a positive immune impacting factor and protectant from respiratory illness.
Many vitamin D-regulated genes are involved in immune function. Studies provide evidence that vitamin D3 deficiency may confer increased risk of influenza and respiratory tract infection. Through trials completed in 14 countries, they found that vitamin D3 supplementation cut the risk of infection with respiratory illnesses by 50% in people that were vitamin D deficient and by 10% in people with normal vitamin D levels.Â
Overall, the reduction in risk of acute respiratory infection induced by vitamin D was on a par with the protective effect of injectable flu vaccine against “flu-like illnesses”.
Pretty amazing right? Studies have shown that typically supplementation with 1,000 IU of vitamin D3 per day can raise serum levels by ~5 ng/ml. Some people I know take up to 4,000 IU daily, so dependent if you have a known deficiency or are worried if you might I would see how much to supplement with. For instance, I live in Florida where I am still in the sun each day so I might not need as high of a dose as someone in NY city right no hunkered down in their apartment not getting as much sunlight.
The older we get the less efficient our bodies are at producing Vitamin D from sunlight, so naturally the elderly become more deficient in the vitamin but it is easily remediable with supplementation. However, even if you have normal levels of Vitamin D3 it cannot hurt to add a supplement to give you a boost to your immune system at this time and give you the protective effect of an injectable flu vaccine.
This article is not sponsored by Ritual, however Ritual is a podcast sponsor (which I am very excited about) and their multivitamin does have D3 within it so I am currently taking that, hence the photo. I plan on trying their multivitamin out for a month to let you know what I think of it. I do love their brand and everything they stand for though, so if you are interested in checking them out you can read more about them at ritual.com.
I hope that this information gives you some insight and a feeling of action we can take for our health during such an uncertain time. Let me know any questions you might have that I can answer in the comments below or any research you would like for me to do on your behalf at this time.
sources cited:
STUDY: Vitamin D3 supplements protect against acute respiratory infections including colds and flu
STUDY: Interventional and observational epidemiological studies provide evidence that vitamin D3 deficiency may confer increased risk of influenza and respiratory tract infection.