BREAKTHROUGH: Simple sunlight exposure can
protect against severe and deadly COVID-19 infections – study
Friday, September 17, 2021 by: Arsenio Toledo
Tags: alternative medicine, coronavirus, COVID, covid-19, COVID-19 treatments, Cures, goodhealth, goodmedicine, goodscience, immune health, immunity, infections, pandemic, prevention, remedies, research, Ultraviolet B, vitamin D
21KVIEWS
(Natural News) New research has found that getting sufficient levels of ambient
ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation at an individual’s place of residence in the
weeks before a Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) infection has a strong protective
effect against a severe case of the virus and even death. This study solidifies the role of vitamin D in protecting people against
COVID-19.
The study was conducted by
researchers from Trinity College Dublin in Ireland and the University of
Edinburgh (UoE) in
Scotland. It has been published in the journal Scientific Reports.
Previous studies have found
a strong link between vitamin D deficiency and increased susceptibility to
viral and bacterial respiratory infection. Other studies have also found a
strong correlation between COVID-19 and vitamin D deficiency.
But many of these studies
have been ignored or belittled, with scientists attempting to argue that
the increased susceptibility could be due to other factors such as older age,
obesity or chronic illness. (Related: Since COVID-19
vaccines are said to be free for the “health of the nation,” why aren’t they
giving away vitamin D and other vital supplements?)
To make sure detractors
can’t mistake the effects of vitamin D for other demographic, health and
lifestyle factors, the researchers found a way to calculate vitamin D levels of
the study’s participants based on their genetics.
This method is known as
Mendelian randomization. According to The BMJ, it “uses genetic variation to investigate the relations between modifiable risk factors and health
outcomes in observational data.”
This approach gave the
researchers a way to properly investigate any causal link between vitamin D and
COVID-19.
The study involved nearly
half a million individuals in the United Kingdom. The researchers looked at the
vitamin D levels of the participants as predicted by their genetics and by UVB.
UVB rays are very important
to vitamin D production in the skin. UVB rays from the sun hit cholesterol
in skin cells, which provides the energy for vitamin D
synthesis to occur.
Study
showed vitamin D protects against severe and deadly COVID-19 infection
The Mendelian randomization
analysis was inconclusive, and the researchers believe the number of COVID-19
cases in the study is too small to convincingly determine a causal effect
between genetically predicted vitamin D levels and COVID-19.
But the researchers did
find that ambient UVB radiation at the place of residence of a person before a
COVID-19 infection helped determine a person’s chances of getting hospitalized
or even dying from the coronavirus.
This strongly suggests that
sunlight exposure, and therefore vitamin D, protects people against severe
COVID-19 cases and even death.
Evropi Theodoratou, senior
study researcher and professor of cancer epidemiology and global health at UoE,
believes the study should convince the mainstream medical community that they
need to be more accepting of studies that show vitamin D’s effects against
COVID-19.
“Given the lack of highly
effective therapies against COVID-19, we think it is important to remain
open-minded to emerging results from rigorously conducted studies of vitamin
D,” said Theodoratou.
Lina Zgaga, senior
researcher on the study and associate professor in epidemiology at Trinity
College’s School of Medicine, believes another study needs to be conducted. She
believes this study needs to be a randomized controlled trial that studies the
relationship between vitamin D supplementation and COVID-19 infections.
“Our study adds further
evidence that vitamin D might protect against severe COVID-19 infection,” said
Zgaga. “Conducting ap properly designed [experiment] … is critical. Until then,
given that vitamin D supplements are safe and cheap, it is definitely advisable
to take supplements and protect against vitamin D deficiency, particularly with
winter on the horizon.”
Learn more about the
positive effects of vitamin D in fighting against the coronavirus by reading
the latest articles at VitaminD.news.
Sources
include:
