A case study from Indonesia joins research efforts to find effective treatment methods for severe COVID-19 diseases: The researchers assume that there is a connection between the vitamin D content in the body and the course of the disease of a coronavirus infection.
Indonesian study: Vitamin D deficiency influences the risk of corona death
Researchers from Indonesia have conducted a case study with more than 380 corona patients from Spain, Italy and Switzerland. Because in these countries the vitamin D supply in older people is said to be particularly poor. The results of the study speak a clear language purely from the numbers: 99 percent of patients who had vitamin D deficiency died from COVID-19 – of those who did not have such a deficiency, it was only four percent.
The researchers deduced from the results that vitamin D levels can influence the course of COVID-19 disease and that a deficiency is an important factor in the risk of death. Appropriate dietary supplements should therefore be part of the treatment of corona patients. Not only that, the researchers believe that vitamin D supplements protect against coronavirus infection.
Relationship between vitamin D and respiratory diseases
There is a reason why the researchers from Indonesia have just looked at vitamin D with regard to the risk of corona death: In previous studies, evidence was found that vitamin D can prevent respiratory infections. The reason: Vitamin D is said to specifically counter the immune defense Bacteria and vireActivate n. However, there are also studies that have not been able to demonstrate this effect. So far, there is still no definitive scientific proof that vitamin D forms protection against respiratory diseases.
Vitamin D is important for the immune system
It has not yet been clinically proven whether vitamin D actually has an impact on the course of a COVID-19 disease or can even protect against a corona infection. But what is undisputed in research: Vitamin D contributes to organ function and is beyond important for an intact immune system, which is a decisive factor for a complication-free course of the disease in a corona infection.
Scientists from the University of Copenhagen found out about ten years ago that when there is a vitamin D deficiency, the immune cells do not respond properly and remain inactive. If the vitamin is lacking, the immune system cannot fight the pathogens. These results can also provide an explanation for the observed relationship between the vitamin D content and the course of a COVID-19 disease.
sources:
Answers from the Robert Koch Institute to frequently asked questions about vitamin D, in: Robert Koch Institute.
Importance of vitamin D in cancer prevention, in: Ärzteblatt
Vitamin D: A deficiency should definitely be avoided, in: Ärzteblatt
Controversial benefits of vitamin D in prevention, in: Ärzteblatt
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