that has seen its consumption rebound as a result of the coronavirus. ensures that hospitalized patients with Covid-19 who had sufficient vitamin D had a significantly lower risk of adverse clinical outcomes including unconsciousness, hypoxia and death.
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What is vitamin D
, is a substance that helps the body absorb calcium, necessary for bone formation. Thus, its deficiency can cause osteoporosis rickets. In addition, vitamin D plays an important role in the nervous, muscular and immune systems, key in the fight against the coronavirus.
that there are different chronic diseases that have been directly linked to vitamin D deficiency, especially type 1 diabetes mellitus, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s disease, psoriasis, prostate, breast, ovarian and colon, hypertension and metabolic bone disease. And that the main effects of vitamin D deficiency occur in the bone; in children, it leads to a picture of rickets with delayed growth and deformities in the long bones and in adults, it is the cause of osteomalacia characterized by lower bone density and increased risk of fracture.
What does vitamin D do and why does it help against Covid?
Hospitalized Covid-19 patients who were vitamin D-sufficient, with a 25-hydroxyvitamin D blood level of at least 30 ng/mL, had a significantly lower risk of adverse clinical outcomes including unconsciousness, hypoxia, and death. In addition, they had lower blood levels of an inflammatory marker (C-reactive protein) and higher levels of lymphocytes (a type of immune cell that helps fight infection), the researchers report in the journal PLOS ONE.
“This study provides direct evidence that vitamin D sufficiency can reduce complications, including cytokine storm (release of too many proteins into the blood too quickly) and ultimately death from COVID-19,” explains Dr. Corresponding author Michael F. Holick, PhD, MD, professor of medicine, physiology and biophysics, and molecular medicine at Boston University School of Medicine.
Sunbathing to synthesize vitamin D
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin essential for maintaining the body’s mineral balance. The form synthesized in humans is called cholecalciferol (vitamin D3) and is synthesized in the skin by the action of ultraviolet light (UVB). Thus, sunbathing every day for between five and fifteen minutes not only improves our mood and generates a sense of well-being, but also ultraviolet radiation is absolutely necessary for our body to synthesize vitamin D.
Dr. Magdalena de Troya explains that if we are prudent, we can expose ourselves directly to the sun without experiencing risk from a window or a balcony, although the doctor warns that babies, people with fair and sensitive skin or those who have shown some sign of sun damage should not They must be exposed directly. It is usually enough to expose the face and arms, although in any case, it is convenient to rotate the exposed areas, since chronic sun damage causes premature aging of the skin, giving rise to the appearance of spots and wrinkles, in addition to various forms of skin cancer.
What to eat to get vitamin D
People who live in a state of confinement or in countries with little sun have a higher risk of presenting a vitamin D deficiency and, in these cases, it is advisable to increase their intake through food or dietary supplements.
Among foods, fatty acids from fish represent the richest source of cholecalciferol, salmon being the main source; eggs, butter, liver and other organ meats as well, but you have to take care of your consumption because of its high cholesterol content. Other products with vitamin D are tuna, sardines; oysters, prawns and prawns; mushrooms; and avocado.
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