Gonzalo herman
10/04/2020 - 15:30
Clarín.com
Society
The world is waiting for the health of the President of the United States, Donald Trump, sick with coronavirus since the middle of this week.
Every announcement from your doctors is quickly turned into global news.
Everyone wants to know how the most influential man on the planet is being treated and it is not a surprise that they are giving him, as confirmed by the experts who treat him, vitamin D. It would be something like the compound of the moment, underpinned by studies which point out that sufficient levels of vitamin D can prevent the deterioration of the condition of Covid-19 patients and can even reduce the need for oxygen.
Based on these investigations,
there are good reasons to postulate
that vitamin D favorably modulates responses to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), both in the early viremic phase and in the later hyperinflammatory phase of COVID-19.
In parallel, a group of Argentine researchers is conducting local tests
on patients with covid
to evaluate the beneficial effects that this therapy would have to treat the disease.
Walter Manucha, professor at the Faculty of Medical Sciences of the University of Cuyo and leader of the team, assured that
the results could have an impact on the national health system
.
"The effects of the study would bring benefits not only at the preventive level, but also at the therapeutic level, improving the prognosis of those who contracted the virus, avoiding the need for mechanical respiratory assistance and intensive care care."
He maintains that, with his study, they seek to "channel all that baggage of knowledge in which we were already working on the inflammatory response, since
Vitamin D opposes this
, which is what ends up cruelly hurting patients and that leads to require an assisted mechanical respirator. That is why we developed a very simple protocol, from the structure but above all for the application: concrete, which can be available in a short period of time and at low cost if it works "
These include community prevention, in geriatrics, of health personnel in contact with infected patients and patients who have already started the inflammatory process and who are not terminal.
That is, in initial and intermediate stages in which they can still intervene.
The researchers assure that if the hypothesis is verified, this could prevent the collapse of the health system, since some patients would evolve by dispensing with mechanical respiration and intensive therapy.
The study will be done so far in 200 patients.
And then it will be extended to cover 1,200, "so that it has statistical and epidemiological significance."
The investigation is carried out in the AMBA, in Mendoza and other localities where the virus is moving.
Manucha explained that it is a single dose.
"They are soft gelatin capsules,
five in total, which are taken one after the other. Patients are evaluated before treatment and seven days later they are evaluated again. We hope to find, after treatment, that respiratory function will always remain positive. and that it does not have an aggravation of the picture ".
It should be noted that in Córdoba this therapy was applied to about 77 patients and the results were very good.
"We are in the process of improving the immune system," said the researcher.
And he assured that "it is proven that for short periods of time ingesting high doses of Vitamin D does not do any harm."
What is the importance of Vitamin D in the immune system?
Vitamin D is believed to play a role in the body's immune response.
And there have been different opinions about its benefits against Covid.
Researchers from Boston University reported in the scientific journal PLOS one that "only 9.7% of patients older than 40 years who had enough vitamin D succumbed to the infection compared to 20% who had a low circulating level" .
"The significant reduction in serum CRP, an inflammatory marker, along with a higher percentage of vitamin D, suggests that vitamin D sufficiency may also help modulate the immune response, possibly by reducing the risk of cytokine storm in response to this viral infection. "
25 (OH) D or 25-hydroxyvitamin D is a measure of vitamin D in the body.
CRP or C-reactive protein is commonly tested for levels of inflammation caused by an infection.
The greater the inflammation, the greater the infection usually.
"This study provides direct evidence that vitamin D sufficiency can reduce complications, including cytokine storm (releasing too much protein into the blood too quickly) and ultimately death from COVID-19," said the author Michael F. Holick, PhD, MD, professor of medicine, physiology, and biophysics and molecular medicine at Boston University School of Medicine.
Insufficient vitamin D affects almost 50% of the world's population.
It is estimated that one billion people worldwide, of all ethnicities and age groups have it.
This pandemic of hypovitaminosis D can be mainly attributed to
lifestyle and environmental factors that reduce exposure to sunlight
, which is necessary for the production of vitamin D induced by ultraviolet B (UVB) rays in the skin.
Without vitamin D, only 10-15% of dietary calcium and about 60% of phosphorus are absorbed.
The sufficiency of this nutrient improves the absorption of calcium and phosphorus by 30 to 40% and 80%,
respectively.
The vitamin D receptor (VDR) is present in most tissues and cells in the body.
"The significant reduction in serum CRP, an inflammatory marker, along with a higher percentage of vitamin D, suggests that vitamin D sufficiency may also help modulate the immune response, possibly by reducing the risk of cytokine storm in response to this viral infection. "
25 (OH) D or 25-hydroxyvitamin D is a measure of vitamin D in the body.
CRP or C-reactive protein is commonly tested for levels of inflammation caused by an infection.
The greater the inflammation, the greater the infection usually.
"This study provides direct evidence that vitamin D sufficiency can reduce complications, including cytokine storm (releasing too much protein into the blood too quickly) and ultimately death from COVID-19," said the author Michael F. Holick, PhD, MD, professor of medicine, physiology, and biophysics and molecular medicine at Boston University School of Medicine.
For his part, Manucha reminds that the only way to know how much vitamin D a person has
is through a blood test
.
"You have to go to your head doctor and request a plasma study of vitamin D. This is the only way to know what level we have of Vitamin D".