COVID-19 Update: Low Vitamin D, Heart Damage After 'Recovery'

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Low Vitamin D, Higher Risk?

Low plasma vitamin D levels emerged as an independent risk factor for COVID-19 infection and hospitalization in a large, population-based study. The study population included 14,000 patients who had been tested for COVID-19 and also had a previous blood test for plasma 25(OH)D level.
Participants who tested positive for COVID-19 were 50% more likely to have low vs normal 25(OH)D levels in a multivariate analysis that controlled for other confounders.
The study makes a compelling case for screening vitamin D levels for judging an individual's risk of COVID-19 infection and hospitalization, and exposes the need for a large randomized vitamin D supplement study to see whether vitamin D has a role in infection prevention.


Heart Damage After "Recovery"

Clinicians have observed that COVID-19 negatively affects the heart, but the "why" has largely been speculative. Does SARS-CoV-2 directly attack the heart?
Two new reports published July 27 in JAMA Cardiology shed light on how the virus can infect the myocardium without causing myocarditis. Furthermore, some recovered COVID-19 patients are faced with persisting myocardial injury and inflammation that potentially could later manifest as heart failure.
A prospective cohort study of patients who recovered from a recent bout of COVID-19 showed evidence of ventricular dysfunction, greater ventricular mass, and signs of myocardial inflammation on cardiac imaging. Another study, a postmortem analysis of 39 hearts of COVID-19 patients, revealed a significant SARS-CoV-2 presence and signs that the virus vigorously replicated in the myocardium. More research is needed to understand the long-term cardiac consequences of COVID-19.

Hi Susan,

Here's an article that appeared on July 27, two days before your referenced article.
Vitamin D insufficiency as a potential culprit in critical COVID-19 patients
[pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

The explanation for the severity and COVID induced residual heart and lung damage can be explained by the below images

or visit [media.springernature.com] for the entire image.

It's all about the NF-kappaB inflammatory pathway.
This is inhibited by Vitamin D.
Vitamin D decreases NFkappaB activity by increasing IkappaBalpha levels
[pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]
This pathway is upregulated by Angiotensin II and aldosterone.


This is why those with comorbidities and the elderly are especially at risk. All such individuals have high ACE/ACE2 enzyme ratios. ACE Creates angiotensin II and ACE2 removes it.
A hypothesis for pathobiology and treatment of COVID-19: The centrality of ACE1/ACE2 imbalance
[pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]
This is why I like ARBs (angiotensin II blockers) and ACEIs (angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors) for treatment of COVID 19.
The bottom line is
TAKE DAILY VITAMIN D (preferably 5000 IUs). It also inhibits renin, the enzyme the produces angiotensin I, from which ACE creates angiotensin II.

There are numerous bogus lame stream medicine articles now appearing denigrating the myriad benefits of Vitamin D. Don't you believe it. I've reviewed several in detail explaining why the studies were defective and actually designed to fail.
Visit [www.afibbers.org] (last post)

Pc- my vitamin D test was high 59, 55 (range 20-50) the past two testing (3 months apart). I was told to discontinue. I was taking 4000 IU a day. So I stopped it completely after the 1st test and retook the test- high but it went down to 55. I restarted 2000 IU 4-5 times a week after reading your posts a few weeks ago. I’ll take another test, hopefully this week.

I’m inside most of the day..some days inside until dusk because it’s over 95-100. So I’m not getting my D from the Sun. I speculate I get it from my fortified almond milk.

What idiot told you to discontinue?

Because D is one of the fat soluble vitamins (A,D,E,K), some pseudo experts get all bent out of shape at more than the RDA (a joke).

Just look at the tables I posted here.
[www.afibbers.org]

My level a few months ago was 78 ng/ml and I continue to take 5000 IUs a day.
[www.grassrootshealth.net]

PC,MD is this one of the mainstream experts you are talking about?
[www.youtube.com]
Anyway, i'm taking 4 to 5000 i.u./day since last year and added one table spoon of codliver oil 2 months ago.

YES! ABSOLUTELY!
The lie is best sold when intermixed with some truth.
Notice how he gives no data. He only states the conclusions of these recurring agenda driven studies. Big Pharma controls JAMA, ...
Undoubtedly these studies are like the ones that I have debunked in the previous posts, where suboptimal levels are given, .... This is the problem. Taking 1000 international units might be OK for an active 20 or 30 year old, but not for those that are at risk for all of these diseases, e.g., hypertension, diabetes, ..., not to mention the elderly, especially those shut in (nursing homes) with inadequate exposure to sunlight especially during the winter. Do you think your absorption of vitamin D3 gets better as your grow older? These are two separate reasons for deficiency.
I have close email contact with the author of the following recently published article (May 2020)
The differential expression of the ACE2 receptor across ages and gender explains the differential lethality of SARS-Cov-2 and SARS and suggests possible therapy.
Ugo Bastolla
[ui.adsabs.harvard.edu]
Vitamin D Insufficiency causes rickets. Some conditions cause insufficiency (dark skin pigmentation) or consume more vitamin D (obesity) or require more to balance their ill effects (hypertension, ... see above images).
Vitamin D cuts down on aldosterone and angiotensin two from above by inhibiting renin and inhibits their Ill affects from below by inhibiting NF-kappaB.

Thank you for clarifying, it's a 'jungle' out there - diet is another one PC,MD!

How can that Michigan idiot differentiate between a shortage of vitamin D causing a disease (Ricketts) and a disease causing vitamin D deficiency (hypertension, diabetes, obesity, age,…)? It makes no sense. One can always increase intake, if needed. To peddle such a message is criminal IMHO.
All of these diseases are associated with an increased ACE/ACE2 ratio, i.e.,.increased angiotensin II.
Vitamin D intake and consumption in the human body is like a bathtub with a water faucet and a drain. The inflow decreases as we age (less absorption and solar exposure) and the development of comorbidities puts us in need of even more D3, "draining" away our usual meager intake.