Vitamin D and Its Effects on Coronavirus Severity

As COVID-19 rises around the nation, many continue to seek ways to build immunity. Can vitamin D help decrease severity of symptoms?

The virus known as COVID-19, or the coronavirus, has ripped through the world in just one year and many places are currently seeing the largest rates of infection since the beginning of the pandemic. As doctors and researchers learn more about the disease and its effects, there are also many studies being conducted and under review regarding immunity boosting nutrients or vitamins. Limited studies have been produced but some are linking benefits of vitamin D to coronavirus severity.

Benefits of Vitamin D

Vitamin D is an important nutrient the human body needs to function in a healthy way. According to Medical News Today, “Vitamin D is essential for several reasons, including maintaining healthy bones and teeth. It may also protect against a range of diseases and conditions, such as type 1 diabetes. Despite its name, vitamin D is not a vitamin, but a prohormone, or precursor of a hormone. Vitamins are nutrients that the body cannot create, and so a person must consume them in the diet. However, the body can produce vitamin D”. Vitamin D can also help boost immunity and help in fighting disease. Vitamin D can be absorbed through the skin when a person gets adequate sunlight, approximately 10-15 minutes a day. Many people, especially those in colder climates and long winters, are at risk for vitamin D deficiency as they do not get out in the sunlight enough in the cold months. Likewise, those who work indoors or work night shifts are also at risk for having too little vitamin D in their body. General recommendations for vitamin D dosage for children and adults is 600 IU, or 15 mcg. Those who do not get enough or close to recommended doses are at a greater risk in general for infection or disease. (retrieved from Medical News Today).

Vitamin D and Coronavirus

Several studies have been conducted over the past year regarding the supplementation of vitamin D and it’s correlation to coronavirus severity. According to Healthline, recent scientific research has concluded that vitamin D supplementation might protect against respiratory infections, especially in people who were already deficient in vitamin D to begin with. Keeping sufficient vitamin D levels in the body has been shown to potentially help aid in preventing serious complications or fatalities. Furthermore, Medical News reports that studies showed a reduction in effects of the cytokine storm, which is the escalated inflammatory response that occurs in some individuals with the coronavirus. “Additional data suggests that vitamin D may reduce some of the unfavorable downstream immunological responses to COVID-19 that are associated with severe manifestations through the disease. Some of these downstream pathways that vitamin D may be involved in include preventing the rise of interleukin 6 (IL-6) levels and delaying the interferon-gamma response”. (retrieved from Medical News). The Mayo Clinic also reports similar findings, showing that of those who had serious complications, vitamin D showed to help. In a small, randomized study of 50 participants given a high dose of a type of vitamin D (calcifediol), only one needed to be treated in the ICU. They had 26 patients who were not given the vitamin D, and 13 of the 26 participants needed to be treated in the ICU (retrieved from The Mayo Clinic).

Conclusion

Although supplementation with vitamin D is not proven to either prevent or treat the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), there have been a number of positive findings that support vitamin D as a helpful immune boosting nutrient. These findings are in line with what has been supportive evidence in favor of vitamin D and its immune support against other viruses and infections. Most people can benefit from vitamin D supplementation and from eating immune boosting foods. To see our blog on best foods to boost immunity, click here. The best ways to prevent contracting the novel coronavirus remain social distancing, avoiding indoor gatherings, wearing a mask when in public and washing hands regularly. Eating a healthy diet and making sure that the body is getting the daily recommendations of nutrients can help boost immunity and keep the body strong no matter what type of illness or infection.

COVID-19 Vaccine Could Be Delayed

When will the first COVID-19 vaccine be available to United States markets? The news reports from vaccine providers are showing slower results.

When will the first COVID-19 vaccine be available to United States markets? The news reports from vaccine providers are showing slower results than originally predicted.

From the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic, pharmaceutical companies have been in a mass frenzy to come up with the first vaccine to bring to market. Many different trials are being conducted and early reports showed that a vaccine could be ready this fall. Even President Trump has repeatedly stated that a vaccine could be ready before Election Day. Unfortunately even the frontrunners have slowed their progress on clinical trials. Pfizer and other pharmaceutical companies involved in the COVID-19 vaccine have had promising reports in their smaller scale trials, but stage 3 trials will show much more information. There are now 5 pharmaceutical companies who have entered phase 3 trials, which are larger scale trials to determine the effectiveness of the vaccine in more people. According to statnews.com, “front-runner Pfizer revealed in an earnings call that the first interim analysis in its phase 3 trial has not yet occurred. That means there hadn’t yet been enough COVID infections among the trial participants to take a first stab at analyzing whether the people randomly assigned to receive vaccines were infected at a lower rate than people who were assigned to get a placebo injection”.

Why has this vaccine taken so much longer than expected? Many companies are citing safety concerns. Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca are two companies who had to pause their clinical trials for safety reasons. Both companies used the term “unexplained illnesses”. The New York Times reports that these delays are a good thing, not a bad thing. “Clinical trials experts said these delays were comforting, in a way: They show that the researchers were following proper safety procedures” (NYtimes.com). In phase 3 trials larger groups of people volunteering are randomly given either a placebo or vaccine, and they don’t know which one they receive. Following administration, each participant is closely monitored for symptoms. Minor symptoms are not usually enough to pause a trial, but serious symptoms (known as an “adverse event”) have to be immediately reported to the pharmaceutical company and to the Food and Drug Administration. After reporting, a long investigation is done into the individuals involved in the trial, their health history, the nature of the symptoms and what they mean, etc. Each of these steps takes time and causes major lags in vaccine development. The trial cannot continue until discovery has been made. NYtimes.com All of this information should make consumers breathe easier when considering the vaccine-with the level of safety and investigation done at the pharmaceutical level, they are doing what they can to maintain safety once their vaccine is brought to market.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was recently asked his opinion on when he expects a COVID-19 vaccine to be available in the United States. According to Dr. Fauci, if the trials can continue as planned, a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine could become available to some high-risk Americans in late December or early January. Americans will likely know “sometime in December whether or not we have a safe and effective vaccine,” Fauci stated in live chats on Twitter and Facebook.

Many Americans are anxiously awaiting any news on vaccines and when life can begin to feel normal again. Life in a pandemic world is exhausting, stressful and scary. Unfortunately stress can affect the immune system among all the other negative side effects to the body. Remember to take some time to find stress relief, exercise and eat right. This will not last forever and we will get back to normal. In the meantime; stay safe, wear your mask, maintain social-distancing and wash your hands.

Source: Stat News and New York Times

COVID-19 Vaccine May Not Work on Obese People

Even with COVID vaccines, people who are obese may still be a population who are highly vulnerable to COVID-19.

It has been reported that obesity is linked with risk factors for severe COVID-19 symptoms. Since March 2020, studies after studies have poured in from countries around the world reaching the same conclusion. People who are obese are more likely to die from COVID-19 than are those of normal weight, even when factors such as diabetes and hypertension are taken into account.

According to Nature Research Journal vaccines might not be as effective in people who are obese, a population already highly vulnerable to COVID-19.

About 42% of Americans are obese, which poses quite a challenge for the effectiveness of the long and dearly waited for COVID-19 vaccination. Around the globe, a general expectation is when we have the vaccine we will have a strong shield against COVID-19. For the obese, the bad news is vaccine may not be as good of a shield for as it is for non-obese people. It is already established that for people with underlying conditions COVID-19 could manifest complications. Obesity is linked with diabetes, heart disease and other risk factors for severe COVID-19 symptoms, so it is not just obesity but the conditions and diseases that generally go along with it.

Obesity is also linked to less-diverse populations of microbes in the gut, nose and lung; with altered compositions and metabolic functions compared with those in lean individuals. Those gut microbes can influence the immune responses to pathogens and to vaccines. This hypothesis is backed by studies of vaccines against influenza, Hepatitis B and rabies, which have show reduced responses in people who are obese compared with people who are lean.

However some researchers are still unconvinced that obesity will blunt the efficacy of vaccines because those studies on influenza vaccines were relatively small. Even if that is true, there might be ways to compensate for the vaccine shortcomings. One possibility is to give obese people extra doses of vaccine, maybe two or three injections instead of one.

There are currently three leading candidate vaccines currently being tested in large clinical trials. Unfortunately, the trials might not have samples that will allow it to determine whether obesity affects the vaccine response because it depends on who volunteers for the trial. It also depends on how well trial sponsors are at recruiting individuals from under-represented minority groups. In the end the world will still need to wait for data from clinical studies to draw conclusions. However, with the current studies showing an association between the severity of COVID-19 symptoms and obesity, hopefully it can push some governments and their health-care systems to tackle the growing obesity problems in their countries.

If you are at higher risk of COVID 19 complications due to obesity, it is never too late to start a weight loss journey. SureFiz will help you with our intelligent system and program that are all made based on proven studies around obesity. Give it a try now. SureFiz currently offers a limited promotion: subscribe for a 1-year plan and get a life-long plan and a FREE smart scale. Take advantage of it. Subscribe now. Start your weight loss journey and achieve your goals.

Source: Nature 586, 488-489 (2020)

Positive News in the Race for a COVID-19 Vaccine

Pharmaceutical Companies show positive findings in the race for a coronavirus vaccine. A look into what this mean for the American people.

Coronavirus Vaccine Update

Positive News in the Race for a COVID-19 Vaccine

Ever since the coronavirus (COVID-19) entered the world last December, lives have been changed. At this point no country is untouched by this pandemic and although there have been better and worse months, we are currently in a surge worldwide. Many have been watching the news and looking for answers in the form of a vaccine. Up until last week there have been mixed results from many pharmaceutical companies. Every time a vaccine looked promising something would happen in the trials to pause further review. But last week we received some positive news that leads us to some cautious optimism.

The United States pharmaceutical company Pfizer partnered with German Biotech company BioNTech to create a vaccine, and they have been working fervently for months. According to a press release from BioNTech on November 18, results of the trial showed 95% efficacy for their vaccine candidate, which was composed of a 43,000 person study. The even better news is that efficacy only drops to 94% in people older than 65, showing that those who tend to be most vulnerable will be able to benefit from this vaccine. The trial resulted in 8 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the control group, versus 162 confirmed cases in the placebo group. Overall they are not noticing any serious side effects emerging, only 3.7% of participants noticed minor fatigue after injections.

Similarly to Pfizer/BioNTech results, Moderna released data on November 16 stating that their vaccine candidate was 94.5% effective against the coronavirus. Moderna’s trial consisted of 30,000 participants, half of whom received the vaccine and the other half a placebo. 90 participants in the placebo group contracted COVID-19 and 11 ended up with serious infections. Among the vaccine group, only 5 contracted COVID-19 and none of the 5 ended up with serious infection. Moderna also reported that there were no serious side effects from the vaccine, with only a small number of participants reporting minor symptoms like headaches or body aches. (source: CNN)

Why the Vaccine is so Promising

Both the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines offer a new technology that has not been previously used in vaccines. “The vaccines deliver messenger RNA, or mRNA, which is a genetic recipe for making the spikes that sit atop the coronavirus. Once injected, the body’s immune system makes antibodies to the spikes. If a vaccinated person is later exposed to the coronavirus, those antibodies should stand at the ready to attack the virus”(CNN). With both vaccine trials showing such positive data from their results, we can see that the mRNA technology can be very effective in virus protection.

What Does This Mean For Most of America?

According to Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has stated there is a chance that the vaccine will be ready for dispersal in late December. The CDC is still set to meet to determine how to allocate vaccines to those who need it most first. Healthcare and front line workers, as well as the most vulnerable and immunocompromised individuals will likely be the first to receive either vaccine, once it has FDA approval for distribution. There are also some differences with the two vaccines that could pose some challenges with making it readily available throughout the entire country. When Pfizer/BioNTech announced their findings earlier in the week they also explained that the vaccine needs to be stored at below 75 degrees celsius, which is colder than any other vaccine. Most drug stores and hospitals/doctors offices don’t have freezers with the capacity to get this cold. Although some larger cities and larger organizations may be able to obtain new freezers by the time the vaccine is available, it is likely that not every suburban or rural area will have the capacity to store this vaccine. On the other hand, Moderna’s vaccine only needs to be stored at below 20 degrees celsius and other vaccines are the same, making this version of the vaccine more accessible to a wider market.

There is no confirmed word yet for when a vaccine from either manufacturer will be available to the widespread population in the United States, but some sources have said it could be this coming Spring. In the meantime, continue practicing safe protocols- like social distancing, wearing masks in public, minimizing group gatherings, washing hands regularly and keeping your body healthy from the inside out. Patience is important in these trying times of pandemic fatigue and with the holidays upon us. As always, we remember how strong and capable we are to get through hard times together.