Coronavirus symptoms: Professor says range should be expanded
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With the vaccine rollout gaining momentum another known effective treatment has seemed to be forgotten. Vitamin D3 or calcifediol treatment has shown impressive results with COVID-19 patients. So much so that MP’s are calling for more studies to look at its effectiveness as a possible COVID-19 treatment.
Vitamin D reduces COVID-19 deaths by an astounding 60 percent, a study has found.
Conservative backbencher David Davis MP had previously called for the UK Government to distribute vitamin D supplementation to society’s most at-risk of COVID-19.
Mr Davis called for the therapy to be rolled out in hospitals immediately to “save many thousands of lives”.
Vitamin D3 was evaluated in the study on more than 550 people admitted to the COVID-19 wards in Hospital del Mar in Barcelona, Spain.
Subjects were randomly assigned as either recipients of the vitamin D3 treatment or as controls on admission.
The research found Covid patients who were given doses of vitamin D were 80 percent less likely to require ICU treatment.
Mr Davis said on Twitter: “The findings of this large and well conducted study should result in this therapy being administered to every Covid patient in every hospital in the temperate latitudes.
“Furthermore, since the study demonstrates that the clear relationship between vitamin D and Covid mortality is causal, the UK government should increase the dose and availability of free vitamin D to all the vulnerable groups.”
The study said of its findings: “In this open randomised study conducted during the first European outbreak of the deadly Covid-19 pandemic, we have observed that, in hospitalised Covid-19 patients, treatment with calcifediol reduced the requirement for critical care by more than 80 per cent.
“This supports the conclusion of a prior pilot trial in Cordoba in which calcifediol treatment led to a reduction of more than 50 per cent of ICU admission in hospitalised Covid-19 patients.”
Vitamin D is essential when treating acute respiratory infections.
Reports obtained from previous studies highlight Vitamin D’s benefit on calcium and bone homeostasis, especially in children, the elderly and osteoporotic patients.
In addition, it has a number of other very positive effects on the immune system and lung function which could be crucial in the fight against COVID-19.
Earlier in the pandemic, it was revealed the link between Vitamin D and coronavirus was being kept “under review” by Health Secretary Matt Hancock as studies began to suggest that having low levels of the vitamin heightened the risk of mortality.
Mr Hancock had asked the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to continue to research emerging evidence after authorities began “encouraging” people to take supplements, the Guardian reported.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson added: “Evidence of the link of vitamin D to Covid-19 is still being researched and we keep all strong evidence on treatments under review.”
Previous studies have found patients with a Vitamin D deficiency are more likely to test positive for the virus with high enough levels of Vitamin D being associated with a less severe illness and a better survival rate.
An open letter was sent to Governments around the world by medical experts from the UK, USA and elsewhere in Europe warning that low Vitamin D levels markedly increase the likelihood of hospitalisations and deaths from COVID-19.
The letter now has over 120 signatories, signed by doctors, professors and politicians who support their campaign.
This includes Dr Barbara J Boucher, Honorary Professor of Medicine at Queen Mary University of London, and British MPs David Davis and Rupa Huq.
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