Homeopathy Papers

How We Can Fix This Pandemic in a Month

Written by Damien Downing

Dr. Damien Downing discusses the role of vitamin D in both prevention and treatment of coronavirus. Studies are referenced and dosages are indicated.

Reprinted Courtesy the Orthomolecular Medicine News Service: http://orthomolecular.org/subscribe.html http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/index.shtml

If we act on the data showing that it is highly probable that vitamin D can save lives, we could fix this pandemic in a month, for perhaps $2 per person. There would be no significant adverse effects. If we wait for “evidence” that vitamin D mitigates the impact of COVID-19, thousands more will die. If we could arrange to give everyone vitamin D, and it failed to protect them, so what? The risk from not acting is much greater than the risk from acting. Dosage is important and generally misunderstood.

Two countries have acted on this already: Egypt and Slovakia. Why can’t we?

The Orthomolecular Medicine News Service has been publicizing the importance of vitamins D and C, and the minerals zinc and magnesium, in this pandemic since January [1]. I have been writing about Vitamin D and sunlight for over 30 years [2], and it has never been more relevant.

If you caught the COVID19 virus right now, having a good vitamin D status (from already having taken a supplement) would

  • Reduce your risk of the disease becoming severe by 90%
  • Reduce your risk of dying by 96%

This is not “proven” or “evidence-based” until we have done controlled trials comparing it to placebo. But the data, already strong, has been pouring in since the start of the pandemic. Here’s the data for the two statements above.

[A Hazard Ratio of 4 means that in one condition, for instance vitamin D deficiency, you are 4 times more likely to suffer the “hazard” than in another condition, say vitamin D adequacy. The graphics are all mine.]

A Philippine study [3]

With a deficient vitamin D status (<50nmol/L) the probability of becoming Severe or Critical with COVID-19 was 72.8% against 7.2% with adequate vitamin D (>75nmol/L). The Hazard Ratio is 10.0.

An Indonesian study [4]

With a deficient vitamin D status (<50nmol/L) the mortality rate from COVID-19 was 98.8% against 4.1% with adequate vitamin D (>75nmol/L). The Hazard Ratio is 24.1.

A review of data on Europe [5]

For countries in Europe, the probability of developing COVID-19, and of dying from it, is negatively correlated with mean population vitamin D status, with both probabilities reaching zero above about 75nmol/L. (The chart also shows the lower vitamin D levels for the elderly in Spain and Italy. [6]) It is also known that other factors such as age, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease, obesity, and diabetes are commonly associated with death in COVID-19. [5-8] For example, the elderly population in care facilities often do not get much sunlight exposure nor adequate supplements of essential nutrients including vitamin D, which will increase their risk of serious infections. Further, the 25(OH)D level in northern European countries such as Sweden drops in late winter to ~50 nmol/L or less, which may explain their relatively high death rate from infection. [9]

Dosage is important and generally misunderstood

Recent studies have suggested in discussion that more than 4000 IU per day of vitamin D3 may carry a risk of harm, citing the UK Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition report of 2016 which set the recommended Upper Level (UL) intakes of 50mcg/2000IU per day. [10] That report says; “Excessive vitamin D intakes have, however, been shown to have toxic effects (Vieth, 2006)”. [10] However this is misleading, as the Vieth paper [11] states: “Published reports suggest toxicity may occur with 25(OH)D concentrations beyond 500 nmol/L.” This leaves a wide margin of safety.

The 3 papers mentioned above [3-5] show that a vitamin D3 blood level of at least 75 nmol/L (30 ng/ml) is needed for protection against COVID-19.

Government recommendations for vitamin D intake – 400 IU/day for the UK and 600 IU/day for the USA (800 IU for >70 years) and the EU – are based primarily on bone health. This is woefully inadequate in the pandemic context. An adult will need to take 4000 IU/day of vitamin D3 for 3 months to reliably achieve a 75 nmol/L level [12]. Persons of color may need twice as much [13]. These doses can reduce the risk of infection, but are not for treatment of an acute viral infection. And since vitamin D is fat-soluble and its level in the body rises slowly, for those with a deficiency, taking a initial dose of 5-fold the normal dose (20,000 IU/day) for 2 weeks can help to raise the level up to an adequate level to lower infection risk.

Other essential nutrients can help

As mentioned above, many studies have shown that for those deficient in essential nutrients, a protocol that includes vitamin D, vitamin C, magnesium, and zinc can decrease the risk of infection for viruses, including those similar to COVID-19.[1] Recommended preventive adult doses are vitamin C, 3000 mg/day (in divided doses, to bowel tolerance), magnesium, 400 mg (in malate, citrate, or chloride form), zinc, 20 mg. [1]

References

  1. Saul AW. (2020) Vitamin C Protects Against Coronavirus. Orthomolecular Medicine News Service http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v16n04.shtml
  2. Downing D. (1988) Day Light Robbery. Arrow Books, London. ISBN-13: 978-0099567400
  3. Alipio MM. (2020) Vitamin D supplementation could possibly improve clinical outcomes of patients infected with Coronavirus-2019 (COVID- 2019). Preprint available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3571484
  4. Raharusuna P, Priambada S, Budiarti C et al. (2020) Patterns of COVID-19 Mortality and Vitamin D: An Indonesian Study.
  5. Ilie, P., Stefanescu, S., Smith, L. (2020) The role of Vitamin D in the prevention of Coronavirus Disease 2019 infection and mortality. Research Square preprint. https://europepmc.org/article/ppr/ppr147305
  6. Lips P, Cashman K, Lamberg-Allardt C et al (2019) Current vitamin D status in European and Middle East countries and strategies to prevent vitamin D deficiency: a position statement of the European Calcified Tissue Society. Eur J Endocrinol. 180:23-54. https://europepmc.org/article/MED/30721133
  7. Oaklander M (2020) Almost Every Hospitalized Coronavirus Patient Has Another Underlying Health Issue, According to a Study of New York Patients. Time Magazine, April 22, 2020. https://time.com/5825485/coronavirus-risk-factors
  8. Richardson S, Hirsch JS, Narasimhan M. (2020) Presenting Characteristics, Comorbidities, and Outcomes Among 5700 Patients Hospitalized With COVID-19 in the New York City Area. JAMA. 323:2052-2059. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2765184
  9. Klingberg E, Oleröd G, Konar J, et al. (2015) Seasonal variations in serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D levels in a Swedish cohort. Endocrine, 49:800-808. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25681052
  10. UK Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) (2016) Vitamin D and Health. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/537616/SACN_Vitamin_D_and_Health_report.pdf
  11. Vieth R (2006) Critique of the considerations for establishing the tolerable upper intake level for vitamin D: critical need for revision upwards. J Nutr, 136:1117-1122. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16549491
  12. Vieth R, Chan PC, MacFarlane GD. (2001) Efficacy and safety of vitamin D(3) intake exceeding the lowest observed adverse effect level. Am J Clin Nutr, 73:288-294. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11157326
  13. Cashman KD, Ritz C, Adebayo FA, et al. (2019) Differences in the dietary requirement for vitamin D among Caucasian and East African women at Northern latitude. Eur J Nutr. 58:2281-2291. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30022296

About the author

Damien Downing

Dr. Damien Downing qualified from Guy’s Hospital (London) in 1972, and worked in the UK NHS then in the Solomon Islands in the Pacific, returning in 1980 to set up a private practice in nutritional and environmental medicine. He is the current president of the British Society for Ecological Medicine – bsem.org.uk. Dr. Dowing was the Co-founder of the Journal of Nutritional and Environmental Medicine, and was editor-in-chief for 20 years until its closure. He is Chief Medical Advisor to the cancer support charity Yes to Life – yestolife.org.uk and Editorial board member and regular contributor to the Orthomolecular News Service – orthomolecular.org. He is a Medical Board member and regular lecturer for Neurolipid research Foundation – neurolipid.org.

5 Comments

  • Dear Readers
    first, what does COVID stand for?
    Co == Corona
    VI = virus
    D = disease
    By using this term we silently accept the theory, that:
    This Corona structure: 1) has viral qualities, 2) creates a speciffic disease.

    This is only a theory, put out by medicine.
    Where is the scientific proof of: this corona structure having viral qualities?
    Whoever claims has to proof or withdraw.
    It all boils down to that.

    • Exactly, Hans.

      A perceptive 10 year old can see, and could see FROM THE START, that Covid-19 has nothing to do with real science (ie, it’s a scam).

      And what does that mean? What are the TRUE FINAL implications of this fraud? Here it is since almost no one thinks and talks about it….

      The most vital urgent and DEEP understanding everyone needs to RE-learn is that psychopaths typically are not physically violent crazies but always stealth predators (exploitative deceivers, which explains why the public has been fed a MISLEADING understanding of psychopaths).

      And then… the most vital urgent and DEEP understanding everyone needs to gain is that a network of manipulating psychopaths ARE governing big businesses (eg official medicine), nations and the world (the evidence is irrefutable) and that, therefore, the Covid Scamdemic is a VERY DESTRUCTIVE WAR AGAINST NON-RULING PEOPLE EVERYWHERE — you and I (see “The 2 Married Pink Elephants In The Historical Room –The Holocaustal Covid-19 Coronavirus Madness: A Sociological Perspective & Historical Assessment Of The Covid “Phenomenon”” at https://www.rolf-hefti.com/covid-19-coronavirus.html ). But that’s only ONE part of the equation that makes up the destructive human condition.

      It is NOT just a matter of “draining the swamp” at the top and we’re back to our former (sick) “normal.”

      The true, WHOLE, but “politically inconvenient” and “culturally forbidden” reality is more encompassing because “the swamp that needs draining” on a psychological and behavioral level is over 90% of people anywhere (see cited source above).

      Without a proper understanding, and full acknowledgment, of the true WHOLE problem and reality, no real constructive LASTING change is possible for humanity.

      Then … SPREAD THOSE DEEP TRUTHS FAR AND WIDE… and DO the RIGHT THING.

      One of the ways psychopaths show their hate for the public is by rubbing the public’s stupidity in their own faces. Eg with the letters of “omicron” an alleged Covid variant you can spell “moronic”… And indeed most of the public NEVER recognizes their own stupidity as the believe, trust, and follow any explanation or demand of the psychopaths-in-power..

      And further speaking of stupid herd people not getting the glaringly obvious truth/ie not getting the constant onslaught of BIG lies of the official authorities……

      “2 weeks to flatten the curve has turned into…3 shots to feed your family!” — Unknown

      “The overwhelming majority of people who are called “infected” and “cases” are perfectly healthy. They’ve merely tested positive. AND worse, the test was rigged to turn out cascades of false-positive results. But a screaming headline about a million new cases in one day stirs up fear and justifies whatever fascist responses government officials want to impose. Which is the whole point of the exercise. [..] we’re now into the very worst of fake science. I’m talking sophisticated nonsense that only professional grifters and con artists can turn out.” — Jon Rappoport, Investigative Journalist

  • Dr. Downing – you mention Egypt having acted on Vit D – This surprises me, as I practice in Egypt as an ND and all of those that have consulted me have very low Vit D results in their testing, even those women who are not veiled. If you have any further information on Egypt, I would be grateful for it.

  • Recent hypotheses by 2 super computers in California suggest that it is the Bradykinin storm that kills patients, primarily because the lungs fill up with HLA gel. See Dr Mercola’s website for full explanatory article/research results. Dr Mercola also advocates VIt D, zinc, Quercetin, Vit C. His website is extremely informative – perhaps that is why he has been banned by Twitter!

Leave a Comment