During this time of the coronavirus infections and related deaths, a lot of us are looking for ways to make us less susceptible. Vitamin D supplementation may reduce the rate of infections, however it is key that it is to be as a preventative measure. Evidence supporting the reports of vitamin D in reducing the risk of COVID-19 includes that the out break was during winter, when hydroxy vitamin D (25(OH)D) concentration are the lowest.
Sunlight is the primary source of vitamin D for most people, when it is winter many of us are not getting the vitamin D necessary to fight respiratory infections, this is why in warmer months, the human body has the ability to fight and prevent. You really can’t get enough vitamin D where it would be at a toxic level to our bodies.
The vitamin D deficiency has been found to contribute to acute respiratory distress syndrome and the fatality rates increase with age.
Vitamin D:
• Is found in the foods we eat and is a hormone made by our bodies
• Is a fat solvable vitamin that has long been known to help the body to absorb and retain calcium and phosphorus, both are critical to bone building.
• Can reduce cancer cell growth, help control infections and reduce inflammation
How vitamin D works in our bodies, those components include inducing:
• Cathicidins (small, cationic, antimicrobial dial peptides found in humans and other species. These programmatically activated peptides that are part of the innate immune system of many vertebrates)
• Defensins (proteins of the innate immune system that suppress viral and bacterial infections)
Each can lower viral infection replication rates and reduce concentrations of pro-inflammatory cytokines that produce inflammation that injures the lining of the lungs, leading to pneumonia, as well as increasing concentrations of anti-inflammatory cytokines.
What it comes down to is strengthening our immune system; something chiropractors have been educating their patients to do all along. Many of the human body’s organs and tissues have receptors for vitamin D, which is even a more important part than bone health.
Give Apex Spine and Performance a call any time to talk about your overall health and your immune system and how vitamin D can be beneficial to you.
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