Why is Dr. Fauci unaware of Vitamin D insufficiency in U.S. populations hit by COVID-19?
In an interview in JAMA published online June 8, 2020, Dr. Anothony Fauci was asked about Vitamin D and COVID-19. He said,
“I think it really relates to the importance of vitamin D in host defense against infection. There’s no doubt that if you are vitamin D deficient, you might have a poor outcome or a greater chance of getting into trouble with an infection. Most people in the developed world are not vitamin D deficient, so adding additional vitamin D may not actually have a substantial clinical effect. That doesn’t lessen the importance of a normal level of vitamin D. In some of the developing countries, there have been studies with tuberculosis and other diseases. Those who are vitamin deficient, including vitamin D and vitamin A, they do worse.”
Abbasi J. Anthony Fauci, MD, on COVID-19 Vaccines, Schools, and Larry Kramer. JAMA.
Published online June 08, 2020. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.9222
While Dr. Fauci did acknowledge the importance of Vitamin D, he seems unaware that those hit hardest in the United States are populations known to be Vitamin D insufficient.
“Vitamin D insufficiency (VDI) meets every one of the above [mortality risk factors] criteria. VDI affects 80-90% of the African American population.”
Vitamin D insufficiency is prevalent in severe COVID-19 https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.24.20075838v1
“While MUSC [Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) ] is not suggesting that vitamin D cures or prevents COVID-19 infection, officials say the body of prior and emerging scientific evidence would suggest that individuals with low vitamin D levels who contract COVID-19, including African Americans and elderly nursing home residents, might experience worse clinical outcomes than other groups with normal vitamin D levels.”
https://abcnews4.com/news/coronavirus/musc-vitamin-d-research-team-to-study-connection-to-covid-19-prevention-and-treatment
Instead of dismissing this as a concern only in developing countries, Dr. Fauci should be waging Vitamin D awareness campaigns, with emphasis in African American communities and nursing home facilities, and drastically reducing disease severity and fatalities.
If a “second wave” sweeps through and these populations are harmed once again because they are still Vitamin D deficient, it will be criminal.
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Please watch this video that explains the critically important role of Vitamin D for many aspects of health, including immune health, how it is made and used in the body, and why supplementation can’t help if an individual is insulin resistant (related to diabetes, often caused by high carbohydrate diet and is reversible) and/or has poor liver function. The title of the video is meant to grab attention — but it holds some truth. Supplementing with Vitamin D without addressing the reasons for low Vitamin D levels — such as insulin resistance, is like putting gasoline in a car without fixing the engine and expecting it to run. Yes, the car needs gas, but it’s going nowhere unless the engine has the ability to use it.
Studies Supporting the need for Vitamin D for Preventing & Treating COVID-19
“Our pilot study demonstrated that administration of a high dose of Calcifediol or 25-hydroxyvitamin D, a main metabolite of vitamin D endocrine system, significantly reduced the need for ICU treatment of patients requiring hospitalization due to proven COVID-19.”
“Effect of Calcifediol Treatment and best Available Therapy versus best Available Therapy on Intensive Care Unit Admission and Mortality Among Patients Hospitalized for COVID-19: A Pilot Randomized Clinical study”, The Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 2020, 105751, ISSN 0960-0760, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsbmb.2020.105751. (
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960076020302764)
Preliminary data from patients at the University of Cincinnati concluded that Vitamin D deficiency significantly increased the risk of hospitalization due to COVID-19 (77% increased risk), COVID-19 disease severity (95% increased risk), and the need for intensive care unit admission due to COVID-19 (155% increased risk)
In a large cohort in Louisiana, 76.9% of the patients who were hospitalized with Covid-19 and 70.6% of those who died were black, whereas blacks comprise only 31% of the Ochsner Health population
70.3% of Americans have low vitamin D and blacks are significantly more likely to have vitamin D deficiency than whites
A University of Chicago study of 4,000 individuals concluded that vitamin D deficiency that is not sufficiently treated is associated with COVID-19 risk
Data from Southeast Asia indicate that whereas 96% of individuals with mild COVID-19 cases had a normal vitamin D level, only 4% of individuals with severe COVID-19 cases had a normal vitamin D level:
Vitamin D helps to reduce the risk of a COVID-19 infection by maintaining the tissues of the lungs, inactivating viruses, and reducing the risk of sepsis/cytokine storm:
