Articles
Congress lauds vitamin D for COVID-19
Washington,
February 25, 2021
By: Todd Runestad (Natural Products Insider)
Vitamin D is seeing its moment in the sun, thanks to studies finding a correlation between deficiency levels and worse COVID-19 outcomes and elevated blood levels in which hardly anybody dies. Congress just stepped into the act, with U.S. Rep Glenn Grothman (R-WI) introducing a House resolution (HR 116) that recognizes the potential role vitamin D may play in decreasing the severity of COVID-19. The resolution calls on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to update existing guidance and to issue new guidance that encourages vitamin D intake during the COVID–19 pandemic, in particular for the elderly and immunocompromised individuals. “As much of the public continues to wait for access to available vaccines,” said Rep. Grothman, “it’s critical that the House of Representatives is united in finding additional ways to limit the negative effects of the virus and provide the public with more information about how effective vitamin D can be in preventing serious COVID-19 symptoms.” The resolution asserts “clear scientific evidence” that vitamin D reduces COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations and deaths—and that more than 40% of Americans are vitamin D deficient, including upwards of 80% among Black and Latinx populations.
It is estimated that there may be 100 million such individuals in America with high-risk co-morbidities that lead to worse COVID-19 outcomes. Some have even asserted that a vitamin D deficiency (<10 ng/dl blood levels of 25-hydroxy vitamin D) counts as another COVID-19 co-morbidity. |