Tag: vitamin D

How do we handle Covid-19?

Claus Hancke

December 15, 2021

Covid-19 virusThe other day, I heard the happy voice of a radio host on DR4 tell me that the Omicron infection is rising and rising, while the Delta variant has slowly begun to decline.

Then great concern about the rising infection makes the radio host say: “And what can we do then? -Yes, we can be vaccinated, for example. ”

I listened intently to hear if there were other examples since he said “for example”.

But there was no more.

It’s horrible to hear that we are only relying on vaccines, now that we have persistent messages that the current vaccine does not work very well on the Omicron variant, and that its effect even on the Delta variant is gone after 7 months .

Strangely enough, the vaccine’s short shelf life does not make the authorities seek other, more effective solutions, but on the contrary is used as an argument for more frequent booster vaccinations. It is as if you can not think in other directions at all, even if you are face to face with the vaccine’s limitations: it does not prevent you from becoming infected, it does not prevent you from passing on the infection, and it only lasts 7 months.

It is actually quite impressive that everyone, from the Danish Prime Minister to various experts, has been talking about vaccines alone for almost two years. Right from March 2020, the Prime Minister spoke about vaccines, as if she could already predict that such a vaccine would be developed in an unprecedented record time. -Well spotted.

Not a word about the prevention or treatment of the disease, as mentioned in the Lancet and in our newsletter of November 25, 2021.

As we are flooded with research results on both the prevention and treatment of covid-19, then this uncensored newsletter must of course pass on these results when the other media are not allowed to.

As early as May 6, 2020, the Vitality Council’s newsletter reviewed the first results of prevention with vitamin D. This has been described and documented numerous times since, also with good review articles, and in February 2021, 200 researchers and doctors wrote an open letter to all governments and health authorities appealing to be aware that vitamin D deficiency increases the risk of severe Covid-19 disease. In this letter, the researchers explain in detail the dosage needed to achieve the desired value in the blood, and as a curiosity, they also mention how much they themselves take. It is always a good sign when a doctor dares to take his own cure.

The vast majority of doctors take 100 µg (4000 IU) daily and aim for a recommended serum concentration of at least 75 nmol/L (30 ng/ml). This is far below the level in most Danes.

Another important piece of information in their letter is that a calculation error of factor 10 were made when calculating the RDA (Recommended Dietary Allowance) in the United States. This value of 1/10 of the ideal, was unfortunately adopted by other countries, and became ADT (Recommended Daily Supply) here in Denmark; – what is now called RI (Reference Intake). Regarding vitamin D, the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration still recommend RI to be 5 µg (200 IU) daily. In 2020, the National Board of Health has increased this recommendation to 10 µg daily, which is approx. 10% of what we really need.

What do we do then? First and foremost, we get our vitamin D content measured in the blood. If it is below 75 nmol/L, then we take vitamin D in double dose, which for a normal-weight, adult person is 200 µg daily, until the vitamin D level has exceeded 75 nmol/L, after which you continue with 100 µg daily.

If you are overweight, you need significantly more, because vitamin D will be stored in the fat layer, where it does not do much good.
When it is above the desired 75 nmol/L, there is a significantly lower risk of serious, hospital-requiring covid-19 disease.

Dear reader. You may be tired of us constantly returning to vitamin D. But when you are not allowed to get this information from the authorities who are suppose to take care of you, then do not think that the information does not exist.

In the same way, there is a lot of good research on vitamins A, -C and -K2 as well as the minerals Magnesium, Selenium and Zinc, all of which contribute to a well-functioning immune system and prevent severe Covid-19 disease.

But maybe it’s all just a storm in a teacup.
Indeed, much information suggests that the highly contagious Omicron-B.1.1.529 variant is no more dangerous than a mild flu.

Due to its high contagion, Omicron will just as quietly take over the epidemic, and then we’re back to a fairly ordinary winter season with a mild flu.
After this, society can open up and start functioning normally again.
A mild flu, we know how to prevent – and treat.

Have a Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year.

Take care of yourself and others.

Claus Hancke MD
Specialist in general medicine

Basic prevention

Claus Hancke

July 28, 2021

In March 2020, politicians shut the world down on pandemic orders from the WHO.
It did not take many seconds from the shutdown before the talk went on that vaccines had to be developed that could free us from this covid-19 disease.
It was established from the outset that the disease could neither be prevented nor treated. There was only isolation until the saving vaccine came.
It was “The one-legged stool”, as mentioned in our newsletter feb. 21, 2021.

If anything was fake news, it was this.
But for inexplicable reasons it became the standing narrative, which was so sacred that one was shamed and censored if one doubted this worldview.

All over the world, doctors were prevented from rescuing their patients by early prevention and treatment of covid-19.
It sounds crazy that one has censored and prevented harmless methods of prevention and treatment before it goes so wrong that the patient has to be hospitalized.
Do the authorities really want people to get so ill that they have to be hospitalized?
Some of these harmless methods are even well documented, yet it is branded as “fake news” when it is publicly mentioned and the doctors in question are quarantined on Facebook and YouTube.

However, measures such as shutdowns and face masks are blindly accepted, even though there is very little documentation of the effect.
Health authorities as well as politicians from all over the world have loudly and sacredly emphasized that we must follow the science, and the world’s all-round experts have been shown on TV to give the authorities’ actions a tinge of science.

But when it comes to shutdowns, mink killings, face masks, PCR testing and the so-called vaccine, which is in fact a gene therapy, these highly praised scientific principles have failed.
We have even come so far that the population must be humiliated with testing or subjected to experimental gene therapy in order to preserve its civil rights.
Every thinking person must ask oneself: Tell me, what is going on?

If you want to try to get an overview of this madness, it is recommended to spend time watching: https://www.markmallett.com/blog/following-the-science/, which is a serious TV review of the conflict between science and the active deception of the authorities.

The Vitality Council is fortunately uncensored, and in the newsletter May 2020, there was a comprehensive overview of the supplements with which one could prevent a serious Covid-19 course.
The main thing is that the immune system must not lack these basic nutrients. On the other hand, a well-functioning immune system has the great advantage that it can quickly adapt to a new mutation of the virus and adjust its counter-attack to it.
A vaccine is specially designed for a specific type of virus, and must be reconstructed and adjusted if a new VOC (“virus of concern”, ie mutations that are viewed with concern) varies so much from the previous one that the vaccine does not work.
We see this at this time at home and abroad, where fully vaccinated people are admitted with severe covid-19.
This would not happen if the entire population had a well-functioning immune system that can quickly adjust the target to the new variant.
Then you only need to vaccinate the 2% who are in the absolute risk group.

But one thing is to prevent serious flu or Covid-19. Something else is the prevention of the major killer diseases like cancer and cardiovascular disease.
These disorders have been underdiagnosed during the Covid-19 pandemic, which must necessarily become a problem for the healthcare system in the coming years.
But then it is fortunate that many of the supplements that the Vitality Council recommended 1½ years ago also reduce the risk of these diseases.
This is not really so strange, for many diseases start with the process called inflammation. And it can be prevented to a great extent.
Regarding Covid-19, it starts with the immunological reaction to viral infection, the excessive reaction, the cytokine storm and then the whole inflammatory process.
In cardiovascular disease it starts with inflammation of the vessel wall and oxidation of LDL cholesterol, and in cancer it starts with inflammation of the cells in an oxygen-poor area, which then changes the metabolism in the mitochondria from aerobic and efficient energy production to anaerobic sugar fermentation and low energy production.
Therefore, if you focus on inhibiting the inflammatory processes that should not be in the body, then you are well on your way to preventing the large, life-threatening diseases, and at the same time you get to inhibit the development of viral diseases so that they do not develop in a fatal direction.
Therefore, if I have to come up with an all-round recommendation as a basis, then it will be:

  • A multivitamin-mineral product without iron
  • Plus extra Selenium, so the daily dose comes up to 150 µg
  • Plus extra vitamin D, so the daily dose is up to 100 µg (this is only the maintenance dose if you are not in deficit. Otherwise you need more.)
  • Plus extra vitamin C, so the daily dose comes up to 2,000 mg
  • Plus extra Magnesium, so the daily dose comes up to 500 mg
  • Fish oil (but not necessary if you eat fatty fish every day)
  • Lactic acid bacteria

This basic supplement can ensure that you do not run a deficit for the body’s performance of tits basic functions, including the processes of the immune system.

If, on top of this, you are exposed to infection, which we have all been at intervals in the last 1½ year, then you can for a period supplement with:

  • Vitamin A: 1 mg
  • Vitamin B6: 5 mg
  • Vitamin C: 3,000 mg
  • Vitamin D3: 100 µg
  • Selenium: 100 µg
  • Zinc: 30 mg.
  • Echinacea 20 drops 2 x dgl.

This ensures that the immune system is well-supplied, despite increasing consumption, and then inhibits the cytokine storm, which can be life-threatening for the elderly and weak.

And the very basics of a good immune system are of course:

  • A healthy diet
  • Daily exercise
  • 7-8 hours of sleep
  • Freedom from smoke
  • Moderation
  • A positive outlook on life

Take care of yourself and others.

Claus Hancke MD
Specialist in general medicine

Don’t forget selenium

Claus Hancke

March 8, 2021

With the headline, we are entering the vital minerals, and selenium is one of the most important, because it is the gateway to 25 different selenoproteins, which control a wide range of processes in the body.

Selenium is a substance that we prefer not to lack, and numerous studies have over the years confirmed that selenium deficiency can lead to, among other things. heart failure, cancer, metabolic disorders, arthritis, infertility, atherosclerosis, increased inflammation, and a variety of immunological failures that are particularly relevant in this corona age.

Did you know, for example, that a vaccine will not work as intended if the vaccinated person lacks selenium and vitamin D. These two nutrients are necessary to activate the T cells, which must be able to recognize the infection the next time you encounter it (1,2,3). And they are also needed to moderate any vaccine-triggered cytokine storm.

There are thousands of articles cementing heavy research into selenium, and most recently, two months ago, an interesting study of selenium deficiency related to cardiovascular disease and inflammatory conditions was published (4). Since cardiovascular disease is also initiated by inflammation, it is natural to examine this collectively.

Previous studies have also shown that low selenium in the blood was the cause of increased inflammation, increased risk of cardiovascular disease and premature death (5,6).

Selenium dampens cytokine storms

The study included 858 healthy elderly and 606 cardiovascular patients of the same age.
The researchers examined the degree of inflammation by measuring the ratio of white blood cells (neutrophil / lymphocyte ratio), CRP and a wide range of cytokines, interleukins and chemokines.

They found a clear link between the lack of selenium and the incidence of cardiovascular disease as well as, not surprisingly, increased chronic, inflammatory load on the body, especially in the cardiovascular disease.

Selenium deficiency was associated with elevated values of circulating inflammation markers such as cytokines, interleukins and chemokines that are precisely characteristic of the scourge of our time, namely the risk of a cytokine storm at Covid-19.

Selenium is included as a moderator on an equal term with vitamin D, so that the formation and control of cytokines is formed and controlled, but to avoid the violent production called a cytokine storm, which triggers the damage that makes Covid-19 dangerous for individuals, weak people.

The researchers concluded that people with plasma selenium below 60 µg / l had almost twice the risk of cardiovascular disease compared to those who had a normal selenium content in the blood.

The result was convincing and statistically significant and corresponds very well to previous studies showing that the selenium-dependent glutathione peroxidase achieves its maximum activity in the blood when the concentration of selenium in plasma is between 70 and 90 µg / l (7).

In previous newsletters from May 2020, there are several references related to infections updated by Covid-19, and back in 2005 we wrote newsletters about cancer risk due to selenium deficiency. So selenium has been on the light board for many years, i.a. because there are so few who are aware that it is something we must not lack.

Daily intake (in Europe) should be around 100µg, and naturally it is found in fish, meat and certain nuts.
So remember selenium every day.

Take care of yourself and others.

Claus Hancke MD
Specialist in general medicine

References

  1. Comparison of the characteristics, morbidity, and mortality of COVID-19 and seasonal influenza: a nationwide, population-based retrospective cohort study. Piroth L et al, Dec.2020, Lancet. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213260020305270
  2. Geisler C, Ødum N et al. 2010, Vitamin D controls T cell antigen receptor signaling and activation of human T cells. Nature Immunology 2010;11:344-349.
    https://www.nature.com/articles/ni.1851
  3. https://www.webapoteket.dk/saar-og-sygepleje/selvtest/quicktest-d-vitamin-p-222465
  4. https://www.cerascreen.dk/products/test-for-d-vitamin
  5. Alberto Boretti, Bimal Krishna Banik (2020) Intravenous vitamin C for reduction of cytokines storm in acute respiratory distress syndrome PharmaNutrition. 2020 Jun;12:100190.  Published online 2020 Apr 21. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2213434420300153
  6. Caly L et al, 2020, Antiviral Research, 178, june 2020, 104787.
    https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166354220302011?via%3Dihub
  7. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04747574

A stool with one leg

Claus Hancke

February 21, 2021

As previously quoted, they wrote in the Lancet (1) December 20th that in the future everything should be done to prevent and vaccinate and find methods for the treatment of Covid-19, and the Vitality Council can’t agree more that this stool should rest on three legs.

But the Danish government has not agreed to that. Since March 2020, it has focused on vaccines and only vaccines. – A one-legged stool.

Not only has the Government and the state media focused unilaterally on vaccines, but they have also actively censored information on both prevention and treatment. The government media has also been obediently accompanied by microphone holders from the major social and print media. It has been irrelevant to the censorship whether this information was sufficiently well documented.

Prevention

In the previous many newsletters, the Vitality Council has primarily advised on prevention in terms of keeping the immune system intact.

In our modern way of life with easy and fast industrial food of poor quality, improper preparation and overeating of carbohydrates, there is a great risk that our immune system will run out of essential nutrients. I have reviewed this topic again and again and will not bore you with this at this time.

But I will try to give a simple model for understanding the functioning of the immune system. This is because it is absolutely essential in prevention against Covid-19 and all sorts of other infections.

The immune system has a myriad of different cells to work with, and it’s pretty complicated, but let’s try a Pixie model; -a mousetrap:
There are two main systems, a so-called “innate” (non-specific) immune system, which works all the time, and an “adaptive” (specialized) immune system, which is adjusted by infection. The innate system attacks just about everything when, for example, a virus penetrates the body, but first the adaptive needs to get familiar with the new virus, adjust and activate the so-called T cells for attack, and teach the memory cells to remember for the next time how these virus are best attacked (antibodies).

Back to the mousetrap.

In the loft with all the mice (virus in the environment) we put a box (the body), with a small hole in the side (the innate immune system), and inside the box we put a couple of mousetraps (the adaptive immune system).

If we lack proper nutrition, vitamin D, selenium, vitamin C and magnesium, then the hole in the box is very large (the innate immune system fails). Then many mice can enter the box at once, and the traps (the adaptive immune system) do not have the capacity to snatch many mice. – Especially not if there is a lack of vitamin D, which is necessary to activate the T cells (2).

If, on the other hand, we get enough of the above nutrients, then we only have a small hole in the box (a good innate immune system), and then only a few mice enter the box (the body) at a time, and the adaptive immune system (the traps) can snatch them one by one.
Remember the Danish Minister of Health showing a graph with red and green curves some time ago.
If too many come too fast, then the hospital system would collapse.
The same way with our immune system.

If it is intact, the innate immune system will make sure to moderate the load so that the adaptive defense can have time to get to know the enemy and calibrate its cannons accordingly. Hereby we avoid the overload that results in the so-called cytokine storm, which is the start of all the accidents.

That is why it is so important to provide proper nutrition and supplement with vitamin D, vitamin C, selenium and magnesium.
And remember in the dark winter: Vitamin D in the blood should rise to 30-50 ng/ml (75-125 nmol /L.)
If you can’t get the blood sample taken locally, there are several excellent options for home testing i Denmark (3,4).

Treatment

Often you see pseudo-science, where vitamins and minerals are used as treatment after disease outbreaks, and even often in relatively small doses. It is pointless and only suitable to show that it does not work. These nutrients are for prevention.
An exception, however, is Vitamin C in high doses given intravenously under medical supervision.

There is only scant evidence here at the Covid-19 pandemic (5), but previously there is ample evidence of an effect on viral infections, as mentioned in the newsletter May 20th 2020.

There have been numerous experiments with hydroxychloroquine, which, however, have yielded quite varying results, and research into it is unfortunately largely discontinued.

Ivermectin is a remedy against scabies and certain parasites, and reportedly also has an effect on Covid-19 (6). The Indian health authorities have approved a treatment with Ivermectin, Doxycycline and zinc.
Ivermectin costs about 100 times as much as hydroxychloroquine, so it will probably never be the big success.
One week ago, Israeli researchers published (7) a preliminary result of treatment with inhalation of CD24 exosomes in 30 hospitalized moderately to severely ill Covid-19 patients. The 29 recovered in 3-5 days, the last one also recovered, but after more than 5 days. It should be a cheap method without side effects, so it sounds promising. CD24 exosomes are proteins that, like vitamin D, control T cell activation and can attenuate the cytokine storm.
We are anxiously awaiting news from the Israeli researchers.

What now?

After all, health authorities and the government are on thin ice right now, unless they manage to be saved by the globally declining infection rates and death rates.
You vaccinate and vaccinate, but to no avail on the closure of the society. The function of the vaccine is primarily to alleviate the disease in the vaccinated person.
Even though we have been vaccinated, we can still be infected and pass it on to others, because the virus is still there. Therefore, even the vaccinated must continue with face masks, despite the poor evidence of the effect of the hated face masks.
On top of this, there are still new mutations. Currently the English with increased infection of children, which we see in Kolding these days, but on the horizon lurks the South African and two different Brazilian varieties, which are even less sensitive to the antibodies we have received from previous infection and from vaccination.
Well, then the vaccine just has to be adjusted, and then the population just has to be vaccinated again.
Okay. -How many times? So far, in 2 months we have only vaccinated 3% of the population. So good luck with the task if it all has to start all over again.
It seems like a Sisyphean task if the Government will continue to focus only on the one-legged stool.
As a solution to this chaos, the Government is now proposing a wild testing strategy, where we will be tested twice a week next year. This will cost just as much as the overall healthcare system, and one does not have to be a nuclear physicist to figure out that this will massively affect all other diagnoses in the healthcare system.
And the virus will not disappear either due to this.
It’s a bit like setting up photo traps to detect an army of soldiers invading the country. No defense, just registration while the invasion rumbles towards the defenseless population.
When the hopelessness of this strategy eventually dawns on the Government, there is hope that the one-legged stool will be given two more legs, namely prevention and treatment.
Then every single person can be informed about the possibility of defending themselves against Covid-19.
Only then will the disease become so mild that it resembles a common flu, by which we can drop the hated face masks and the lockdown of society.

May we ask for the three-stringed strategy as soon as possible thank you.

A stool with one leg is doomed to tip over.
A stool with three legs does not tip over.
No matter how uneven the surface is, it will not even tilt.

Take care of yourself and others.

Claus Hancke MD
Specialist in general medicine

References

  1. Comparison of the characteristics, morbidity, and mortality of COVID-19 and seasonal influenza: a nationwide, population-based retrospective cohort study. Piroth L et al, Dec.2020, Lancet. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213260020305270
  2. Geisler C, Ødum N et al. 2010, Vitamin D controls T cell antigen receptor signaling and activation of human T cells. Nature Immunology 2010;11:344-349.
    https://www.nature.com/articles/ni.1851
  3. https://www.webapoteket.dk/saar-og-sygepleje/selvtest/quicktest-d-vitamin-p-222465
  4. https://www.cerascreen.dk/products/test-for-d-vitamin
  5. Alberto Boretti, Bimal Krishna Banik (2020) Intravenous vitamin C for reduction of cytokines storm in acute respiratory distress syndrome PharmaNutrition. 2020 Jun;12:100190.  Published online 2020 Apr 21. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2213434420300153
  6. Caly L et al, 2020, Antiviral Research, 178, june 2020, 104787.
    https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166354220302011?via%3Dihub
  7. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04747574

Neglected opportunities

Claus Hancke

January 15, 2021

“The world is groping blindly for defences against the new virus variants” – according to a headline in the Danish newspaper Berlingske January 12th. The article then deals with gene sequencing and rapid diagnostics for infection control. But it is clear that panic spreads every time a new variant appears.

The fumbling in the dark began with clusters 1-5 found in Danish mink, which led to politician panic and the most drastic coercive intervention so far against any business in Denmark and the total closure of the region Vendsyssel.

The next time the panic screw was increased is now that the English variant B 1.1.7 is spreading. It is not more dangerous, but more contagious.

When the panic and anxiety from this variant begin to subside, then it’s time to introduce the South African variant and gravely tell us that this variant can now hit children, and then shut the country down. It is so deeply predictable that we absolutely must be pressed down into a state of chronic anxiety so that we conform to what is expected, and all of us line up for vaccination.

However, it is a good thing that the vaccines have arrived. The first vaccine was received by the media and politicians like a Messiah, and it was very nearly close to rose petals being sprinkled on the road in front of the trucks.

It is excellent that the health authorities quickly have launched vaccinating the elderly and seriously ill at risk. So far so good.

But my goodness, how they could have done so much good in the 10 months that have passed if they had listened to science.

When you consider that in order to shop in the supermarket Netto you have to look like a bank robber and wear a face mask whose effect is extremely poorly documented; -then it is striking that for months the authorities have turned a blind eye to well-documented opportunities that could have saved many lives and much suffering.

A study recently published in the Lancet (1) reviewed 89,000 hospitalizations with Covid-19 in March-April 2020 and Influenza Dec-Jan 2017-18.

It was found that Covid-19 caused significantly longer length of stay and greater mortality than the flu and it was concluded that in the future every effort should be made to prevent and vaccinate as well as find methods for treating Covid-19.

The Vital Council can only agree on this 3-string strategy: prevent, vaccinate, find ways to treat.

Unfortunately, this is not the strategy the government has chosen. Instead, they have chosen to put all their eggs in one basket.
Ever since the start of the pandemic, there has been hope and talk about the upcoming vaccine.
The authorities have been going all in, bone-hard, on the vaccine and only the vaccine and have not even wanted to squint at the other options in the three-stringed strategy mentioned above.

You can therefore understand the panic of the politicians until they were reassured that the mink variant was probably also sensitive to the upcoming vaccine. The same has now happened with B 1.1.7 from England, while we are still unsure of the South African variant.
That is to say the vaccines may in the future have difficulty keeping up with the constant changes in the highly mutated RNA virus, and one day they will fall short.

Yet all measures other than vaccines have been swept off the table despite massive documentation.
It is as if the authorities have overlooked that we humans actually have an immune system that is itself capable of adapting a new virus mutant.
Unlike a vaccine, a well-functioning immune system will be able to keep up every time a virus mutates.

Of course, it is necessary for the immune system to function optimally, and it ris necessary that we humans get a diet with the nutrients that the immune system needs.

This is so obvious that it hurts to say over and over again (see 5 previous newsletters from May 2020):
Decades of scientific evidence show that deficiency of especially vitamins A, C, D and K as well as deficiency of selenium, magnesium and zinc weakens the immune response and increases the incidence of infections, especially lung diseases. (2-10)

Specifically, in recent years there has been extensive writing about vitamin D, and the University of Copenhagen wrote almost prophetically on March 7, 2020, on its website in the News section: “Vitamin D is absolutely crucial for the immune system.”

Since then, several studies have been performed on vitamin D against Covid-19, which show significantly less infectivity, shorter hospital stays, milder illness, and lower mortality. (11-17) This documentation is further strengthened by the fact that the groups that are low in Vitamin D are those most affected by Covid-19, especially overweight persons, nursing home residents, immigrants, the chronically ill, and the elderly.

Traditionally, here in Denmark we have considered it sufficient, as long as the serum vitamin D (25-hydroxyvitamin D) level was 50 nmol/L (20 ng/ml) or more. This is not enough. All studies point to the need to have at least 75 nmol/L (30 ng/ml) in the blood and preferably 150 nmol/L (60 ng/ml.)
Far less than half of the Danish population are within these figures.
You cannot reach this preferred level, even if you then eat fatty fish every single day; you have to take supplements.
In turn, there is a major health benefit in eliminating the population’s deficiency of vitamin D. -Not only in the face of several of the major lifestyle diseases, but also of Covid-19.

Research shows, as mentioned, that sufficient vitamin D will shorten the duration of the disease, avoid hospitalizations, and reduce mortality from covid-19 disease. Those who become ill will simply have a mild course of the disease but will still build up immunological defenses until the next time they encounter it. If you also make sure that there is no shortage of the other above-mentioned vitamins and minerals, then the disease picture will look completely different in this country, and it could put a damper on the all-consuming anxiety and worry in the population.

Note: There is no talk of these vitamins and minerals being used to “treat” anything. They are used to correct deficiencies.

But it requires the authorities to think outside the box and show openness to the well-documented possibilities that exist here. Especially when these options are safe.
It is fine to think of collective infection control, but it does not preclude that one also thinks of the individual’s immune system and its well-being.

There has been an unfortunate streak of overlooked possibilities throughout the 10-month-long corona course. Opportunities that could have saved many lives and saved many sufferings.
-And these are, mind you, options that are significantly better documented than face masks.

Take care of yourself and others.

Claus Hancke MD
Specialist in general medicine

References

1. Comparison of the characteristics, morbidity, and mortality of COVID-19 and seasonal influenza: a nationwide, population-based retrospective cohort study. Piroth L et al, Dec.2020, Lancet. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(20)30527-0

2. Arvinte C, Singh M, Marik PE (2020) Serum Levels of Vitamin C and Vitamin D in a Cohort of Critically Ill COVID-19 Patients of a North American Community Hospital Intensive Care Unit in May 2020: A Pilot Study. Med Drug Discov. 8:100064. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32964205

3. Hewison M. Vitamin D and innate and adaptive immunity. Vitam Horm, 2011; vol 86:23-62.

4. Gombart AF, Pierre A, Maggini S. A Review of Micronutrients and the Immune System-Working in Harmony to Reduce the Risk of Infection. Nutrients. 2020 Jan 16;12(1).

5. Schwalfenberg GK. A review of the critical role of vitamin D in the functioning of the immune system and the clinical implications of vitamin D deficiency. Mol Nutr Food Res. 2011 Jan;55(1):96-108.

6. Dancer RC, Parekh D, Lax S, D’Souza V, Zheng S1, Bassford CR, et al. Vitamin D deficiency contributes directly to the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Thorax. 2015 Jul;70(7):617-24.

7. Urashima M, Segawa T, Okazaki M, et al. Randomized trial of vitamin D supplementation to prevent seasonal influenza A in schoolchildren. Am J Clin Nutr. 2010 May;91(5):1255-60.

8. Sabetta JR, DePetrillo P, Cipriani RJ, Smardin J, Burns LA, Landry ML. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin d and the incidence of acute viral respiratory tract infections in healthy adults. PLoS One. 2010 Jun 14;5(6):e11088.

9. Uwitonze AM, Razzaque MS. Role of Magnesium in Vitamin D Activation and Function. J Am Osteopath Assoc. 2018 Mar 1;118(3):181-189.

10. Dofferhoff A et al, Reduced Vitamin K Status as a Potentially Modifiable Risk Factor of Severe Coronavirus Disease 2019, Clin Infect Diseases, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciaa1258

11. Kohlmeier M. Avoidance of vitamin D deficiency to slow the COVID-19 pandemic. BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health. 2020;3.

12. Grant WB, Lahore H, McDonnell SL, et al. Evidence that Vitamin D Supplementation Could Reduce Risk of Influenza and COVID-19 Infections and Deaths. Nutrients. 2020; 12(4):988.

13. McCartney DM, Byrne DG. Optimisation of Vitamin D Status for Enhanced Immuno-protection Against Covid-19. Ir Med J. 2020 Apr 3;113(4):58.

14. Aldridge RA, Lewer D, Beale S, et al. Seasonality and immunity to laboratory-confirmed seasonal coronaviruses (HCoV-NL63, HCoV-0C43, and HCoV-229E): results from the Flu Watch cohort study 30 March 2020.

15. Ilie PC, Stefanescu S, Smith L. The role of Vitamin D in the prevention of coronavirus disease 2019, infection and mortality. Aging Clinical and Experimental research (https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-020-01570-8) Springer Switzerland. 2020 May 6.

16. McCullough PJ, Lehrer DS, Amend J. Daily oral dosing of vitamin D3 using 5000 TO 50,000 international units a day in long-term hospitalized patients: Insights from a seven year experience. J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol. 2019 May;189:228-239.

17. Kaufman H et al, SARS-CoV-2 positivity rates associated with circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels PLOS ONE, sept.17,2020

Update on Corona virus

Claus Hancke

August 26, 2020

Since the last newsletter from May 28, things have gone well here in Denmark.
On the other hand, viruses have become widespread, especially in those countries that have not taken the spreading of infection seriously.
In the past month, however, localized infection clusters have emerged in various places here in Denmark as well, especially in immigrant communities.
The reasons for this have been mentioned in the previous newsletters, whose advice is still valid, so I will not repeat it here, but instead focus on what has happened in the last 3 months.

Studies
In a literature study(1) from Norwegian, Russian and Swedish public health institutes six researchers have concluded that early intervention with Zinc, Selenium and Vitamin-D can alleviate the course of the disease, and virtually prevent the cytokine storm, which is the process responsible for the destruction of tissues, microthromboses, inflammation, etc. -the whole cascade that can take the life of the Covid-19 sick persons.

An almost simultaneous study(2) from Germany analyzed Serum-Selenium and Serum-Selenoprotein P, and both values were significantly lower in those who did not survive Covid-19.
(Selenium: 53.3 ± 16.2 vs. 40.8 ± 8.1 μg / l, Selenoprotein-P: 3.3 ± 1.3 vs. 2.1 ± 0.9 mg / L p<0.001). These results must be said to be highly relevant in our country, where we consume so little selenium. This study falls nicely in line with the former study.

On August 3, an article was published in the Lancet(3) which strongly calls for increased intake of vitamin D based on solid literature reviews.
This also falls in line with the first study mentioned above.

And, finally, there is a meta-analysis(4) of the role of vitamin D in the development of acute respiratory infection. It includes 30,000 people in controlled trials (RCTs), and has shown significantly reduced risk of acute respiratory infection already at 10-25 µg of vitamin D daily.
This confirms a previous meta-analysis(5), which also found a significant inverse correlation between the risk of acute respiratory infection and the vitamin D content in the blood.
All of the above studies are nicely in line with the advice mentioned in the five newsletters from May.

Authorities distribute vitamins
Azerbaijan has registered 35,000 Covid-19 cases in a population of 10 million. Of these, 1,800 were hospitalized and 508 died.
Here, the Ministry of Health has provided more than 3,500 Covid-19 patients with a free “medicine package” containing: Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Magnesium, Selenium, Zinc and Paracetamol.
The idea is then that the patients stay at home and treat themselves there.
Every day they are then contacted by the local hospital clinic and have to answer a series of questions, just as the doctor checks that they are taking their pills.
So far, a significant reduction in the number of hospitalizations in this group has been observed(6).

You can only shout cheers when you see authorities who can think outside the box and dare to start such a project. My guess is that the trend will continue and that home treatment will continue to reduce hospital admissions in Azerbaijan.

The idea is not bad because you initiate a completely harmless treatment of a, for some people, -dangerous disease.
But why wait until they get sick?

With timely care, one can improve the immune system of the entire population if one simply provides information about these supplements and their significance.

What could be done here in Denmark is to provide subsidies to the vulnerable groups, especially residents of the country’s nursing homes, who are completely dependent on the public perception of vitamins and minerals. If their own doctor does not prescribe a vitamin supplement, then residents are often denied help to get the supplements, despite their own desire. They are completely dependent upon the doctor’s knowledge or lack thereof. I think Danish authorities and medical staff would be shocked if we measured the level of vitamin D in the country’s nursing home residents.
If you do not want to use public funds to donate these subsidies to the residents, then you can at least make sure that both residents and their relatives are informed.

These newsletters on Covid-19 are unfortunately necessary as this knowledge and the scientific back-up are neglected in the public advice to the Danish population.

Take care of yourself and others

Claus Hancke MD
Specialist in general medicine

References

  1. Alexander J, Alehagen U et al. (2020) Early Nutritional Interventions with Zinc, Selenium and Vitamin D for Raising Anti-Viral Resistance Against Progressive COVID-19. Nutrients 2020, 12, 2358.
  2. Moghaddam A, Heller R et al. (2020) Selenium Deficiency Is Associated with Mortality Risk from COVID-19. Nutrients 2020, 12, 2098.
  3. Martineau A, Forouhi N (2020) Vitamin-D for Covid-19: a case to answer. Lancet 2020;8:735-6.
  4. Joliffe D, Martineau A, Damsgaard Camilla et al. (2020) Vitamin D supplementation to prevent acute respiratory infections: Systematic review and meta-analysis of aggregate data from randomised controlled trials. medRxiv BMJ (endnu ikke peer reviewed) 17.juli 2020.
  5. Martineau A et al. (2017) Vitamin D supplementation to prevent acute respiratory tract infections: Systematic review and meta-analysis of individual participant data.
    BMJ 2017;356:i6585.
  6. lmahamad A, (2020) 3.500 covid-19 patients provided with free medication. Azernews 18.august 2020. https://www.azernews.az/healthcare/168099.html

Be prepared for the next Corona epidemic

Claus Hancke

The population is not

May 29, 2020

The Corona is spreading more slowly now, and, here in Denmark, Covid-19 is gradually infecting fewer and fewer people and we are more aware of protecting ourselves against it.

There have been good effects from keeping our distance and from maintaining good hygiene in which we have all been well instructed.

Much to the surprise of the Danish Serum Institute, less than 2% of the Danish population has had the disease, and only a few of these individuals may have obtained immunity to SARS-CoV-2, which the virus is called.
This means that more than 98% have not been infected and are completely without immunity. So forget about herd immunity.

The Danish population is just as vulnerable it was were in March when it all started.

Let’s try to summarize what we know and what we can do about it.

What do we know now?
SARS-CoV-2, which is the virus responsible for the current Covid-19 pandemic, is characterized in that it – like the influenza virus – triggers a reaction with the release of a number of signaling molecules such as interleukins, interferons, and lymphokines.

When this release is powerful, it is called a “cytokine storm”, and with Covid-19, it is so powerful that immune cells begin to damage the tissues where the process is taking place, and, in this case, it is primarily the lung tissue that is damaged.

During the cytokine storm, a violent inflammatory response and increased release of free oxygen radicals are created, which further damages the lung tissue due to the subsequent inflammatory microcoagulation seen in the pulmonary vessels. Adding too much oxygen at this stage will only aggravate the situation, which several anesthesiologists have experienced when Covid-19 patients’ conditions worsen when they are put on a respirator.

What can we do about it
Thus, it is primarily about attenuating the fatal cytokine storm.
Here vitamin D, magnesium, selenium, and vitamin C are particularly important as they specifically inhibit this cytokine storm and the subsequent inflammatory microcoagulation in the pulmonary vessels.
If the level of these essential substances in the body is high enough then you will have a subdued cytokine storm and thus attenuated symptoms, as seen during influenza infection. Fresh extract of Coneflower (Echinacea) has also been documented in several scientific studies to effectively inhibit this cytokine storm.

It should be obvious to protect ourselves by promoting such harmless and inexpensive remedies, but unfortunately in the medical and pharmaceutical world, one tends to stare blindly at the most expensive solutions.
Medical professionals were first intrigued by the antiviral drug Remdesivir, which could shorten the disease period of Covid-19 from 15 to 11 days. This fascination has now been replaced by a new one, another drug, an experimental cancer drug, Bemcentinib that may prevent viruses from entering the cells. A phase II trial is underway for 120 people, and we hope we will be able to get the result in a few months.

Well, it is excellent that medical professionals try to find a medicine that can help in this situation, but is it absolutely necessary to find a new, expensive medicine with side effects, when there are other far cheaper options without side effects?

The long awaited vaccine
While all this is going on, the pharmaceutical industry is working full speed on a vaccine. A vaccine against an RNA virus is very difficult to make, and using a vaccine is especially problematic because viruses constantly mutate and thereby often change the immune response.

No vaccine has ever been safety-tested, in the same way that medicine is tested, and this is a bit problematic because in recent years, the industry has started to add substances whose purpose is to stimulate the immune system for effective antibody formation. And stimulating antibody formation is good enough, too, but the safety of these substances has never been investigated. In Denmark, the use of mercury (thimerosal or thiomersal) in childhood vaccines was stopped from 1992 and in influenza vaccines from 2004, with the exception of the vaccine in 2009, which was an embarrassing exception. The toxic mercury should never be used again for human use – neither in the teeth, for that matter.

But in recent years aluminum has been added in the form of nanoparticles as well as squalene emulsions. These adjuvants have not been safety tested. It has just been noted (WHO has noted) that the number of side effects is not greater than is usually seen with vaccination. Aluminum is a neurotoxin, but it has been used in vaccines in the form of various aluminum salts since 1930, so in that form it probably isn’t particularly harmful. The problem is that nanoparticles are now being used that cannot be stopped by a cell membrane. They can penetrate all tissues.
It cannot be ruled out that it is safe to use these additives. It’s just never been investigated.

It should be a simple task to make a study with each of these ingredients against a real placebo such as brine.
We have many excellent vaccines, so let’s not be vaccine deniers. Let’s welcome a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine when it arrives, and then just hope it is properly safety tested. Of course, this hope becomes a requirement if we are to be mandatory vaccinated.

Of course, the Coronavirus will return
When and how bad we do not know, but it will come.
As mentioned in the Vitamin C newsletter, one of Europe’s experts in Covid-19, Professor Christian Drosten from the University of Berlin, has stated that the second wave could be tougher than the current one.
And since more than 98% of the Danish population is without immunity against it, we should not sit with our hands in our laps and wait for a vaccine.

We need to be proactive.
We need to make sure that we have enough of the nutrients that can reduce the risk of our getting sick, and especially the nutrients that can dampen the cytokine storms, so that we get a mild course of illness if we get sick anyway.

Especially old people and people who eat only very little, who may also be weakened by chronic disease, will do well by supplementing the diet in order to be well equipped with an optimally functioning immune system as the next virus threat approaches.

An appropriate daily dose for a normal-weight adult will typically be:

  • Vitamin A: 1-2 mg
  • Vitamin B6: 4-5 mg
  • Vitamin C: 2-3,000 mg
  • Vitamin D3: 75-100 µg
  • Selenium: 100-200 µg
  • Zinc: 20-30 mg
  • Magnesium: 200-300 mg

Note: The low dose is for those weighing less than 70 kg (155 pounds / 11 stones).

If you start now, you will be prepared in the fall. This is an obvious strategy for the country’s nursing homes.

This is the fifth and final Covid-19 newsletter.

Unfortunately, the five newsletters are necessary as this knowledge and scientific back-up are neglected in the public counseling of the population.

Take care of yourself and others,

Claus Hancke, MD,
Specialist in general medicine

Refs:

  • McGonagle D et al. (2020) Immune mechanisms of pulmonary intravascular coagulopathy in COVID-19 pneumonia. Lancet May 7, 2020:1-9
  • Zhang Y, Leung D, Richers B, et al. (2012) Vitamin D Inhibits Monocyte/Macrophage Proinflammatory Cytokine Production by Targeting MAPK Phosphatase-1. Journal of Immunology. 2012;188(5):2127-2135.
  • Alberto Boretti, Bimal Krishna Banik (2020) Intravenous vitamin C for reduction of cytokines storm in acute respiratory distress syndrome PharmaNutrition.
    2020 Jun;12:100190. Published online 2020 Apr 21.
  • Sharma M, Anderson A et al.(2009) Induction of multiple pro-inflammatory cytokines by respiratory viruses and reversal by standardized Echinacea, a potent antiviral herbal extract. Antiviral Research, 2009;83(2):165-170.
  • Cannell JJ, Zasloff M, Garland CF et al. (2008) On the epidemiology of influenza.
    Virol J. 2008;5:29.
  • Gorton HC, Jarvis K (1999) The effectiveness of vitamin C in preventing and relieving the symptoms of virus-induced respiratory infections. J Manip Physiol Ther, 22:8, 530-533
  • Hemilä H (2003) Vitamin C and SARS coronavirus Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, Volume 52, Issue 6, December 2003, Pages 1049–1050
  • WHO Global advisory committee on vaccine safety 2020 (ikke ændret siden 2006). https://www.who.int/vaccine_safety/committee/topics/adjuvants/squalene/Jun_2006/en/

Vitamin D protects against colon cancer

Claus Hancke

January 26, 2010

A huge European study now confirms that vitamin D may lower the risk of colon cancer by 40%.

The Danish Vitality Council has in several previous newsletters refered to scientific studies showing that vitamin D may lower the risk of cancer, and we have even been urged by journalists to withdraw those statements. Fortunately we have not complied.

A few days ago British Medical Journal published the largest study ever of the link between diet and health, known as the EPIC study, and this is just one of many results, we will see in the near future from this huge study.
More than half a million mostly healthy people from ten European countries have been closely studied and followed over 10 years by researchers from across Europe.

Participants completed detailed dietary questionnaires, and they have been checked with blood tests to identify their nutritional status.

At the time of analysis 1,250 cases of colon cancer had occurred and after comparison with a healthy control group researchers found that those who were low in vitamin D in their blood had significantly higher risk for this type of cancer.

Unlike many other studies this is characterized by being a prospective study. Thus looking-forward from the start time, and based on a group of healthy people. The study also distinguishes itself by involving so many different countries, cultures and – not least – food cultures.

Vitamin D, we primarily get from the sun, and a little bit from the diet. Danes are not the most tenacious fish eaters and much of the fish we eat is farmed and therefore does not include the fatty acids and other substances, we think they contain.

So we’re back at sunlight as the main natural source of vitamin D.

However, some of our ancestors for inscrutable reasons have found reason to settle north of the Alps, and it leads to midday sun high enough in the sky to make enough vitamin D in the skin for only 3-4 months a year (providing we have enough cholesterol).

So we must therefore tend to sunbathing when the Sun is at its highest point, ie the middle of the day, without sunblock, and therefore only half an hour, so we do not risk burning.

If it gets too complicated, you can also just grab a vitamin D capsule as a supplement. It is perhaps a little easier, and it can be done the whole year.
The dosage is somewhat controversial and should ideally be measured in a blood sample, but most serious scientists recommend between 2,000 and 4,000 IU, equivalent to 50-100 micrograms daily.

It will take a long time before we again will see such a thorough, multi-national study including so many people over such a long period.

So it is not just any study. It has high validity and ought to push the critically low RDA-value we have today.

By: Vitality Council

 

Litterature:
Jenab, M. et al (2010). Association between pre-diagnostic circulating vitamin D concentration and risk of colorectal cancer in European populations: A nested case-control study BMJ, 340 (jan21 3)
Can be downloaded directly at: www.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/340/jan21_3/b5500

Vitamin D against atherosclerosis

Claus Hancke

January 28, 2008

Vitamin D counteracts the development of atherosclerosis and prevents fatal complications of high blood pressure – but vitamin D deficiency is very widespread.

We are not done with vitamin D. More and more information is streaming in about this amazing substance, which is actually not a vitamin but a hormone created in skin exposed to sunlight.

Now we will look at vitamin D’s effects on the heart and circulation. It seems as though the risks of blood clots in the heart and the brain are far lower in people who get enough vitamin D, which is to say people who get more than most. This “vitamin” is especially effective at lowering the risk in people with high blood pressure.

This find appears in a recent report from Farmingham, a little town in Massachusetts where the health and lifestyles of thousands of people (and their descendents) has been registered since 1948 in order to find lifestyle related reasons for cardiovascular disease. The Farmingham study is, without a doubt, the most famous of its kind. When we today take for granted that exercise, healthy diet, and aspirin prevents cardiac death it is the Farmingham project that we should thank.

The report in question is on a part of the study involving 1,739 people aged 50 – 70 who were free of cardiovascular disease at the beginning of the study. From 1996 to 2000 their vitamin D status was measured with blood tests after which their health was monitored for an average of 5.4 years (up to 7.6 years). Who suffered blood clots?

Those who had the least vitamin D in the blood! After seven years blood clots in the heart or the brain (stroke) was registered in one in ten with vitamin D levels over 37 nmol/l, but in no less than one in four of those with levels under 37. After correcting for differences within the group such as age, sex, cholesterol levels, smoking, diabetes, and so on, the group with the highest vitamin D levels still had a cardiovascular risk 60 % less than that of the group with the lowest levels. If these numbers are right, vitamin D is more important for cardiovascular health than aspirin or cholesterol medicine.

Strong immune system
The beneficial effects of vitamin D seem to be even greater for those with high blood pressure, which is the most important cause of cardiovascular disease. Among participants with high blood pressure the risk for those with vitamin D levels over 37 was half that of those with levels under 37.

This result is similar to that of other studies which have shown that low vitamin D status and high blood pressure and clogged cardiac arteries are related. The Farmingham has an even stronger message: If you lack vitamin D you are at risk of a heart attack within the foreseeable future.

Does this mean that vitamin D prevents atherosclerosis? Yes, this seems to be the case. This fits in well with other known effects including: that vitamin D counteracts an important hormone (renin) which is responsible for raising blood pressure and that when heart cells which normally use vitamin D are prevented from using vitamin D (through genetic manipulation) in experiments on mice, blood pressure rises quickly.

Without eating fatty fish is you get almost no vitamin D from October to May. Deficiency is therefore very widespread. In a European study of teenage girls more than one out of every three had severe anemia (blood percent of under 25 nmol/l). Over 90% of these girls would have, if they lived in Farmingham, ended up in the study group with severe atherosclerosis.

How much vitamin D is it wise to take? There is no rule of thumb, but it should be considered that a typical vitamin pill contains 200 units whereas one out of every two adult Americans need 1,000 units in order to have an “acceptable” vitamin D status (which is a concentration of 75 nmol/l – most American researchers recommend 75 – 150 nmol/l). It is also understood that it is completely safe to take up to 2,000 units daily.

Luz Tavera-Mendoza and John White, two molecular biologists from the American McGill University have shown that vitamin D causes the skin and the immune system to form antibiotics (cathelicidin and more) which kill bacteria, including tuberculosis bacteria. This is probably the explanation for the earlier idea that it is possible to cure tuberculosis with sunlight. These two researchers have written an easy to read summery of recent research and even reveal what they take as supplements during the dark months.

Luz, who is a younger woman, takes 1,000 unites (25 micrograms).
John, who is a younger man, takes 4,000 units (100 micrograms).

By: Niels Hertz, MD

References:
1. Wang TJ et al. Vitamin D deficiency and risk of cardiovascular disease. Circulation 2008;117:000-000.
2. Tavera-Mendoza L, White J. Celle defences and the sunshine vitamin. Scientific American 2007 (11):36-44.

circ.ahajournals.org
www.sciam.com

Vitamin D inhibits cancer

Niels Hertz

June 26, 2007

An overlooked but very sensational study suggests that vitamin D could inhibit almost 80% of all cancer cases. We just need much more than we normally get (1).

One out of every three people in Britain die of cancer and a world without this feared disease seems utopian. But if an American study is correct, we can approach this unattainable goal with a historic leap forward. We just need more, much more, vitamin D, and maybe also more calcium. According to the study, a combination of calcium and vitamin D can reduce the risk of cancer by about 60%. Additionally, it seems that if cancer is avoided during the first year of taking supplements, then the risk of cancer the following year is reduced by nearly 80%! It is hard to expect more.

It is strange that such sensational news has received almost no official consideration. Especially because it comes from a highly trustworthy double blind, randomised trail published by highly respected researchers.

The participants in the study were 1,180 women with an average age of 67. They were from Nebraska, which is just as far south as southern Italy and receives a lot of sun. Not surprisingly the women had on average good blood levels of vitamin D before the study.

In the study 446 of the women received an advantageous daily supplement of as much as 1,100 units (27.5 micrograms) vitamin D. This is at least five times more than the contents of a normal vitamin pill and about three times the recommended dosage for people over age 60. They also received 1.5 gr. calcium (as carbonate or citrate), which is about the amount of calcium in a litre of milk.

Another 445 women received only calcium and 288 received placebo. Neither the women nor the researchers knew who got what. The study lasted for four years while it was noted who and how many got cancer.

We now have the results. The group which received the vitamin D and calcium was subject to many fewer cases of cancer than the group which received placebo. The difference was not coincidence! It was statistically extremely solid. The biggest difference (77% lower risk) was shown during the last three years of the study. The researchers surmised that this was because some of those who got cancer in the beginning of the study already had undetected cancer before the study started.

It could be true
The women who just received calcium also had a lower risk of cancer (40%). This finding was not completely certain statistically. The cancer risk for these women did not, as in them who received both vitamin D and calcium, become more reduced after the first year. It is therefore uncertain if this effect is actual or just the result of coincidence.

On the other hand, at least two further arguments indicate that vitamin D actually works. The first is that the women who had the poorest vitamin D status before the study, were those helped the most, their risk was the most reduced. The vitamin D status of the participants during the study also played a role, the lower the status, despite the supplements, the larger the cancer risk. The second argument that vitamin D has this effect is that the risk was directly link to the amount of vitamin D used.

Can it really be true that something as cheap as vitamin D can be so beneficial? We know that the vitamin regulates at least 200 genes, many of which control the cells’ growth and degree of specialisation. Animal studies have shown that vitamin D deficiency promotes cancer growth. For more than 60 years it has been known that cancer is less common in countries where the sun is high in the heavens leading to the production of more vitamin D in the skin. It has also be proven time and time again that low vitamin D status and high cancer risk in people go hand in hand (2,3).

The only thing that has been missing is a proper study with sufficient supplements so that cause and effect could be analysed. We now have just that study!

The women in Nebraska had a typical vitamin D status (25-hydroxy-vitamin-D3 in the serum) of 71 nanomolsl/L before the study. This is a very acceptable value. But the supplement increased this value to an average of 96. This is normally regarded as too high.

Vitamin D status is measured with a blood test! It is most important during the winter, when it is the lowest. According to the Nebraska study, this level should be no less than 100.

By: Vitality Council

References: 

1) Lappe J M et al. Vitamin D and calcium supplementation reduces cancer risk: Results of a randomized trial. Am J Clin Nutr 2007;85:1586-91.

2) Feskanich D et al. Plasma vitamin D metabolites and risk of colorectal cancer in women. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2004;13:1501-8

3) Ahonen M H et al. Prostate cancer risk and prediagnostic serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels (Finland). Cancer Causes Control 2000;11:847-52

www.ajcn.org
cebp.aacrjournals.org
www.springerlink.com/content/0957-5243