THERE has been a lot of talk regarding nutrition and COVID-19, expressing connections between proper nutrition, and, specifically, the roles of vitamins D, C, A, and minerals such as zinc in supporting immune system function.
• Data from China, Iran, Europe, and the US showed a correlation between vitamin D deficiencies and the cytokine storm — an immune system-related, potentially deadly, lung-damaging COVID-19 complication — which is reported to cause the majority of COVID-19 deaths.
• Even the European countries at lower latitudes and with more sunlight (Southern Italy and Spain) had high rates of vitamin D deficiency and the highest rates of COVID-19 deaths.
• More northerly European countries (Sweden, Norway, and Finland), because of their climate, fortify their foods with vitamin D, resulting in higher vitamin D levels and lower death rates.
Beyond bone-related illnesses, researchers have identified additional, serious vitamin D diseases such as many autoimmune diseases; inflammatory bowel disease; obesity; inflammation; several cancers, including breast, prostate, and colon; cognitive disorder, mental issues; insufficient calcium absorption; and more specifically to our point, infections such as urinary tract infection, pneumonia, and others, and compromised immune functions.
