Remember last year when Washington Post reporters were boldly declaring
that vitamins C and D could not (and should not) be used against respiratory
infections? The information I was sharing about their use was deemed so
dangerous to public health that I was branded as a “fake news” site by
self-appointed, pharma-owned arbiters of truth like NewsGuard.
How times have changed. After having defamatory lies published about me,
vitamins C and D are now (finally) being adopted in the conventional treatment
of novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2.
That just goes to show that when push
comes to shove, the truth eventually prevails. When the medicine cabinet is
empty, and doctors have limited options, suddenly the basics become viable
again, and that is good news indeed, as it’s likely to save thousands of lives,
while keeping health care costs down.
Vitamin C Treatment Implemented
for Coronavirus Infection
As reported by the New York
Post, March 24, 2020:1
“Seriously
sick coronavirus patients in New York state’s largest hospital system are being
given massive doses of vitamin C … Dr. Andrew G. Weber, a pulmonologist and
critical-care specialist affiliated with two Northwell Health facilities on
Long Island, said his intensive-care patients with the coronavirus immediately
receive 1,500 milligrams of intravenous vitamin C.
Identical
amounts of the powerful antioxidant are then re-administered three or four
times a day, he said … The regimen is based on experimental treatments
administered to people with the coronavirus in Shanghai, China …
‘The
patients who received vitamin C did significantly better than those who did not
get vitamin C,’ he said. ‘It helps a tremendous amount, but it is not
highlighted because it’s not a sexy drug’ …
Weber
… said vitamin C levels in coronavirus patients drop dramatically when they
suffer sepsis, an inflammatory response that occurs when their bodies overreact
to the infection. ‘It makes all the sense in the world to try and maintain this
level of vitamin C,’ he said.”
A Northwell Health
spokesperson has reportedly confirmed that vitamin C treatment is being “widely
used” against coronavirus within the 23-hospital system. According to Weber,
vitamin C is being used in conjunction with the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine and
the antibiotic azithromycin, which have also shown promise in coronavirus
treatment.2
Vitamin C Is a Vastly
Underutilized Antiviral ‘Drug’
According to Dr. Ronald Hunninghake, an internationally
recognized expert on vitamin C who has personally supervised tens of thousands
of intravenous (IV) vitamin C administrations, vitamin C is “definitely a very
underutilized modality in infectious disease,” considering “it’s really a
premiere treatment” for infections.
In my
interview with him, Hunninghake suggested one of the reasons why conventional
medicine has been so slow to recognize the importance of vitamin C has to do
with the fact that they’ve been looking at it as a mere vitamin, when in fact
it’s a potent oxidizing agent that can help eliminate pathogens when given in
high doses.
There
are also financial factors. In short, it’s too inexpensive. Conventional
medicine, as a general rule, is notoriously uninterested in solutions that
cannot produce significant profits. One of the primary reasons we’re now seeing
its use against COVID-19 is undoubtedly because we had no expensive drugs in
the medical arsenal that could be turned to.
In my March 17, 2020, interview with Dr. Andrew Saul,
editor-in-chief of the Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, he mentions being
in contact with a South Korean medical doctor who is giving patients and
medical staff an injection of 100,000 IUs of vitamin D along with as much as
24,000 mg (24 grams) of IV vitamin C. “He’s reporting that these people are
getting well in a matter of days,” Saul says.
As
explained by Saul, vitamin C at extremely high doses acts as an antiviral drug,
actually killing viruses. While it does have anti-inflammatory activity, which
helps prevent the massive cytokine cascade associated with severe SARS-CoV-2
infection, it’s antiviral capacity likely has more to do with it being a
non-rate-limited free radical scavenger. As explained by Saul in our interview:
“Cathcart’s
view is that you simply push in vitamin C to provide the electrons to reduce
the free radicals. This is the way Cathcart and Levy look at vitamin C’s
function (at very high doses) as an antiviral.
At
modest doses, normal supplemental doses … vitamin C strengthens the immune
system because the white blood cells need it to work. White blood cells carry
around in them a lot of vitamin C … So, vitamin C is very well-known to
directly beef up the immune system through the white blood cells.”
Vitamin C Effectively Treats
Sepsis
Although the vitamin C
protocol is new for COVID-19 treatment, it’s been used as a treatment for
sepsis since about 2017. The vitamin C-based sepsis treatment protocol was developed
by Dr. Paul Marik, a critical care doctor at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital
in East Virginia, which has since adopted it as standard of care for sepsis.
Marik’s retrospective
before-after clinical study3 published in 2016
showed giving patients 200 milligrams (mg) of thiamine every 12 hours, 1,500 mg
of ascorbic acid every six hours, and 50 mg of hydrocortisone every six hours
for two days reduced mortality from 40% to 8.5%.
Importantly,
the treatment has no side effects and is inexpensive, readily available and
simple to administer, so there’s virtually no risk involved. In 2009, IV
vitamin C was shown to be a potentially lifesaving treatment for severe swine
flu, so it’s understandable why both Chinese and American doctors hold hope for
it with the coronavirus.
There’s already a clinical
trial submitted for it at ClinicalTrials.gov.4 More recent
research,5,6 published online January 9, 2020,
found Marik’s sepsis protocol lowered mortality in pediatric patients as well.
The study was performed at
Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, and as noted by
Science Daily,7 the preliminary data from this study “supports the
promising outcomes seen in adults.”
Vitamin C Highlighted During
SARS Pandemic
Back in 2003, during the SARS
pandemic, a Finnish researcher called8 for an
investigation into the use of vitamin C after research showed it not only
protected broiler chicks against avian coronavirus, but also cut the duration
and severity of common cold in humans and significantly lowered susceptibility
to pneumonia. In his letter, published in the Journal of Antimicrobal
Chemotherapy, Harri Hemilä wrote:9
“Recently,
a new coronavirus was identified as the cause of the severe acute respiratory
syndrome (SARS). In the absence of a specific treatment for SARS, the
possibility that vitamin C may show nonspecific effects on several viral
respiratory tract infections should be considered.
There
are numerous reports indicating that vitamin C may affect the immune system,
for example the function of phagocytes, transformation of T lymphocytes and
production of interferon. In particular, vitamin C increased the resistance of
chick embryo tracheal organ cultures to infection caused by an avian
coronavirus.10“
Even before that, many
studies had demonstrated the usefulness of vitamin C against infections of
various kinds. For example, a randomized double-blind study11 published
in 1994 found elderly patients given 200 milligrams of vitamin C per day while
hospitalized for acute respiratory infection fared significantly better than
those receiving a placebo.
According
to the authors, “This was particularly the case for those commencing the trial
most severely ill, many of whom had very low plasma and white cell vitamin C
concentrations on admission.”
Surprising Admission by CDC
Chief About Vitamin D
Another
powerful component in the prevention and treatment of influenza is vitamin D.
Although vitamin D does not appear to have a direct effect on the virus itself,
it does strengthen immune function, thus allowing the host body to combat the
virus more effectively. It also suppresses inflammatory processes. Taken
together, this might make vitamin D useful against SARS-CoV-2 infection.
My claim that vitamin D can
cut infection risk was publicly vindicated March 24, 2020, when former U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention chief Dr. Tom Frieden published an
opinion piece on Fox News stating that “Coronavirus infection risk may be
reduced by vitamin D.”12 In it, Frieden writes:
Doctor Yourself: Natur...Saul,
Andrew W PH.D.Best Price: $24.27Buy New $28.28(as
of 03:19 EDT - Details)
“There
are many crackpot claims about miracle cures floating around, but the science
supports the possibility — although not the proof — that Vitamin D may
strengthen the immune system, particularly of people whose Vitamin D levels are
low.
Vitamin
D supplementation reduces the risk of respiratory infection, regulates cytokine
production and can limit the risk of other viruses such as influenza.
A
respiratory infection can result in cytokine storms — a vicious cycle in which
our inflammatory cells damage organs throughout the body — which increase
mortality for those with COVID-19. Adequate vitamin D may potentially provide
some modest protection for vulnerable populations …
Right
now, we don’t know if vitamin D deficiency plays any role in the severity of
COVID-19. But given the high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in this
country, it is safe to recommend that people get the proper daily dosage of
vitamin D.
Most
people’s bodies manufacture vitamin D in the skin when exposed to the sun.
About 15 minutes a day of direct sunlight is sufficient for many people’s
bodies to manufacture enough vitamin D; people with darker skin need longer
exposure to sunlight to manufacture the same amount.
In
winter, people in northern latitudes may not be able to make any vitamin D from
sunlight. Sunscreen lengthens the exposure time needed. Many people, then,
need vitamin D supplementation.”
Public Health Specialist Weighs
in on Vitamin D
Similarly, in a March 25,
2020, MedPage Today article,13 Dr. John C. Umhau
writes:
“As
a public health specialist at the National Institutes of Health, I outlined how
a lack of sun-induced vitamin D in the winter and early spring leads to
epidemic acute respiratory infections (and this probably includes viruses like
COVID-19).
That
review, cited almost a thousand times, argued that groups with low vitamin D
levels — the obese and the elderly and those with dark skin — may require 5,000
IU of vitamin D each day to obtain the 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels of 50 ng/mL
that appear to protect against viral respiratory infection.
A
government-sponsored research strategy to address this issue has not been
developed, as officials explained that there was no mandate to explore an
alternative to the existing vaccination program.
However,
other researchers picked up the ball and provided convincing evidence that
vitamin D could reduce the incidence of acute respiratory infection.”
While
Umhau specifies a daily dosage, it’s crucial to remember that required dosages
can vary widely from one person to another, and that the most important factor
here is your blood level. You simply must adjust the vitamin D dose based on
your specific recently measured vitamin D level.
I
haven’t swallowed oral vitamin D for over a decade and my D level is over 70
ng/mL, as I walk in the sun nearly every day for one hour with my shirt off. I
take no supplemental vitamin D. For those who are unable to get sun exposure
and have low levels, doses of vitamin D3 may be 10,000 units a day or even
higher, but the only way to know is to measure your blood levels.
For that, you must get
tested, and then take whatever dosage required to get into the ideal range. While
50 ng/mL may be sufficient, I recommend a vitamin D level between 60 ng/mL and
80 ng/mL for optimal health and disease prevention. GrassrootsHealth’s D*Action
research has shown you need at least 40 ng/mL to lower your risk of many
diseases.14
In his article Umhau cites a
2017 meta-analysis15 of 25 randomized controlled trials showing vitamin D
supplementation helped prevent acute respiratory infections. Those with vitamin
D blood levels below 10 ng/mL, which is a serious deficiency state, cut their
risk of infection by half, while people with higher vitamin D levels reduced
their risk by about 10%.
Importantly, they found that,
among those with severe vitamin D deficiency at baseline, you
only need to treat four individuals in order to prevent one infection. That’s
FAR more effective than influenza vaccination, which requires 71 individuals to
be vaccinated in order to prevent a single case of influenza.16
According to this
international research team, vitamin D supplementation could prevent
more than 3.25 million cases of cold and flu each year in the U.K. alone.17 In
my view, optimizing your vitamin D levels is one of the absolute best
strategies available to prevent respiratory illness of all kinds.
Sun Exposure Recommended
Umhau also points out that:18
“Critical
care research19 also documents the important effect of vitamin D on survival
in ICU patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome. There are several
mechanisms by which vitamin D activity is critical for immune defense: vitamin
D acts to maintain tight junctions, promote the effect of antimicrobial
peptides (i.e., cathelicidin and defensins), and moderate the inflammatory
response.20
Aggressively
identifying and treating people with vitamin D deficiency is one potential
strategy to reduce the risk of COVID-19. As outlined in
the BMJ review, regularly taking oral vitamin D3 mitigates infection,
although the optimal oral dose is debatable.
Bolus
doses do not appear to provide benefit against infection, possibly through a
dysregulation of vitamin D metabolism. There may be a simple yet effective
alternative.
Since
exposing the whole body to bright sunlight can provide long-lasting and rapid
correction of deficiency, this may provide a critical boost to host immune
defenses. Lacking definitive research, any risk of exposing the body to
sunshine while sheltering in place is clearly outweighed by the risk of
COVID-19.”
Vitamins C and D
Recommendations
Based
on the available scientific evidence, there’s no reason to ignore vitamins C
and D for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 and other respiratory
infections.
Remember
to test your vitamin D level. Do it at home and stay away from hospitals unless
you’re already having symptoms of worsening respiratory infection, such as
difficulty breathing. The level you’re aiming for is 60 ng/mL.
GrassrootsHealth makes
testing easy by offering an inexpensive vitamin D testing kit as part of its
consumer-sponsored research. All revenues from these kits go directly to
GrassrootsHealth. I make no profit from these kits and only provide them as a
service of convenience to my readers.
Vitamin C is also a crucial
aid, both for the prevention and treatment of viral illnesses. You can find
pertinent reports and research about vitamin C against COVID-19 on the
Orthomolecular Medicine News Service website.21 I
recommend using liposomal vitamin C, as it allows you to take far higher
dosages than regular vitamin C (as regular vitamin C is limited by your bowel
tolerance).
Dr. Robert Rowen, whom I
recently interviewed about the use of vitamin C and ozone therapy for COVID-19,
suggests taking upward of 6 grams (6,000 mg) per hour for acute illness, to
simulate intravenous administration levels. Prophylactically, it is not recommended
to take such high doses.
The only contraindication to
high-dose vitamin C treatment is if you are glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase
(G6PD) deficient, which is a genetic disorder.22 G6PD
is required for your body to produce NADPH, which is necessary to transfer
reductive potential to keep antioxidants, such as vitamin C, functional.
Because
your red blood cells do not contain any mitochondria, the only way it can
provide reduced glutathione is through NADPH, and since G6PD eliminates this,
it causes red blood cells to rupture due to inability to compensate for
oxidative stress.
Fortunately, G6PD deficiency
is relatively uncommon, and can be tested for. People of Mediterranean and
African decent are at greater risk of being G6PD deficient. Worldwide, G6PD
deficiency is thought to affect 400 million individuals, and in the U.S., an
estimated 1 in 10 African-American males has it.23 Be
sure to read this Thursday’s lead article on one of the most important
preventive and therapeutic strategies for COVID-19.
Sources and References
- 1, 2 New York Post March 24, 2020
- 3 Chest 2016.
doi:10.1016/j.chest.2016.11.036
- 4 Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier NCT04264533
- 5 American Journal of
Respiratory and Critical Care MedicineJanuary 9, 2020 [Epub ahead of
print]
- 6, 7 Science Daily January 22, 2020
- 8, 9 Journal of Antimicrobial
Chemotherapy December 2003; 52(6): 1049-1050
- 10 Archives of Virology
1978;56(3):195-9
- 11 Int J Vitam Nutr Res. 1994;64(3):212-9
- 12 Fox News March 24, 2020
- 13, 18 MedPage Today March 25, 2020
- 14 GrassrootsHealth, Let’s Level
the Playing Field With Vitamin D
- 15 BMJ 2017; 356:i6583
- 16 Cochrane.org
- 17 BBC.com February 16, 2017
- 19 Thorax 2015;70:617-624
- 20 Preprints, Version 1: Vitamin D Supplementation
Could Prevent and Treat Influenza, Coronavirus, and Pneumonia Infections
- 21 Orthomolecular Medicine News
Service
- 22, 23 NIH.gov Glucose-6-Phosphate
Dehydrogenase Deficiency
Copyright © Dr. Joseph Mercola
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2020/04/joseph-mercola/vitamins-c-and-d-finally-adopted-as-coronavirus-treatment/
