Vitamin D, other everyday vitamins could counter coronavirus effects: report

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Using simple, everyday medicines available in your medicine cabinet or in your kitchen could counter the effects of coronavirus, a report said Thursday.

For instance, dozens of recent studies have shown taking Vitamin D is an easy way to fight COVID-19 and your doctor can request a blood test to check your overall vitamin levels, Dr. Peter Osborne with Origins Nutrition Center in Sugar Land, Texas, told FOX 26 of Houston.

"I think that's probably one of the smartest things that a person could do right now, with an unpredictable role of a relatively unknown illness," Osborne told the TV station. "What we do know at this point about vitamin therapy, particularly about vitamin D, a new study has come out and a new analysis has come out on what we know about vitamin D and COVID."

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So far, here's what medical experts say: People with low vitamin D who get COVID have a greater tendency toward dying, have a greater tendency toward hyper-inflammation in the cytokine storm that comes with COVID, and have a greater tendency toward getting on ventilators, which is very bad because ventilators don't work very well for COVID, Osborne said.

"When a person's on a ventilator with COVID it's not a good thing. So, the outcomes aren't great, so if we can keep people off of ventilators and we can keep their immune system supported really well with nutrition, that ideally that makes the most sense," he explained.

Additional studies also revealed nine out of 10 COVID-19 deaths could have been prevented if people had adequate Vitamin D levels, the  FOX 26 report said.

Vitamin D3 supplements (cholecalciferol). (Getty Images)

In the winter, Vitamin D levels are reduced because fewer people are outside and not soaking it up from the sun, the report noted.  People need at least 20 minutes of sunlight every day to get an adequate amount, which is why a supplement is often needed to get to a healthy level.

In fact, some hospitals nationwide are even using vitamins as a treatment for COVID-19, not just prevention.

"A lot of doctors are now learning this and suggesting this as a form of treatment. At the East Virginia School of Medicine there’s a COVID protocol that includes Vitamin D, Osborne said.

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So if you're hospitalized for COVID, they're automatically putting you on between 20,000 and 60,000 units of Vitamin D. This is part of their standard of care protocol in that hospital system, he said.

Vitamin D is one of the most simple and affordable ways to help you stay healthy, Osborne told FOX 26.

"Vitamin D is very inexpensive. You can buy it at the local nutrition store, and it might just save your life, should you get sick.

— Dr. Peter Osborne, Origins Nutrition Center

"Vitamin D is very inexpensive," he said. "You can buy it at the local nutrition store, and it might just save your life, should you get sick.

"With vitamin D, there's a therapy that can be done that I recommend, and it's 1,000 international units (IU) of vitamin D per pound. So if you're 100 pounds, you would take 100,000 international units of vitamin D for three days. After that, you don't have to keep taking those higher doses, but three days of high dose vitamin D will elevate your serum vitamin D levels to adequate levels," Osborne explained.

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He stressed everyone should think of boosting their immune systems using four different supplements – Vitamin D, Vitamin C, Zinc and Quercetin, a natural bioflavonoid that opens up the cells in your body so zinc can get inside, the FOX 26 report said.

While some hospitals are already treating COVID patients with all four of the supplements, Osborne suggested a few dietary sources of vitamin D like cod liver oil, fatty fish and mushrooms could assist people in their goal to reach the recommended daily allowance, but warned you would have to eat a lot of it.