COVID and Vitamin D: What is the link between these two?
As the world continues the struggle with coronavirus, researchers and scientists are working very hard all over the world to find out the solution. One recent study stated that Vitamin D deficiency might be one of the reasons to get infected by a coronavirus and can be fatal.
Let us discuss the basics of vitamin D and its link with the immune system and coronavirus.
What is Vitamin D?
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin, which the body receives through diet, supplements, and exposure to the sun. The body can produce it with the help of sunlight from an antecedent that the body generates from cholesterol.
What are the Natural Sources of Vitamin D?
Fortified milk and dairy products and some types of fish like salmon, tuna and mackerel are some of the best sources of vitamin D. Small amounts are also in egg yolks, cheese, and mushrooms.
What are the Different Types of Vitamin D?
D3, cholecalciferol, the animal form of vitamin D, is the closest type to what our bodies naturally make with the help of exposure to the sun. Even if the sun is an extremely rich source of vitamin D, plants also have vitamin D2, ergocalciferol.
D3 Cholecalciferol is found in most of the nutritional supplements and is the most absorbed type of vitamin D.
Vitamin D supplements have long been known as crucial to bone health. Vitamin D is important for proper bone growth. Vitamin D is necessary for calcium absorption and for regulating serum calcium and phosphorus levels in your body. As a result, vitamin D helps in giving healthy bones and teeth. As calcium absorption rests on vitamin D, people with vitamin D deficiency are at risk for calcium deficiency too.
Here are the 5 most important benefits of vitamin- D
- Builds Stronger Bones
- Boosts the Immune System
- Helps Improves Heart Health
- Aids in Weight Loss
- Enhances Brain Function
Vitamin D and Immunity
Vitamin D is crucial for the proper function of your immune system — which is your body’s first line of defence against disease and infection.
This vitamin plays an important role in supporting immune response. It has both anti-inflammatory and immunoregulatory characteristics and is important for the stimulation of immune system defences.
Vitamin D is known to improve the function of immune cells, like T cells and macrophages, that shield your body against pathogens.
Vitamin is so necessary for the immune function that low levels of vitamin D have been linked with increased predisposition to infection, disease, and immune-related illnesses.
For instance, low vitamin D levels are linked with a bigger risk of respiratory diseases like tuberculosis, asthma, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), along with viral and bacterial respiratory infections.
What’s more, vitamin D deficiency has been associated with reduced lung function, which may impact your body’s capability to fight respiratory infection.
Who should Consume Vitamin D?
Both Vegetarians and non-Vegetarians suffer from Vitamin D deficiency and hence, both groups should focus on including the Vitamin D nutritional supplement as your daily intake.
Older adults should eat as they age, their skin cannot produce sufficient vitamin D from natural sources and also, they are not easily exposed to the sunlight.
People with dark skin, because of the pigment melanin in the darker skin, reduce the skin's ability to produce Vitamin D from sunlight.
People with restricted sun exposure should include vitamin D supplements. For example, women wear a black robe all day, or a homemaker or people working in the office the whole day.
If you want a quick-absorbing and effective solution to include Vitamin D in your diet, you should consume EvaFizz Cal- Calcium & Vitamin D3 Effervescent Tablets. They dissolve in 90 seconds and are safe to be consumed by pregnant women and children.
