News & Notes: Vitamin D and C for Covid; A Cause of Colorectal Cancer; Heart Attack Risk Post-Vaccine

Study Shows Vitamin D Deficiency is Strong Risk Factor for COVID Severity, Mortality

In a retrospective analysis of 646 hospitalized COVID-19 patients, researchers found that those patients deficient in vitamin D had more comorbidity, longer hospitalizations, and more ICU admissions.

They also required more invasive mechanical ventilation and had significantly more overall complications than those whose levels of vitamin D were adequate. The authors concluded that “Vitamin D supplementation may be able to prevent or improve the prognosis of COVID-19 during this pandemic.”

The report, entitled Prevalence and Clinical Outcomes of Vitamin D Deficiency in COVID-19 Hospitalized Patients: A Retrospective Single-Center Analysis was published online at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34645738/ in October 2021 by Afaghi S, Esmaeili Tarki F, et al. Tohoku J Exp Med. Oct. 2021;255(2):127-134. doi: 10.1620/tjem.255.127.
(Report submitted by the Council for Responsible Nutrition)

Higher Colorectal Cancer Risk in Black Women May Be Due to Low Vitamin D Levels

Studies have shown that the lower the blood level of vitamin D, the higher the risk of colorectal cancer for White people. However, because Black people have more colorectal cancer, a finding from the Black Women’s Health Study estimated that Black women have a 41% higher risk of developing colorectal cancer due to low vitamin D status.

“Our findings, taken together with established evidence that vitamin D levels are generally lower in the Black population than other groups, suggest that low vitamin D may contribute to disproportionately high colorectal cancer incidence among Blacks,” said corresponding author Julie Palmer, ScD, director of BU’s Slone Epidemiology Center and the Karin Grunebaum Professor in Cancer Research at BUSM.

The report, entitled “Predicted vitamin D status and colorectal cancer incidence in the Black Women’s Health Study” was published at: https://www.bumc.bu.edu/busm/2021/10/25/low-vitamin-d-status-may-lead-to-elevated-colorectal-cancer-risk-in-black-women/ on October 25, 2021. Authors: Barber LE, Bertrand KA, Petrick JL, et al. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2021 Oct 7
(Submitted by the Council for Responsible Nutrition)

Twelve intervention Trials Conclude that Vitamin C Works for Covid

Everyone knows that vitamin C is important for immunity. Sales of both oranges and vitamin C tablets have risen sharply during the Covid pandemic.
Indeed, a review of twelve studies, including five “gold standard” randomized controlled trials, shows that this simple vitamin saves lives when given in the right dose. Vitamin C can prevent a serious Covid infection.

The scientific evidence is clear: vitamin C taken when a person is infected can reduce Covid symptoms and duration of illness.
A review of the 12 studies was published in the open access journal Life www.vitaminC4covid.com/12trialreview on November 1, 2021. The review was carried out and funded by VitaminC4Covid, a consortium of vitamin C experts including Dr. Marcela Vizcaychipi from the Faculty of Medicine at London’s Imperial College, Associate Professor Anitra Carr who heads the Nutrition in Medicine group at the University of Otago, and Dr. Paul Marik, chief of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Eastern Virginia Medical School.

The studies show that Covid patients have depleted vitamin C levels, often to the level found in scurvy. In patients with serious pneumonia, a depleted vitamin C level greatly increases the risk of widespread internal organ damage and death. They need high doses of vitamin C to recover and survive.

Dr. Vizcaychipi, who heads research in intensive care medicine at the UK’s Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, has been giving Covid and non-Covid patients in their Intensive Care Units up to 6 grams (6,000 mg) of vitamin C intravenously. The dosage is dependent on the severity of disease and the amount needed to correct deficiency, as indicated by vitamin C urine test sticks. “Vitamin C is certainly one of multiple factors that contribute to better outcomes and speed of recovery. It should be standard practice. We have not had any safety issues at all,” says Dr. Vizcaychipi.

In the U.S., a group of medical doctors, members of the Frontline Covid Critical Care Alliance (www.flccc.net) have more than halved the mortality rate in their ICUs using a protocol of steroids (methylprednisolone), plus vitamin C (ascorbic acid), plus vitamins B1 (thiamine), D and anticoagulants (heparin) – a strategy known as MATH+. This protocol was pioneered by Drs. Paul Marik, Pierre Kory, and Joseph Varon (a critical care expert recognized by the United Nations for his life-saving work).

The above is excerpted from a longer article written by Patrick Holford and published by the Orthomolecular News Service. To read the complete article, go to: https://vitalitymagazine.com/article/twelve-intervention-trials-conclude-that-vitamin-c-works-for-covid/ For a free subscription to OMNS visit their site: http://orthomolecular.org/subscribe.html

Questions About COVID Vaccines

In an interview with Dr. Joseph Mercola posted at www.mercola.com, Steve Kirsch, executive director of the COVID-19 Early Treatment Fund, reviewed some of the COVID jab data he’s presented to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during various meetings.
For example, during the September 17, 2021, FDA VRBPAC (Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee) meeting, Kirsch cited data suggesting that one in 317 boys aged 16 to 17 will get myocarditis from the shots, and after a third booster that number may be even higher. He also cited data showing the COVID vaccine kills more people than it saves.

Kirsch also created and submitted a 177-page PDF slideshow to the October 26, 2021, VRBPAC hearing, titled, “Questions About the COVID Vaccine.” It’s a treasure trove of information and a great resource that he is updating in real time with new data. To view it online, go to: https://www.skirsch.com/covid/VRBPAC-10-26-21.pdf

Measuring Heart Attack Risk Post-Vaccine

The American Heart Association (AHA) Scientific Sessions 2021 were held from November 13 to 15, 2021. At one AHA Session, Dr. Steven R. Gundry made a presentation showing that the mRNA vaccines dramatically increased inflammation on the endothelium and T-cell infiltration of cardiac muscle. This may account for the observations of increased thrombosis, cardiomyopathy, and other vascular events following vaccination.

This determination was made using a test called the Protein Unstable Lesion Signature Test (PULS) that measures traces of proteins that leak from cardiac lesions in the blood vessel walls in patients after receiving the vaccine compared to before the vaccine. The presence and levels of these proteins provides valuable information to help determine one’s risk for a heart attack.
See the abstract from the presentation posted at: https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/circ.144.suppl_1.10712