Vitamin D, Magnesium and Zinc: your ultimate defence against COVID-19 (you don't need gene therapy!)
- beyondthemainstream
- Oct 9, 2021
- 4 min read
The innate immune system acts as the first line of defence against invading pathogens such as viruses. Calcitriol (the active form of vitamin D) enhances that defence, while inhibiting a cytokine storm response.
"Cytokine storm can severely damage lungs and lead to acute respiratory distress syndrome and death in patients. This is what seems to kill a majority of COVID-19 patients, not the destruction of the lungs by the virus itself. It is the complications from the misdirected fire from the immune system." - Ali Daneshkhah, research team member at Northwestern University
“If you have a normal, mid-range vitamin D level you cannot develop a cytokine storm.” – Dr Ryan Cole, April 2021
Vitamin D has been found to increase the activity of natural killer cells (innate immune cells).
80+% of hospitalised patients and 96% of ICU patients are vitamin D deficient (data quoted by Dr Ryan Cole, April 2021)
Magnesium is required to activate vitamin D and move it around in the blood. It has anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative effects, making a significant contribution to the maintenance of normal human health.
Zinc inhibits SARS-CoV RNA polymerase, and thus its replication capacity. It is essential to preserve natural tissue barriers (such as the respiratory epithelium), preventing pathogen entry and ensuring balanced functioning of the immune system.
Probably the most vocal advocate of vitamin D during this pandemic has been Dr Ryan Cole, Director of Cole Medical Diagnostics Laboratory in Idaho. Dr Cole is a board-certified dermatopathologist (AP & CP), who has worked as an independent pathologist since 2004.
In April 2021, he gave a talk explaining the importance of vitamin D in protecting yourself against COVID-19:
Some key points he made:
There is no such thing as flu and cold season, there is only ‘low vitamin D season’
If you have a normal, mid-range vitamin D level (50ng/ml, in the range of 20-100), you cannot develop a cytokine storm
80+% of hospitalised patients and 96% of ICU patients are vitamin D deficient
Normal vitamin D levels decrease Covid severity and risk of hospitalisation by up to 90% - and that's from world data – it also decreases clotting
Magnesium is a critical co-factor with vitamin D and zinc is a critical antiviral
Some more information on the benefits of maintaining proper levels of vitamin D, magnesium and zinc, from various studies:
From Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute, Kansas City, Missouri:
Magnesium is needed to move vitamin D around in the blood and to activate vitamin D. Both magnesium and vitamin D are important to the immune system independently. Together, they may be beneficial in COVID-19 infection because magnesium is necessary to activate vitamin D.
Between January 15 and April 15, 2020, 43 consecutive COVID-19 patients aged 50 and above were included in the study….Those who received the magnesium plus vitamin D and B12 had an 87% lower risk for requiring oxygen therapy and an 85% lower risk for needing intensive care support.
A meta-analysis of 25 randomized controlled trials in over 11,000 participants showed that vitamin D supplementation significantly reduces the risk of acute respiratory infections in the overall population by 12% and in those with profound vitamin D deficiency at baseline by 70%.
From a research publication ‘Putative roles of vitamin D in modulating immune response and immunopathology associated with COVID-19’ – various authors from India and the USA:
Vitamin D modulates multiple mechanisms of the immune system to contain the virus that includes:
· dampening the entry and replication of SARS-CoV-2
· reduces concentration of pro-inflammatory cytokines
· increases levels of anti-inflammatory cytokines
· enhances the production of natural antimicrobial peptide
· activates defensive cells such as macrophages that could destroy SARS-CoV-2.
From Michael J Story, Story Pharmaceutics Pty Ltd, Linden Park, South Australia:
It is shown that the essential nutrients zinc, ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, vitamin D and magnesium provide the ideal combination for prevention and treatment of COVID-19:
· prevention of SARS-CoV-2 entry to host cells
· prevention of proliferation of SARS-CoV-2
· inhibition of excessive inflammation
· improved control of the regulation of the immune system
· inhibition of the cytokine storm
· reduction in the effects of acute respiratory distress syndrome.
Zinc inhibits SARS-CoV RNA polymerase, and thus its replication capacity. It has also been postulated as a stabilizer of cell membranes which could assist in blocking virus entry to cells.
Zinc deficiency lowers immune function, decreases resistance to invading pathogens and increases the risk of contracting pneumonia.
The innate immune system acts as the first line of defence against invading pathogens such as viruses. Calcitriol (the active form of vitamin D) enhances that defence by recruiting neutrophils, monocytes/macrophages and dendritic cells which kill and clear the viral pathogens, ultimately initiating the adaptive immune response. This response can be overactive resulting in the cytokine storm. Calcitriol inhibits this chronic immune response.
Natural killer cells are innate immune cells and they are known to possess strong antiviral activity as well as anticancer activity. The count and activity of natural killer cells have been shown to be reduced below normal in COVID-19 patients, and vitamin D has been found to increase the activity of natural killer cells.
Magnesium is essential for the activation of vitamin D. It has anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative effects, and regulates the cardiovascular, digestive, neurological and respiratory systems, contributing significantly to maintenance of normal human health.
From ‘The Potential Impact of Zinc Supplementation on COVID-19 Pathogenesis’, authors from RWTH Aachen University, Germany
Zinc regulates and rebalances immune cell numbers and functions.
As zinc is essential to preserve natural tissue barriers such as the respiratory epithelium, preventing pathogen entry, for a balanced function of the immune system and the redox system, zinc deficiency can probably be added to the factors predisposing individuals to infection and detrimental progression of COVID-19.
Mucociliar clearance of viruses is affected by zinc. Improved ciliary clearance does not only improve the removal of virus particle, it also reduces the risk of secondary bacterial infections.
Zinc can prevent fusion with the host membrane, decreases the viral polymerase function, impairs protein translation and processing, blocks viral particle release, and destabilizes the viral envelope.
About 50% of patients that died of COVID-19 had bacterial or fungal co-infections, underlining the importance of sustaining the immune function by a sufficient zinc supply.
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