Vitamin D interview on Sky News (08/10/20)
Interview Oct 8, 2020 Rupa Huq
Meeting Oct 7, 2020: David Davis, Matt Hancock, Rupa Huq
Her comments - from email
- I am delighted to report that the meeting with the Health Secretary last night on Vitamin D was constructive and positive.
- I am glad he was willing to listen with an open mind to the evidence on the vitamin and its benefits in tackling Covid-19, which is fast becoming difficult to ignore.
- I spoke with Adam Boulton on Sky News today to discuss the meeting, and why the Government must include Vitamin D as part of its armoury in the UK’s fight against this wretched virus.
Who is who: by Robin Whittle
Vitamin-D-ophile British MPs,
- Rupa Huq, Labour, Remainiac Wikipedia link
- David Davis, Conservative, chairman of the Brexit committee at one stage, former chairman of the Conservative party and, in the past, a possible leader of the party.
- Matt Ridley, Conservative in the House of Lords, is also on the case and has been writing articles in the media about Vitamin D and COVID-19 for months, including with David Davis.
Interview Transcript
00:00 Adam Boulton: Well, the Labor MP Rupa Huq has teamed up with the Conservative MP David Davis to appeal to the Health Secretary to commission urgent research into the benefits of vitamin D in the fight against Coronavirus and Rupa Huq joins me now. Thank you very much indeed, for being with us. I'm a little bit puzzled by this because of covering the COVID outbreak. I had experts talking to me about the possibility of vitamin D being a key factor in this outbreak. I went to see my GP the other day about another matter and he in conversation mentioned vitamin D. Why haven't we heard more about it?
00:39 Rupa Huq: Yeah. Look the more you look into it, there are studies as long as your arm from eminent scientists and I've mentioned this a couple of times in the Chamber. Every time I do, I'm deluged with medics emailing in, saying that the Health Secretary is wrong. He said that there was no association between COVID-19 and vitamin D. So David Davis and I went to see him yesterday and in one of those sit-down meetings, you can rationalize a bit more than across the Chamber, where it's these snippy exchanges and you never get a right of reply and I'm quite positive that he's looking into this now and just as long as we're not too late, because vitamin D is a weird one. It's not like a normal nutrient. It's not in food very much. We know vitamin C is in your citrus fruits and stuff. Vitamin D is only pretty much in oily fish and you have to eat a lot of it. It would be 10 portions of salmon a day I think, to get your required amount and it's in egg yolks.
01:35 RH: But it comes in UV rays as they hit the skin. So look, it's pretty murky outside now. We were meeting with Hancock when it was six o'clock, it was pitch black. I hope that we are not too late and why has it not been recommended up to now? Maybe it's 'cause it's sort of always been under our nose. Unlike some of these are the moon shots, things that we're promised, dexamethasone. Some of these are the new drugs. It's always been known for its properties on bones. So osteoporosis, that kind of thing but any vitamin really is good for immunity and up to now, the Health Department has been saying that it's not proven enough but the thing is, what have we got to lose really? We've got the worst death toll in Europe. It's not bad for you. So just putting it in government messaging to take your supplements, which I think you are now. Are you Adam? Do you feel a younger man?
02:29 AB: Well, I probably did [02:30] it. I'm not a doctor. You're not a doctor but it's also been suggested that vitamin D deficiency might explain why the BME community has been hit harder by this. Do you think there's anything in that?
02:46 RH: Yeah, you're right. When... And in fact, we first heard of it, didn't we, this year, when that PHE report came out and showed disproportionate numbers of deaths amongst the BME communities and one of the arguments given was that they're in frontline occupations, driving buses and Ubers, warehousing and medicine but then, if you look at the doctors, remember the faces of the original doctors who are dying, they all sort of seem to have the same pigmentation and it's a weird thing that the way it works with UV rays hitting the skin. If you've got darker skin, it doesn't... You need more of it, sort of thing.
03:17 RH: So the people that are most deficient in it are the elderly, the obese and the BME but to be honest, everyone in this country because it's a seasonal thing as well and it's a thing of how near you to the equator. It's latitudinal thing but in this country, it sort of depends on what time of year but most people, I think they say 60% of people anyway are deficient but BME people, even more so. So yeah, there is something in there but in countries where they have high levels of it, like New Zealand and the Nordic countries, they've had a very low number of deaths and it is something that can be supplemented in food. So I think in Sweden, they have it in their milk. It's added to dairy.
03:57 AB: So what would you like, you and David Davis, from the other side of the house, what would you like the government to say about vitamin D and COVID?
04:07 RH: Look, I'm sort of as I say, optimistic after our meeting. We had a good old sit down chat with him. David Davis has read... In fact he's been on this stuff for decades apparently. That's why he's such a picture of glowing health and fitness but Matt Hancock said he would go away and look at it. I think it should be in the messaging. So at the moment, we have these things like hands, face, space and the new Brexit one is check, change, go. They are just getting weirder and weirder to fathom what practically can you do.
04:38 RH: Whereas, if you did say "Take a vitamin D tablet" D3 I think it is, 'cause there's different ones, "every day." And it's very cheap. You can get it, for sort of between one and two quid from any high street pharmacy chain or your local pharmacy. So if you just said that as an extra thing. It's not a vaccine. It's not a smoking gun or a silver bullet but it's an extra thing as a preventative measure to stop people getting it and to ward off the worst effects. So I think they should put it in the messaging and then, if they're persuadable, apparently it wouldn't cost very much if the variant risk groups were prescribed it for free and David Davis...
05:17 AB: Well okay Rupa Huq, thank you very much indeed. I'm afraid that's all we have time for on All Out Politics for today.
Nutraingredients reported on previous UK interactions Oct 5
A primary reason that they are open to solutions
The Increase may be associated with less UVB since July
Example of seasonal change in Vitamin D levels
See also in VitaminDWiki
COVID-19 news
COVID-19 and Dark Skins
COVID-19 treated by Vitamin D - studies, reports, videos
As of April 17 the page had: 34 trials, 5 trial results, 17 meta-analyses and reviews, 55 observations, 34 recommendations, 53 associations, 86 speculations, 43 videos see related: Governments, HealthProblems, Hospitals, Dark Skins, 26 risk factors are ALL associated with low Vit D, Recent Virus pages Fight COVID-19 with 50K Vit D weekly
Top Vitamin D and COVID-19 recent updates
- Vitamin D supplementation and high levels reduce COVID-19 deaths in elderly – Review April 17, 2021
- Severe childhood COVID-19 associated with Vitamin D deficiency (hospital in Finland) – March 2021
- Kidney patients who happened to be getting high-dose Calcitriol were 9X less likely to die of COVID-19 - April 6, 2021
- Overview of reviews of COVID-19 and vitamin D, etc. – April 2021
- Less COVID-19 infection, mortality in countries with higher Vitamin D (Asia in this case) – May 2021
- COVID-19 was the third-leading cause of death in the US, especially in those with dark skins - April 1, 2021
- Children with COVID-19 and low levels of Vitamin D have more severe cases – March 31, 2021
- Risk of COVID-19 death was 4.9 X higher if very low vitamin D – March 31, 2021 17th mortality observation
- Diabetes has many bidirectional links with COVID-19 – March 2021
- Diabetes is one of the 26 health risks identified by the CDC for getting COVID-19 - ALL of which are associated with low vitamin D
- COVID-19 was 2.6X more severe if very low Vitamin D (43 studies) – meta-analysis March 26, 2021
- To protect against COVID-19, how much vitamin D – 20 to 50 ng – March 19, 2021
- COVID-19 mortality for Parkinson’s is 1 in 5, speculates that vitamin D could help - March 18, 2021
- Prefer 40 – 60 ng of Vitamin D to minimize COVID-19 – March 17, 2021
- The lower the Vitamin D, the worse the COVID-19 (600 in Turkey)– March 2021
- COVID-19 prognostic indicators in plasma extrapolate to zero if Vitamin D is 40 to 80 ng – March 2021
- COVID public health messages 1, 2, and 3 should be - vitamin d vitamin d, vitamin d (video and transcript) - Mar 5, 2021
- COVID-19 mortality 2X higher if low Vitamin D (Mexican hospital, preprint) - March 2021
- Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and long-haul COVID-19
- low vitamin D, autoimmune and cytokine storms may be involved on both
- 2.1 X more COVID-19 deaths in European countries with less than 20 ng of vitamin D – March 12, 2021
- Supporting non-standard but proven ways to fight COVID-19 can result in job loss – March 2021
- 3X less likely to die of COVID-19 if good level of vitamin D (seniors in Boston)– March 8, 2021
- Low Vitamin D associated with 2.7X more severe COVID-19 – 12th MA March 5, 2021
- COVID-19 fought by Vitamin D or Heat - Drs Seheult and Patrick video - March 3, 2021
- Vitamin D Deficiency and Covid-19: Book by Drs Anderson and Grimes - July 2020
- Vitamin D recommendations for COVID-19 – Spanish Geriatrics Society – March 2021
- 250,000 FREE bottles of vitamin D to fight COVID-19 by Dr. Murray at iHerb – March 3 2021 Dr. Oz show
- Vitamin D and COVID-19 webinar - Feb 24, 2021
- Mongolia's National Vitamin D3 Program started in 2019
- COVID-19 what it is, prevention by Functional Nutrition doctor - Feb 2021
- Vitamin D reduced COVID-19 inflammation (60,000 IU daily for 8 days) - RCT Feb 2021
- All COVID-19 in ICU had low vitamin D, no difference in outcome if low vs very low – Feb 2021
- Low-cost Ivermectin and Vitamin D fight COVID-19 – Marik video 1 hr – Feb 18, 2021
- Low vitamin D associated with COVID-19 problems in NYC hospitals – Feb 2021
- All COVID-19 patients had low vitamin D, the lowest were more likely to die – Feb 18, 2021
- 200,000 IU of Vitamin D can not catch up when COVID-19 has a 10 day head start – RCT Feb 17, 2021
- 5X less likely to enter ICU with COVID-19 if get Calcifediol (semi-activated vitamin D) - RCT Feb 19, 2021
- Ultra-Orthodox Jews have high levels of COVID-19 (and ultra low Vitamin D ) - Feb 2021
- c19study.com/d Summary of Vitamin D and COVID studies (the following is updated automatically)
- Vitamin D can prevent severe COVID-19 in Latin America too – review Feb 1, 2021
- Vitamin D and COVID-19: 1 hour simple video - Jan 31, 2021
- Higher vitamin D in a country is associated with fewer COVID-19 cases (in Asia) Feb 3, 2021 44th association
- Vitamin-D and COVID-19: time for the profession to take a stand – Jan 20, 2021
- Roll Call of Credible Experts Advocating Vitamin D for COVID-19 - Jan 26, 2021
- Call for immediate action - Fight COVID-19 with vitamin D (up to 4,000 IU) - Jan 28, 2021
- Vitamin D, Zinc, etc. look promising for COVID-19 (Holick) – Jan 25, 2021
- Heavy Smokers 2.2 X more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 (they typically have 10 ng less Vitamin D) Jan 25 FREE PDF
- Vitamin D plus Inositol might help pregnancies during COVID-19 – April 2021
- MATH plus protocol for COVID-19 includes Calcifediol or Vitamin D - Jan 2021
- Vitamin D supplementation fights COVID-19 – 11th meta-analysis Jan 24, 2021
- Vitamin D helps the immune system fight COVID-19 – video Jan 21, 2021
- COVID-19 2.7 X more likely to be severe if less than 8 ng of vitamin D (China) – Jan 2021
- 2.7 fewer COVID-19 hospital deaths in those having more than 30 ng of vitamin D – Mayo Jan 9, 2021
- Vitamin D Help Us Fight Infections - interview of Dr. Thakkar (transcript) Jan 20, 2021
- COVID-19 onset strongly associated with latitude in Europe (Vitamin D)– Jan 21, 2021
- France: 73 experts and 6 academies recommend vitamin D to prevent COVID-19 Jan 19, 2021
- Worse COVID-19 patients got 400,000 IU of vitamin D, deaths cut in half – Jan 14, 2021
- Vitamin D-COVID interview by Dr. Campbell of Davies (member of UK Parliament) - Jan 17, 2021
- Iranians with COVID-19 were 2.3 X more likely to die if low vitamin D – Jan 2021
- Many COVID-19 risks are associated with low vitamin D (7 studies) – Systematic Review Jan 2021
- 40 ng of Vitamin D to fight COVID 15K to 50K weekly or 100K monthly - Spanish Jan 2021
- Poor COVID-19 prognosis was 6 X more likely if low vitamin D – Jan 21, 2021
- Unraveling the roles of vitamin D status and melanin during COVID-19 (Review) Jan 11
- 30 x fewer COVID-19 deaths in those getting 400,000 IU of Vitamin D - Jan 2021
- 2.8 X fewer COVID-19 nursing home deaths if add 10,000 IU Vitamin D daily for a week (small observation)- Jan 2021
- 3.7 X less likely to die of COVID-19 if supplemented with Vitamin D - meta-analysis Jan 5, 2021
- COVID-19 test positive 4.5 X more likely if had low vitamin D test within 4 years – Jan 6, 2021
- Don’t Let COVID-19 Patients Die With Vitamin D Deficiency - Jan 5, 2021
- Less likely to test positive for COVID-19 if higher Vitamin D – meta-analysis Jan 6, 2021
- Vitamin D reduces COVID-19 by 80 percent - anonymous meta-analysis - Jan 5, 2021
- COVID 19 Video - Drs. Seheult and Campbell : Lessons Learned and a Look Ahead - Jan 4
- Many drugs increase ACE2 and COVID-19 (176 page review) - Dec 2020
- Italian nursing home COVID-19 – 4X less likely to die if taking Vitamin D– Dec 22, 2020
- Take 50,000 IU of Vitamin D weekly before and after COVID-19 vaccination by VItaminDWiki
- COVID-19 lung infection upsets Vitamin D genes (so more or different form of Vit D is required) - Dec 22, 2020
- COVID-19 Disease and Vitamin D: A Mini-Review – Dec 15, 2020
- French Consensus – 200,000 IU of Vitamin D if get COVID-19 – Dec 22, 2020
- Rational approach to COVID-19: 50k-100k of Vitamin D weekly – Dec 2020
- Shift workers 2X more likely to get COVID-19 (low Vitamin D) - Dec 2020
- COVID-19 plus pneumonia in ICU with low vitamin D equaled Death - Dec 2020
- Excellent on-going analysis of Vitamin D and COVID-19 publications
- Those getting intermittent vitamin D were 7 X less likely to die of COVID-19 - Dec 11, 2020
- COVID-19 patients with low vitamin D had far fewer natural killer cells – Dec 2020
- COVID-19 Vitamin D: Overview of Evidence by Dr. Seheult (Video and transcript) - Dec 10, 2020
- 75 articles indicate that Vitamin D should fight COVID-19 – Evidence Review Dec 10, 2020
- COVID-19 Vitamin D: Overview by Dr. in Sri Lanka (Video and transcript) - Dec 8, 2020
- Vitamin D recommended to fight COVID-19 by 2 groups – Dec 7, 2020
- Vitamin D helps athletes while reducing their COVID-19 risk - Dec 4, 2020
- 5X more likely to test positive for COVID-19 if low vitamin D in previous 5 years (900,000 people) - Dec 4, 2020
- 5.8 X more likely to die of COVID-19 if low vitamin D - Systematic Review Dec 3, 2020
- Evidence of Vitamin D fighting COVID-19 etc. - take 4,000 IU if less than 20 ng (UK) – Dec 1, 2020
- 3.8 X higher risk of COVID-19 death if low vitamin D – Belgium Nov 25, 2020
- Hyperglycemic 2X more likely to have severe COVID-19 - Nov 2020 Diabetes
- A Medical School COVID-19 protocol includes Vitamin D for all phases – Marik Nov 2020
- Fight COVID-19 without drugs or vaccines, Vitamin D is the single most-studied way – Nov 2020
- Hospital COVID-19 observation: 7X more likely to live if more than 20 ng of vitamin D– Nov 19, 2020
- Higher vitamin D associated with fewer cases and deaths in India Nov 2020
- COVID-19 defeated 3x faster by 420,000 IU Vitamin D nanoemulsion – RCT Nov 12, 2020
- 9X COVID-19 survival in nursing home if had 80,000 IU dose of vitamin D in previous month – Oct 2020
- Rate of COVID-19 test positive is 40 pcnt lower if high vitamin D (192,000 people) - Holick Sept 2020
Many clinical trials are underway which are testing Vitamin D to fight COVID-19
Note: Many trials are near them (UK, France, Spain, Switzerland)