Promising new data from a recent study indicates that active forms of vitamin D can inhibit replication and expansion. And it could become treatment to attack the COVID-19.
Treatment for COVID-19? ABOUT THE STUDY:
The study findings also suggest that lumisterol, produced by a chemical reaction in the body that uses light, blocks COVID-19.
The metabolites of vitamin D and lumisterol were able to block two specific enzymes (RdRP and Mrpo) necessary for the life cycle of SARS-CoV-2, according to the team of researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham; the Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Basic Sciences in New Delhi, India; and the University of Western Australia.
The study was published in the American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism and has been chosen as the APS select article for September.
Could vitamin D help fight and be a potential treatment against COVID-19?
Anthony Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, suggested in September 2020 that vitamin D could help fight COVID-19.
In addition, it also estimated that 40% of the US population is deficient in vitamin D. The scientists in this new study were able to show that the new and physiologically relevant vitamin D and lumisterol derivatives “act on multiple targets. Which suggests that they may be effective against original and mutant strains of SARS-CoV-2 ”.
Other benefits of vitamin D
Other benefits of vitamin D cited by researchers include its low cost and easy access. Andrzej T. Slominski, MD, PhD, lead author of the study, described lumisterol as a natural product.
Once vitamin D is consumed, it is metabolized into several active forms by enzymes called cytochrome oxidases or CYP enzymes.
What will the find work for?
The researchers in this study say their findings help explain a possible mechanism why low vitamin D levels appear to promote COVID-19 infection and poor outcomes in certain people.
This correlates with other studies showing a relationship between vitamin D deficiency and poor disease outcomes. More studies and clinical trials are planned to test the efficacy of vitamin D and lumisterol as an antiviral treatment for COVID-19 in animals and humans.
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