The Roundup
I’m launching a new feature for 2021— The Roundup! I realize that most people would rather poke their eye out than read journals and reports in their spare time. Fortunately for you, that is my MO.
Forgive me for taking a moment to really nerd out here but if even five people read these articles I will consider it a success. There is a terrible trend produced by this modern era of short-form communication that has rendered us less likely and less able to read deeply on a subject. Even worse, is the massive decline in rational thinking abilities that are needed to connect various data, rules, and logic into a justifiable conclusion. The Roundup can help bridge that gap by providing some well-researched and peer-reviewed scientific thought and levity against some of the truly brainwashed, and factually unsupported thinking and “sharing” that occurs on a daily basis.
First stop… COVID-19 conspiracy theories and the less talked about side of the puzzle— preventative health!
vitamin D and Coronavirus
Most of the management for COVID-19 is behaviourally-focuses. We are sick to death of hearing about social distancing and the importance of masks. But why is no one discussing innate and adaptive immunity? I guess that’s a rhetorical question— we have rarely seen prevention-focused nutritional and lifestyle guidance held as the first line of defense as opposed to our overwhelming desire to have pharmaceuticals or medical intervention do the work to “save” us.
There has been compelling research and outcome-based evidence that supports the benefits of Vitamin D supplementation. If you haven’t heard this yet, I think it’s well worth looking into…
Vitamin D is responsible for the regulation of calcium and phosphate metabolism and maintaining a healthy mineralized skeleton. It is also known as an immunomodulatory hormone. Experimental studies have shown that 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, the active form of vitamin D, exerts immunologic activities on multiple components of the innate and adaptive immune system as well as endothelial membrane stability. Association between low levels of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D and increased risk of developing several immune-related diseases and disorders, including psoriasis, type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, tuberculosis, sepsis, respiratory infection, and COVID-19, has been observed. SOURCE: Immunologic Effects of Vitamin D on Human Health and Disease
Click here for a roundup of dozens of similar articles. Dosing matters, so it’s important to know your serum levels, which you can get by requesting it on your next blood requisition.
Dr. Rhonda Patrick (my hero) has posted her full immuno supportive regimen, here. Keep in mind she follows HIIT training a few times a week and is in excellent physical condition, so consult your doctor before any supplement regime. The data she has synthesized on COVID-19 supplementation to prevent lung damage is a real body of work! Check out the cross-immunity and antibody-dependent enhancement piece here.
Vaccine advances
What needs to be celebrated is that vaccine development has come so far. It’s truly eye-opening to learn that previous vaccines, such as polio and measles, took 20 and 9 years, respectively, to develop. We would erupt into civil war, I’m sure, if we had to wait anywhere near those timeframes. In fact, our expectations reveal our sense of entitlement, when you consider past realities. I want to take a moment to give thanks to the scientific community (and the front line professionals who are working far beyond their normal capacity!). The professional and emotional demands of tackling this problem have been high.
A lot has accomplished even before the first dose was administered:
the scientific community has long stood as an outlier in exceptional collaborative efforts. The vaccine development has, once again, highlighted their abilities to connect over reason and common good, as shown by the contributions that are being shared all over the world
the innovative work done in unrelated areas, such as cancer research, is being applied to the mechanism of these new vaccines. We will benefit from having a unique vaccine that is capable of handling mutations of the virus, thanks to the fact the vaccine (offered by Pfizer and BioNTech) stimulates our own biomechanics by inserting genetic instructions to make the viral protein, rather than being injected with tiny fragments of the attenuated or inactivated protein itself.
however the vaccine ends up being rolled out will be demonstrative of our modern abilities to use both diplomacy and mathematics to solve a global problem. The logistics on administration are astounding (see the article here).
the barriers to overcome vaccine hesitancy are just as important as vaccine efficacy and access. Never before have I considered that there is an entire branch of medical professionals focused on the emotional and communication barriers associated with the vaccine’s success. Here is an interesting summary.
“I always felt that a scientist owes the world only one thing, and that is the truth as he sees it. If truth contradicts deeply held beliefs, that is too bad. Tact and diplomacy are fine in international relations, in politics, perhaps even in business; in science only one thing matters, and that is the facts.” — Hans J. Eysenck
