#6: On Vitamin D, COVID... and Thanksgiving Dinner
Where's the Vitamin D on your Thanksgiving Dinner Table?
Happy Thanksgiving, All!
For the most part, my first five posts to launch this blog took on a serious tone (though I did manage to drop a reference to Ferris Bueller’s Day Off). The world is a serious place these days, for many reasons. But on Thanksgiving Day for those of us in the USA, I wanted share something more upbeat. And based on a published study that appeared in Nutrients, that means Vitamin D.
Vitamin D3, to be exact. There are different types of Vitamin D - per WebMD:
“Vitamin D is an essential vitamin that helps regulate calcium and phosphorus in the body. It also plays a role in maintaining proper bone structure. There are different forms of vitamin D, including ergocalciferol (vitamin D2) and cholecalciferol (vitamin D3). Vitamin D is found in fish, eggs, and fortified milk. It's also made in the skin when exposed to sunlight. During periods of sunlight, vitamin D is stored in fat and then released when sunlight is not available.”
With a quick refresher on Vitamin D in the books, back to the published study. Link below (from Nutrients):
Interested in the relationship between Vitamin D and COVID infection severity, the researchers performed a systematic literature search and identified studies that met their criteria (one population study and seven clinical studies). Specifically, these studies reported Vitamin D3 levels pre-infection or on the day of hospital admission. And what they found was striking.
“Regression suggested a theoretical point of zero mortality at approximately 50 ng/mL D3.”
That sentence requires extra emphasis. A theoretical point of zero mortality based on D3 blood levels - I found that to be astounding!
Furthermore, the researchers conclude: “The datasets provide strong evidence that low D3 is a predictor rather than just a side effect of the infection. Despite ongoing vaccinations, we recommend raising serum 25(OH)D levels to above 50 ng/mL to prevent or mitigate new outbreaks due to escape mutations or decreasing antibody activity.”
News on the COVID front is not always positive - but I felt that this was a study worth sharing!
And, well… since this is Thanksgiving Day, I thought I’d go the extra step and help out my readers in identifying foods on the dinner table tonight alongside their Vitamin D amounts. I am no nutritionist, but I do know how to Google and thankfully the USDA data is made easily accessible for an average Joe like me. I just wish the portion options provided more closely aligned with my dinner plate (just a spoon for color, small portion (covered in gravy), moderate portion (covered in more gravy), HEAPING portion (still covered in more gravy)). Ah well, cups and grams will have to do.
(By the way… the secret to dynamite gravy? A little bit of mustard. It changed everything for me. Thanks for the tip, Pat!)
With that… onto our list!
Food Item: Vitamin D Amount (IU)
Source: USDA/Google Search
Turkey, whole, roasted (100 g): 15
Turkey, dark meat, roasted (100 g): 10
Turkey, leg, roasted (100 g): 4
Pumpkin pie (1 slice, 133 g): 3
Mushrooms, white (18 g): 1
Bread roll (1 roll): 0
Brussel sprouts (1 cup, 88 g): 0
Butternut squash (1 cup, 205 g): 0
Carrots (.5 cup, 78 g): 0
Cauliflower (.5 cup, 62 g): 0
Cornbread: 0
Cranberries, dried sweetened (40 g): 0
Green beans (1 cup, 1/2" pieces): 0
Mashed potato (1 cup, 242 g): 0
Sweet potato (1 cup, cubes): 0
Turkey gravy, canned: 0
(Side note: No Vitamin D to report for pecan pie, beer, red or white wine. I tried!)
Happy Thanksgiving, all! Please consider sharing and subscribing, as there is always more to come.
G