Daily Doses Of Vitamin D3, Magnesium, & Vitamin B12 Reduce Disease Severity In Older Coronavirus Patients

A new study carried out by researchers from Singapore suggests that daily doses of vitamin D3 (1000 IU), magnesium (150 mg), and vitamin B12 (500 mcg) may reduce the severity of disease in older patients infected with the coronavirus. Administered in a hospital setting for a period of up to 14 days, the nutrient combination was found to significantly reduce the proportion of patients suffering clinical deterioration who required oxygen and/or intensive care support. The researchers say that as all three of the nutrients they used are readily available, safe, and inexpensive, the combination could benefit a large swath of the global population, especially in economically challenged countries.

Published in preprint form on the medRxiv server, the study involved 43 coronavirus patients aged 50 and over, separated into two groups. A total of 17 patients were given the nutrients, with the remaining 26 patients who did not receive nutrients functioning as the controls. The patients in the nutrient group took the combination once per day for a median duration of 5 days.

Analyzing the results, the researchers found that only 3 (17.6 percent) of the 17 patients in the nutrient group required oxygen support. In contrast, 16 (61.5 percent) of the 26 patients in the control group required oxygen. Moreover, all of the control group patients who required oxygen also needed further intensive care support. Significantly, of 9 patients who were given the nutrients within the first week of onset of symptoms, only 1 required oxygen therapy. The researchers say the results provide evidence that their approach can ameliorate severe outcomes resulting from coronavirus infection.

The benefits of the nutrient synergy approach

Interestingly, the researchers note that the nutrients used in the study could potentially exert synergistic effects. Examples they cite include the protective effect of vitamin D against respiratory tract infection; the fact that magnesium is critical in the synthesis and activation of vitamin D, and that it acts as a cofactor in many of the enzymes involved in vitamin D metabolism; and that vitamin B12 is essential in supporting a healthy gut microbiome, which has an important role in the development and function of the immune system.

Over the past couple of decades, the use of synergistic combinations of nutrients has been pioneered by scientists working at the Dr. Rath Research Institute. Their work has shown that synergistic nutrient combinations have several important advantages over megadoses of single nutrients or randomly chosen combinations. These advantages include maximizing the efficiency of each individual component in the combination, increasing the bioavailability of other nutrients, and helping maintain a balanced cellular metabolism.

The use of synergistic combinations of nutrients also makes it possible to affect multiple biological targets simultaneously. In the case of cancer, for example, a specific nutrient combination developed at the Dr. Rath Research Institute is able to inhibit cancer cell invasion and metastasis, inhibit cancer cell multiplication and tumor growth, inhibit the formation of new blood vessels that feed tumors (angiogenesis), and induce the natural death of cancer cells (apoptosis).

Despite the clear advantages of the nutrient synergy approach, most natural health studies published by other research institutes today still continue to focus on the use of single nutrients. For this reason, the Singaporean researchers deserve particular credit for choosing a multi-nutrient synergistic approach. Without any doubt, the sooner synergistic approaches can become the norm among the scientific research community, the better will be our progress towards a healthier and pandemic-free world.