Anja Martini (NDR): Can we do more, can we for example do something for our immune system and build it up, maybe vitamin C, vitamin D [...]
Drosten (Germany's top virologist): [...] So taking any things, any vitamins, there may be scientific evidence for that here and there, but that's not my field of research, I don't know anything about that, and I've never heard that there's a resounding effect somewhere, so that one would now say, in the context of such an ongoing epidemic of infections one has to recommend it specifically. (NDR podcast from 3.4.2020, transcript)
Science means: trial, error, new trial, new error... and at some point: success! "We err upwards" says Prof. Dr. Dr. Gerhard Vollmer (physicist/philosopher).
Doctors think in terms of drugs to cure something. The principle of active ingredients applies: little, more, enough, too much (one glass of wine lifts the spirits, two glasses make you feel good, three make you tired and four are perhaps already too much).
Mother Nature does it differently, balances very finely. If you fry in the sun, a lot of vitamin D3 is produced first, 10,000-20,000 units in 15-20 minutes. Then it gets less and less and less. More than 60 ng/ml of D3 in the blood you cannot synthesize with sunshine alone, no matter how, even if you are young (from 65 on only 25-50% of it). But a nice supply is built up. Why? Because where we once came from, there are also long rainy seasons. Clouds = no UVB = no D3. The corresponding vitamin K2 has no such reservoir, it only lasts 2-3 days. Because: without the daily food (greens etc.) there would be no survival, the lack of K2 would not matter, especially when the sun is missing anyway.
With too little vitamin D the immune defence is weak. But there is something else that is weak: the modulation of the immune system, i.e. the down-regulation when too much defence is produced. The coach has to make sure that there is not only defense and not only attack, but that there is a good balance. What does it help if the attacking section scores three goals if the defense catches four? Is it any good if the zero is fixed on your side , but your team doesn't score? And then your goalkeeper fails at the very last second?
With "natural" D levels (45 ng/ml), vitamin D also ensures that the warrior cells do not overdo it and ignite a cytokine storm - which is what people die of (sepsis). This is unnatural, i.e. evolutionarily nonsensical. Therefore, high-dose D-injections can also significantly reduce the risk of sepsis (see studies here). By the way, this kind of up and down regulation also applies to K2, which normally regulates blood clotting perfectly, sometimes up, sometimes down. I am completely unfamiliar with this kind of medication.
And this balance principle also applies to insulin (a hormone like D3): too little: high blood sugar, hypertension etc., too much: low blood sugar => coma. And the body regulates this very finely and automatically. But we humans upset this fine balance: too little sun, too little greenery, too much bare, fast sugar. It's a miracle that we survive this at all, but in the long run it is not without damage.
With insulin, the patient must measure blood sugar several times a day, the doctor explains it to the patient. With vitamin D and K2 we are still waiting that everyone, including the doctors, will understand (a few have long understood this and treat their patients accordingly. With a little luck yours will be one of them). Because the resulting diseases in case of absolute deficiency are so different: Rickets in case of D deficiency, but more osteoporosis in case of much D and K2 deficiency. But also with too little D? Very confusing. So forgive your doctor if the DGE and the RKI do not know. Which is not a forgivable sin for them.
But the medical associations?
They rely on the DGE, the RKI and the BfR. And they rely on a few studies, some of which are very old - and ended badly at that time. Because they didn't know about K2, it has only been solved since 1985...
But if we know better today that K2 is important, why do we have none or too little?
You would have to eat a lot of greens and best of all fermented foods, like sauerkraut. Nobody does that anymore, especially not Israeli beach guards. Our too little K2 goes perfectly with our too little vitamin D. But not with more, not even with an additional 1000 units per day. Especially not with too much more.
But with K2 everything is safe?
Yes. Very healthy, indeed! (Caution exception: old blood thinners, read here. Modern anti-coagulants like Eliquis etc. are not affected.)
And if you know that, why do medical associations, the DGE, the RKI and everyone else tell a different story? This can't be a conspiracy.
Error is perfectly normal in science, and even more so in medicine. Freud, the famous inventor of psychoanalysis, prescribed cocaine as a miracle medicine to his patients, while Ignaz Semmelweiß, who saved the women from fatal childbed fever, was ignored by the capacities for years, a matter of life and death:
Semmelweis has to fight hard against the ignorance of his fellow doctors, who consider it a loss of prestige to have to admit that negligence on the part of the doctors themselves caused the death of their patients. (about the film: Link)
The German and Austrian textbooks of obstetrics ignored Semmelweis and continued to represent old teachings. (Link)
After his death, his medical teachings, underpinned by bacteriological findings [...] and Robert Kochs, became generally accepted. (about the film: Link)
Yes, exactly the Robert Koch from whom the RKI (Drosten et al.) takes its name.
Shame about mistakes made is a huge obstacle. A virologist at LANZ became very nervous when he reproached her that she still thought C-19 was a normal flu in February. "No, no" she shouted and refused to believe it, distracted quickly.
Scientists are normal people and are ashamed of mistakes. In order to avoid them, they deny until it is no longer possible. This is quite normal, you all know this from your private and professional lives, don't you? Your doctor (90% anyway) will tell you the opposite, that vitamin D is dangerous, useless etc., but just test him with the question about K2, as described above. Try it, be brave, there is no other way to defeat Corona.
Bernd Glauner, my co-author writes about it:
At the moment everyone is trying to do the right thing, but I have the impression that we are in a similar situation to before Copernicus, when nobody understood why the planetary movements look so complicated when viewed from Earth. If we finally understand and accept that — similar to Copernicus' sun — vitamin D is the key to good immune defence, everything will become easier, we can do the right thing and save many lives.
Without understanding the basics of the corona pandemic, you cannot do the right thing. If we finally understand and accept that — similar to Copernicus's sun — vitamin D is central to good immune defence, everything will become easier, we can do the right thing and save many lives.
PS: Of course we do not compare ourselves with any of the above. We only try to give the necessary attention to the work of scientists like Holick et al. or even P. Raharusun.
May 2020 / LB