COVID-19 dramatically reduces Vitamin A levels in body
Turkish medical specialists have found that coronavirus infection leads to a significant decrease in vitamin A levels, which is critical for synthesizing antiviral protein molecules – interferons, informs with reference to medRxiv.
“Our observations showed that the concentration of retinol (a bioavailable form of vitamin A) was extremely low in patients with severe COVID-19. It negatively affected the production of type I interferons. This indicates the need for using large doses of vitamin A, as well as drugs that prevent the degradation of retinol, to fight the coronavirus,” the researchers said.
A group of Turkish scientists led by Ozgur Aslan, a professor at an Ankara medical university, draws attention to the fact that many of the body’s disorders traditionally associated with acute forms of COVID-19 are very similar to the consequences of chronic vitamin A deficiency.
Doctors collected blood samples from 23 healthy residents of Turkey and 27 patients of a university hospital who suffered from extremely severe coronavirus infection and were undergoing thorough therapy in the intensive care unit.
Comparing their composition, Professor Aslan and his colleagues found that the concentration of retinol in the body of carriers of severe coronavirus infection was indeed too low. Some patients took vitamin A or drugs that interfere with its excretion, which nevertheless did not protect them from a decrease in the concentration of retinol after the onset of the disease.
Shortly, Professor Aslan and his colleagues plan to test their theory in an experiment involving a large number of sick volunteers. Doctors will study how taking large doses of vitamin A and drugs that block its processing enzymes’ work will affect the rate of recovery of patients.
Since the pandemic outbreak, physicians and biologists have been trying to understand what side factors and features in the body’s work increase the risk of death and the development of severe COVID-19. In particular, biologists almost immediately found out that heart and vascular diseases increase the likelihood of dying from SARS-CoV-2 by nearly five times.
Subsequent observations have shown that this is also influenced by the concentration of vitamin D and certain enzymes in immune cells.