Vitamin D Deficiency in Pneumonia Patients Associated With Increased Mortality

A New Zealand hospital has found that patients coming in for treatment for winter-time pneumonia were a whopping 12 times more likely to die within 30 days if they had low levels of vitamin D¹. These findings were independent of age or other prognostic factors. Considering there is a worldwide deficiency of vitamin D, in no small part caused by the sun-paranoid American Cancer Association, maybe it is high time to re-evaluate priorities.

Vitamin D is essential for immune system tolerance, meaning how much heat your immune system can handle before it boils over and melts down. Fighting a nasty infection requires that your immune system handle plenty “fire.”  If you don’t have adequate vitamin D it appears you are a sitting duck. For further information on the importance of vitamin D for the immune response, please consult my article, Using Nutrition to Help Perceive and Combat Flu.