Sunshine pill that could be light at end of the tunnel
Experts call for vitamin D supplements to help high-risk Covid groups beat killer bug
The Sunday Mail can reveal that five years ago, NHS research warned that ethnic minorities in Scotland suffer more from serious flu and pneumonia but a recommendation to find out why was apparently ignored.
Across the UK data shows black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) people – along with the frail, poor and overweight – face the most danger from coronavirus and all are likely to be short of the sunshine vitamin.
Now, MSP Anas Sarwar has written to Health Secretary Jeane Freeman calling for her to heed the warning and come up with fresh advice for ethnic minorities, including looking at vitamin top-ups.
Meanwhi le, experts want vitamin D pills to be handed to frontline NHS workers and care home staff and residents too, in a bid to cut short the pandemic and stop it returning in winter.
Campaigner Helga Rhein, a recently retired Edinburgh GP, said: “I prescribed vitamin D to hundreds of my patients in a deprived part of Edinburgh for more than a decade and they will tell you how they became fitter and healthier with fewer coughs and colds. It makes the immune system and lung function strong.
“Scotland’s problem is that vitamin D comes mainly from the sun so our levels tend to be low, particularly in the winter and for people who can’t get out much or with darker skin.
“Covid-19 has shown we have to give those people and our brave frontline NHS staff a helping hand at a time when they need it most.
“The Scottish Government should make sure high-risk groups get free supplements and encourage food producers to add vitamin D to bread and dairy products so the whole nation can get their levels up.”
The 2015 study by NHS Scotland and the universities of Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Cambridge looked at f lu and pneumonia across Scotland’s population between 2001 and 2010. It found significantly higher rates of hospital cases among those of Pakistani heritage as well as mixed- race men and south Asian and black women.
The authors urged: “Future wor k shou l d c on t i nue monitoring any differences in lower respiratory tract infection