Vitamin D
- July 19, 2020
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
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Subject: Science and tech
Context:
There have been considerable discussions in scientific circles on the importance of vitamin D in these days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Concept:
- Vitamins are organic compounds that are essential in very small amounts for supporting normal physiologic function. Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin. Fat-soluble vitamins are stored in the body’s fatty tissue.
- Vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium. Calcium and phosphate are two minerals that must be there to have normal bone formation.
- Vitamin D deficiency can lead to osteoporosis in adults or rickets in children.
- It has the potential to modulate the cytokine storm seen in serious COVID19 patients, and it can improve innate immunity by increasing the production of cathelicidins and defensins in our body.
- Defensinsare small cysteine-rich cationic proteins across cellular life, including vertebrate and invertebrate animals, plants, and fungi. They are host defense peptides, with members displaying either direct antimicrobial activity, immune signalling activities, or both.