All Articles

Good news for the unvaccinated

Claus Hancke

November 25, 2021

What is happening in the Danish society?
Denmark is a wonderful country! One must look for a long time for a more tolerant, incorruptible and trusting people!
So far, most Danes can probably agree.

Therefore, we can not help but ask: What is happening in our country right now?
Are we talking about an A-team and a B-team? The vaccinated and the UN-vaccinated? Yes, according to the Danish Prime Minister, we are!
It is disrespectful, and we must go far back in history to see such state-run disgrace of a minority.
And is it at all true that the unvaccinated are a danger and “live life dangerously”? Let’s look at the facts.

We can ourselves
Every day in our lives where we are symptom-free (healthy), it is not due to the absence of viruses or bacteria, but to the presence of an active, balanced immune system that does exactly what it is designed for.
– And which no vaccine can replace.

When health professionalism became politics
Lack of knowledge and misinformation of the population has led to an unjustified fear of viruses and an equally unjustified one-sided focus on vaccines. But worse still, it has created a disunion in the population.

That politicians, agencies, government officials, health professionals, and the general public have been convinced that infection is the same as disease is spin and politics and not health science.

A high infection rate does not matter if there are no patients. When 1,000 persons are infected without anyone dying, it means that 1,000 persons gain natural, strong immunity.
So when the Danish National Board of Health now reduces the duration of natural immunity from 12 to 6 months in the corona passport, then that policy is contrary to science.

If we observe the total mortality in Denmark over the past 20 years, we can state that mortality had not increased in 2020, when we had an epidemic at full strength, but no vaccines.
Covid-19 has thus not increased mortality in Denmark.

Furthermore, we can state that mortality has not decreased in 2021 (January to October), where we have vaccinated 80% of the population and 90% of the risk groups.
The vaccines have thus not reduced mortality in Denmark.

Even the number of infections today is much higher than it was the same day a year ago, although fewer are being tested now.
Thus, the vaccines have not reduced the number of infections either.

Why do some people’s immune system fail?
A groundbreaking study from the University of Copenhagen (KU) showed that vitamin D is necessary for our ability to survive infections in the normal way. The findings of the study were evaluated by the University of Copenhagen and determined to be so important that “a number of immunology books must be rewritten“.

Vitamin D in sufficient amounts is crucial for activating the immune system in infections, and “switching it off” again afterwards, so that the immune response is normalized.
The study explains the mechanism that has been sought in 50-60 years of vitamin D research.
The informed reader of the previous newsletters is well aware that in the absence of certain micronutrients, the immune system will fail.

Such a deficiency can not be remedied by simply taking the doses that are currently recommended here in Denmark. These are often too low because they do not take into account poor diet, improper preparation of food, stress, smoking, medication, etc., which leads to a greater need for these nutrients.
With a healthy lifestyle and a sufficient intake of the vitamins and minerals that are crucial for the immune system to function as it should, virtually no virus will be generally dangerous to the population in countries with Danish living standards.

Is vaccine our only salvation?
As the vaccine does not prevent infection or transmission, but should only inhibit serious illness in the vaccinated person, it is inconceivable that one wants to vaccinate healthy children who do not risk serious illness. The risk of vaccine side effects and death will here be far greater than the risk of the disease that the vaccine should protect against. This is contrary to The Hippocratic Oath.

Vaccines and only vaccines have been heavily targeted. Not a word about natural, effective, inexpensive and side-effect-free prevention and treatment.
It is like a three-legged stool, where the two legs have been removed, namely prevention and treatment.
Such a one-legged stool will never be able to stand alone.

It therefore surprises us that information about the things that can actually prevent and treat serious illness is not disseminated to the population through the official channels, but on the contrary is censored in a fog of misinformation.

We find it responsibility incurring not to inform about this.

Natural immunity – our main defense
We hear again and again the same experts on TV and in other media repeating that our immunity decreases at the same rate as the amount of antibodies in the blood, both after vaccination and after natural immunity after a viral infection. But this is wrong. A scientifically incorrect assumption. And a misunderstanding. With natural immunity, the amount of antibodies decreases naturally, after a viral infection. It should actually drop.

The wise body
The body is energy efficient and does not use energy and space to maintain high levels of antibodies to a virus it has just fought or the thousands of virus types we are constantly exposed to.
Once the virus has been defeated, the body turns down the flame so that it can again use energy on other processes. And it can do so calmly, because with the infection the natural, strong and often lifelong immunity is built up.
If, after battling the infection, the body continues to maintain high levels of antibodies in the blood for months and years, it is equivalent to a boxer who has just knocked out his opponent in the boxing ring continuing to walk with the parades up for months. That does not make sense.

The important memory cells
In the event of a viral infection, there is an activation of e.g. memory cells, which are coded to be able to recognize the virus they have just been in contact with, so that they can reactivate antibodies again very quickly at later encounters with the virus.

Unlike vaccine immunity, natural immunity is longer lasting, more broad-spectrum and thus more effective against mutations.

The continuous updating of the cells’ memory by natural immunity after infection makes the immune system stronger after each update. This ongoing update does not occur to the same extent with vaccine immunity, where one instead has to revaccinate.

This has just been demonstrated in a new study from August 2021 from Rockefeller University that specifically examines Pfizer’s and Moderna’s mRNA vaccines against natural immunity and has been confirmed by previous studies.

Updated memory cells can quickly activate an immune response adapted to the inevitable re-infections.
The reaction is rapid and the virus is therefore killed before it has time to multiply in an amount that triggers disease symptoms.
This means that we do not detect these recurrent re-infections. In other words, we are symptom-free and healthy, even though from time to time there is a disease virus in the body, and if we are tested for re-infection, it will be possible to measure the virus, and we are thus “infected”, ie. have a positive test. But we are neither sick nor particularly contagious.
Infection rates as a disease indicator are therefore a wrong strategy.

If there was a pandemic with a generally dangerous disease with high mortality (such as Ebola), and there was an effective and proven safe vaccine, then we would all be vaccinated, right?
But something lags. For none of these things are the case.

And it does not increase confidence in authorities, experts and the health system that there can be no calm, open and uncensored debate on these things.

Take care of yourself and others.

Kim Varming, Chief Physician and Clinical Immunologist,
Claus Hancke, Specialist in General Medicine and
Michael Schultz, Physiotherapist and Business Lawyer

Note: This post has in a slightly different form been published as a column in media in the northern part of Jutland 15/11.

Refs:

https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/viden/kroppen/klar-paa-et-tredje-stik-derfor-kan-du-forvente-blive-vaccineret-igen
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03647-4
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/09/15/natural-immunity-vaccine-mandate/
https://sundhedspolitisktidsskrift.dk/nyheder/3702-coronabloggen-reinfektion-med-covid-19-hvad-ved-vi.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/09/15/natural-immunity-vaccine-mandate/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34100029/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33296701/
https://www.cell.com/cell/pdf/S0092-8674(20)31008-4.pdf?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0092867420310084%3Fshowall%3Dtrue
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03647-4
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34100029/
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.29.454333v1
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.08.24.21262415v1
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8253687/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33296701/
https://nyheder.tv2.dk/samfund/2021-05-18-vaccine-og-infektion-giver-immunitet-i-otte-maaneder-oplyser-styrelse
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.29.454333v2
og https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34619745/
https://www.rockefeller.edu/news/30919-natural-infection-versus-vaccination-differences-in-covid-antibody-responses-emerge/
https://nyheder.tv2.dk/2020-07-13-antistoffer-mod-coronavirus-kan-vaere-vaek-allerede-efter-faa-maaneder-viser-nyt-studie
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7247032/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33298562/
https://www.nature.com/articles/ni.1851
https://nyheder.ku.dk/alle_nyheder/2010/2010.3/dvitamin/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3775232/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/09/15/natural-immunity-vaccine-mandate/
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3631261
https://www.cell.com/cell/pdf/S0092-8674(20)31008-4.pdf?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0092867420310084%3Fshowall%3Dtrue
https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/medicines/human/EPAR/comirnaty
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32599103/

Basic prevention

Claus Hancke

July 28, 2021

In March 2020, politicians shut the world down on pandemic orders from the WHO.
It did not take many seconds from the shutdown before the talk went on that vaccines had to be developed that could free us from this covid-19 disease.
It was established from the outset that the disease could neither be prevented nor treated. There was only isolation until the saving vaccine came.
It was “The one-legged stool”, as mentioned in our newsletter feb. 21, 2021.

If anything was fake news, it was this.
But for inexplicable reasons it became the standing narrative, which was so sacred that one was shamed and censored if one doubted this worldview.

All over the world, doctors were prevented from rescuing their patients by early prevention and treatment of covid-19.
It sounds crazy that one has censored and prevented harmless methods of prevention and treatment before it goes so wrong that the patient has to be hospitalized.
Do the authorities really want people to get so ill that they have to be hospitalized?
Some of these harmless methods are even well documented, yet it is branded as “fake news” when it is publicly mentioned and the doctors in question are quarantined on Facebook and YouTube.

However, measures such as shutdowns and face masks are blindly accepted, even though there is very little documentation of the effect.
Health authorities as well as politicians from all over the world have loudly and sacredly emphasized that we must follow the science, and the world’s all-round experts have been shown on TV to give the authorities’ actions a tinge of science.

But when it comes to shutdowns, mink killings, face masks, PCR testing and the so-called vaccine, which is in fact a gene therapy, these highly praised scientific principles have failed.
We have even come so far that the population must be humiliated with testing or subjected to experimental gene therapy in order to preserve its civil rights.
Every thinking person must ask oneself: Tell me, what is going on?

If you want to try to get an overview of this madness, it is recommended to spend time watching: https://www.markmallett.com/blog/following-the-science/, which is a serious TV review of the conflict between science and the active deception of the authorities.

The Vitality Council is fortunately uncensored, and in the newsletter May 2020, there was a comprehensive overview of the supplements with which one could prevent a serious Covid-19 course.
The main thing is that the immune system must not lack these basic nutrients. On the other hand, a well-functioning immune system has the great advantage that it can quickly adapt to a new mutation of the virus and adjust its counter-attack to it.
A vaccine is specially designed for a specific type of virus, and must be reconstructed and adjusted if a new VOC (“virus of concern”, ie mutations that are viewed with concern) varies so much from the previous one that the vaccine does not work.
We see this at this time at home and abroad, where fully vaccinated people are admitted with severe covid-19.
This would not happen if the entire population had a well-functioning immune system that can quickly adjust the target to the new variant.
Then you only need to vaccinate the 2% who are in the absolute risk group.

But one thing is to prevent serious flu or Covid-19. Something else is the prevention of the major killer diseases like cancer and cardiovascular disease.
These disorders have been underdiagnosed during the Covid-19 pandemic, which must necessarily become a problem for the healthcare system in the coming years.
But then it is fortunate that many of the supplements that the Vitality Council recommended 1½ years ago also reduce the risk of these diseases.
This is not really so strange, for many diseases start with the process called inflammation. And it can be prevented to a great extent.
Regarding Covid-19, it starts with the immunological reaction to viral infection, the excessive reaction, the cytokine storm and then the whole inflammatory process.
In cardiovascular disease it starts with inflammation of the vessel wall and oxidation of LDL cholesterol, and in cancer it starts with inflammation of the cells in an oxygen-poor area, which then changes the metabolism in the mitochondria from aerobic and efficient energy production to anaerobic sugar fermentation and low energy production.
Therefore, if you focus on inhibiting the inflammatory processes that should not be in the body, then you are well on your way to preventing the large, life-threatening diseases, and at the same time you get to inhibit the development of viral diseases so that they do not develop in a fatal direction.
Therefore, if I have to come up with an all-round recommendation as a basis, then it will be:

  • A multivitamin-mineral product without iron
  • Plus extra Selenium, so the daily dose comes up to 150 µg
  • Plus extra vitamin D, so the daily dose is up to 100 µg (this is only the maintenance dose if you are not in deficit. Otherwise you need more.)
  • Plus extra vitamin C, so the daily dose comes up to 2,000 mg
  • Plus extra Magnesium, so the daily dose comes up to 500 mg
  • Fish oil (but not necessary if you eat fatty fish every day)
  • Lactic acid bacteria

This basic supplement can ensure that you do not run a deficit for the body’s performance of tits basic functions, including the processes of the immune system.

If, on top of this, you are exposed to infection, which we have all been at intervals in the last 1½ year, then you can for a period supplement with:

  • Vitamin A: 1 mg
  • Vitamin B6: 5 mg
  • Vitamin C: 3,000 mg
  • Vitamin D3: 100 µg
  • Selenium: 100 µg
  • Zinc: 30 mg.
  • Echinacea 20 drops 2 x dgl.

This ensures that the immune system is well-supplied, despite increasing consumption, and then inhibits the cytokine storm, which can be life-threatening for the elderly and weak.

And the very basics of a good immune system are of course:

  • A healthy diet
  • Daily exercise
  • 7-8 hours of sleep
  • Freedom from smoke
  • Moderation
  • A positive outlook on life

Take care of yourself and others.

Claus Hancke MD
Specialist in general medicine

Don’t forget selenium

Claus Hancke

March 8, 2021

With the headline, we are entering the vital minerals, and selenium is one of the most important, because it is the gateway to 25 different selenoproteins, which control a wide range of processes in the body.

Selenium is a substance that we prefer not to lack, and numerous studies have over the years confirmed that selenium deficiency can lead to, among other things. heart failure, cancer, metabolic disorders, arthritis, infertility, atherosclerosis, increased inflammation, and a variety of immunological failures that are particularly relevant in this corona age.

Did you know, for example, that a vaccine will not work as intended if the vaccinated person lacks selenium and vitamin D. These two nutrients are necessary to activate the T cells, which must be able to recognize the infection the next time you encounter it (1,2,3). And they are also needed to moderate any vaccine-triggered cytokine storm.

There are thousands of articles cementing heavy research into selenium, and most recently, two months ago, an interesting study of selenium deficiency related to cardiovascular disease and inflammatory conditions was published (4). Since cardiovascular disease is also initiated by inflammation, it is natural to examine this collectively.

Previous studies have also shown that low selenium in the blood was the cause of increased inflammation, increased risk of cardiovascular disease and premature death (5,6).

Selenium dampens cytokine storms

The study included 858 healthy elderly and 606 cardiovascular patients of the same age.
The researchers examined the degree of inflammation by measuring the ratio of white blood cells (neutrophil / lymphocyte ratio), CRP and a wide range of cytokines, interleukins and chemokines.

They found a clear link between the lack of selenium and the incidence of cardiovascular disease as well as, not surprisingly, increased chronic, inflammatory load on the body, especially in the cardiovascular disease.

Selenium deficiency was associated with elevated values of circulating inflammation markers such as cytokines, interleukins and chemokines that are precisely characteristic of the scourge of our time, namely the risk of a cytokine storm at Covid-19.

Selenium is included as a moderator on an equal term with vitamin D, so that the formation and control of cytokines is formed and controlled, but to avoid the violent production called a cytokine storm, which triggers the damage that makes Covid-19 dangerous for individuals, weak people.

The researchers concluded that people with plasma selenium below 60 µg / l had almost twice the risk of cardiovascular disease compared to those who had a normal selenium content in the blood.

The result was convincing and statistically significant and corresponds very well to previous studies showing that the selenium-dependent glutathione peroxidase achieves its maximum activity in the blood when the concentration of selenium in plasma is between 70 and 90 µg / l (7).

In previous newsletters from May 2020, there are several references related to infections updated by Covid-19, and back in 2005 we wrote newsletters about cancer risk due to selenium deficiency. So selenium has been on the light board for many years, i.a. because there are so few who are aware that it is something we must not lack.

Daily intake (in Europe) should be around 100µg, and naturally it is found in fish, meat and certain nuts.
So remember selenium every day.

Take care of yourself and others.

Claus Hancke MD
Specialist in general medicine

References

  1. Comparison of the characteristics, morbidity, and mortality of COVID-19 and seasonal influenza: a nationwide, population-based retrospective cohort study. Piroth L et al, Dec.2020, Lancet. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213260020305270
  2. Geisler C, Ødum N et al. 2010, Vitamin D controls T cell antigen receptor signaling and activation of human T cells. Nature Immunology 2010;11:344-349.
    https://www.nature.com/articles/ni.1851
  3. https://www.webapoteket.dk/saar-og-sygepleje/selvtest/quicktest-d-vitamin-p-222465
  4. https://www.cerascreen.dk/products/test-for-d-vitamin
  5. Alberto Boretti, Bimal Krishna Banik (2020) Intravenous vitamin C for reduction of cytokines storm in acute respiratory distress syndrome PharmaNutrition. 2020 Jun;12:100190.  Published online 2020 Apr 21. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2213434420300153
  6. Caly L et al, 2020, Antiviral Research, 178, june 2020, 104787.
    https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166354220302011?via%3Dihub
  7. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04747574

A stool with one leg

Claus Hancke

February 21, 2021

As previously quoted, they wrote in the Lancet (1) December 20th that in the future everything should be done to prevent and vaccinate and find methods for the treatment of Covid-19, and the Vitality Council can’t agree more that this stool should rest on three legs.

But the Danish government has not agreed to that. Since March 2020, it has focused on vaccines and only vaccines. – A one-legged stool.

Not only has the Government and the state media focused unilaterally on vaccines, but they have also actively censored information on both prevention and treatment. The government media has also been obediently accompanied by microphone holders from the major social and print media. It has been irrelevant to the censorship whether this information was sufficiently well documented.

Prevention

In the previous many newsletters, the Vitality Council has primarily advised on prevention in terms of keeping the immune system intact.

In our modern way of life with easy and fast industrial food of poor quality, improper preparation and overeating of carbohydrates, there is a great risk that our immune system will run out of essential nutrients. I have reviewed this topic again and again and will not bore you with this at this time.

But I will try to give a simple model for understanding the functioning of the immune system. This is because it is absolutely essential in prevention against Covid-19 and all sorts of other infections.

The immune system has a myriad of different cells to work with, and it’s pretty complicated, but let’s try a Pixie model; -a mousetrap:
There are two main systems, a so-called “innate” (non-specific) immune system, which works all the time, and an “adaptive” (specialized) immune system, which is adjusted by infection. The innate system attacks just about everything when, for example, a virus penetrates the body, but first the adaptive needs to get familiar with the new virus, adjust and activate the so-called T cells for attack, and teach the memory cells to remember for the next time how these virus are best attacked (antibodies).

Back to the mousetrap.

In the loft with all the mice (virus in the environment) we put a box (the body), with a small hole in the side (the innate immune system), and inside the box we put a couple of mousetraps (the adaptive immune system).

If we lack proper nutrition, vitamin D, selenium, vitamin C and magnesium, then the hole in the box is very large (the innate immune system fails). Then many mice can enter the box at once, and the traps (the adaptive immune system) do not have the capacity to snatch many mice. – Especially not if there is a lack of vitamin D, which is necessary to activate the T cells (2).

If, on the other hand, we get enough of the above nutrients, then we only have a small hole in the box (a good innate immune system), and then only a few mice enter the box (the body) at a time, and the adaptive immune system (the traps) can snatch them one by one.
Remember the Danish Minister of Health showing a graph with red and green curves some time ago.
If too many come too fast, then the hospital system would collapse.
The same way with our immune system.

If it is intact, the innate immune system will make sure to moderate the load so that the adaptive defense can have time to get to know the enemy and calibrate its cannons accordingly. Hereby we avoid the overload that results in the so-called cytokine storm, which is the start of all the accidents.

That is why it is so important to provide proper nutrition and supplement with vitamin D, vitamin C, selenium and magnesium.
And remember in the dark winter: Vitamin D in the blood should rise to 30-50 ng/ml (75-125 nmol /L.)
If you can’t get the blood sample taken locally, there are several excellent options for home testing i Denmark (3,4).

Treatment

Often you see pseudo-science, where vitamins and minerals are used as treatment after disease outbreaks, and even often in relatively small doses. It is pointless and only suitable to show that it does not work. These nutrients are for prevention.
An exception, however, is Vitamin C in high doses given intravenously under medical supervision.

There is only scant evidence here at the Covid-19 pandemic (5), but previously there is ample evidence of an effect on viral infections, as mentioned in the newsletter May 20th 2020.

There have been numerous experiments with hydroxychloroquine, which, however, have yielded quite varying results, and research into it is unfortunately largely discontinued.

Ivermectin is a remedy against scabies and certain parasites, and reportedly also has an effect on Covid-19 (6). The Indian health authorities have approved a treatment with Ivermectin, Doxycycline and zinc.
Ivermectin costs about 100 times as much as hydroxychloroquine, so it will probably never be the big success.
One week ago, Israeli researchers published (7) a preliminary result of treatment with inhalation of CD24 exosomes in 30 hospitalized moderately to severely ill Covid-19 patients. The 29 recovered in 3-5 days, the last one also recovered, but after more than 5 days. It should be a cheap method without side effects, so it sounds promising. CD24 exosomes are proteins that, like vitamin D, control T cell activation and can attenuate the cytokine storm.
We are anxiously awaiting news from the Israeli researchers.

What now?

After all, health authorities and the government are on thin ice right now, unless they manage to be saved by the globally declining infection rates and death rates.
You vaccinate and vaccinate, but to no avail on the closure of the society. The function of the vaccine is primarily to alleviate the disease in the vaccinated person.
Even though we have been vaccinated, we can still be infected and pass it on to others, because the virus is still there. Therefore, even the vaccinated must continue with face masks, despite the poor evidence of the effect of the hated face masks.
On top of this, there are still new mutations. Currently the English with increased infection of children, which we see in Kolding these days, but on the horizon lurks the South African and two different Brazilian varieties, which are even less sensitive to the antibodies we have received from previous infection and from vaccination.
Well, then the vaccine just has to be adjusted, and then the population just has to be vaccinated again.
Okay. -How many times? So far, in 2 months we have only vaccinated 3% of the population. So good luck with the task if it all has to start all over again.
It seems like a Sisyphean task if the Government will continue to focus only on the one-legged stool.
As a solution to this chaos, the Government is now proposing a wild testing strategy, where we will be tested twice a week next year. This will cost just as much as the overall healthcare system, and one does not have to be a nuclear physicist to figure out that this will massively affect all other diagnoses in the healthcare system.
And the virus will not disappear either due to this.
It’s a bit like setting up photo traps to detect an army of soldiers invading the country. No defense, just registration while the invasion rumbles towards the defenseless population.
When the hopelessness of this strategy eventually dawns on the Government, there is hope that the one-legged stool will be given two more legs, namely prevention and treatment.
Then every single person can be informed about the possibility of defending themselves against Covid-19.
Only then will the disease become so mild that it resembles a common flu, by which we can drop the hated face masks and the lockdown of society.

May we ask for the three-stringed strategy as soon as possible thank you.

A stool with one leg is doomed to tip over.
A stool with three legs does not tip over.
No matter how uneven the surface is, it will not even tilt.

Take care of yourself and others.

Claus Hancke MD
Specialist in general medicine

References

  1. Comparison of the characteristics, morbidity, and mortality of COVID-19 and seasonal influenza: a nationwide, population-based retrospective cohort study. Piroth L et al, Dec.2020, Lancet. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213260020305270
  2. Geisler C, Ødum N et al. 2010, Vitamin D controls T cell antigen receptor signaling and activation of human T cells. Nature Immunology 2010;11:344-349.
    https://www.nature.com/articles/ni.1851
  3. https://www.webapoteket.dk/saar-og-sygepleje/selvtest/quicktest-d-vitamin-p-222465
  4. https://www.cerascreen.dk/products/test-for-d-vitamin
  5. Alberto Boretti, Bimal Krishna Banik (2020) Intravenous vitamin C for reduction of cytokines storm in acute respiratory distress syndrome PharmaNutrition. 2020 Jun;12:100190.  Published online 2020 Apr 21. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2213434420300153
  6. Caly L et al, 2020, Antiviral Research, 178, june 2020, 104787.
    https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166354220302011?via%3Dihub
  7. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04747574

Vaccine, treatment, prevention and censorship

Claus Hancke

February 4, 2021

Since the turn of the year, the big mantra on the part of the Danish government has been vaccines, vaccines, vaccines, and much of the news flow has revolved around approval, safety, supplies and groups of people that needed to be vaccinated. In addition, vaccine passports are now being introduced, which will be necessary if you want to go to the movies, to Mallorca, to concerts or to festivals. – That is coercion.

Immunological disability

Moreover, one mutation after another of the Covid-19 virus is being discovered, and currently it is the Brazilian P1 version that is lurking on the horizon. There are hundreds of thousands of virus types, and in addition, mutations of these.
RNA viruses are particularly prone to mutating, and the more the mutation changes the protein structures of viruses, the less immunity from previous infections or vaccines there will be. Well, then you have to make a new vaccine or adjust the old one, we hear in the media…. – And then we have to be vaccinated again.
How many immunizations must we have?
If the survival of mankind is made dependent upon new vaccines having to be made all the time, every time a virus mutates enough, will we then after 2-3 generations risk that increasing immunological disability occurs?
This is, of course, a hypothesis, but also a horror scenario where simple epidemics could require many deaths.
This race between viruses and vaccines is meaningless. It is a race we will never win.
Viruses will always be in the lead, and they will never be eradicated.
The only thing that is capable of lightning-fast adaptation and can keep up is a well-functioning immune system.
The question is whether we will ever get rid of the SARS-Cov-2 virus, or whether it will simply join the ranks of other corona, rhino and many other types of virus that exist among us and that appear from time to time with the symptoms of a cold or flu.

Treatment

For years, orthodox medicine has researched the possibilities for treating colds and flu without much success. A few substances have been found such as oseltamivir (Tamiflu), which 20 years ago was thought to work against influenza, but where the results are highly questionable. And with such a product with many side effects, it is a mystery that it is still registered for the treatment of influenza here in Denmark. It is banned in Japan.
Another example is Remdesevir, which has been widely used against Covid-19 until WHO now has advised against it.(1)
Hospitalized patients are currently getting steroids to dampen down the exaggerated immunological response (cytokine storm) in Covid-19 disease. It makes good sense. In Danish hospitals, however, steroid treatment is still being combined with Remdesevir despite the WHO recommendation against its use. (1)
Far better results have been seen in orthomolecular medicine, where one uses substances already known by the body with minimal side effects.
The other day, for example, an RCT (randomized control study) was published from India using ozone therapy in conjunction with standard treatment versus standard treatment alone.(2) It is a small study with 60 patients, but the difference is massive and the authors conclude that ozone therapy is a safe and effective treatment for hospitalized covid-19 patients with mild and moderate disease.
A few months ago in the journal Science one could read an interesting article about a very solid research project by the Berger group at the Max Planck Bristol Center at the University of Bristol.(3)
Using “cryo-electron microscopy” they have mapped the spikes that make up the corona of the virus.
The spike protein is a so-called trimer (consisting of three proteins), and the authors have discovered a non-protein density in the SARS-CoV-2 S receptor binding position that has not been seen before.
In the binding pocket of the spike proteins was found a molecule that was examined by mass spectroscopy at the Max Planck Institute in Heidelberg and revealed something as simple as linoleic acid, which we know from the cheap corn oil or sunflower oil, but also in safflower oil.
Linoleic acid is an essential fatty acid. We cannot synthesize it ourselves, and so we must have it. -Just not too much, because it is an n-6 fatty acid, which in its synthesis pathway forms arachidonic acid and thus prostaglandin 2, which is pro-inflammatory. And that is not suitable. –
Especially not when we talk Covid-19, where the point is that we want to inhibit inflammation.
Therefore, it seems contradictory that linoleic acid nevertheless is not that crazy if you are faced with a Covid-19 disease. Actually the researchers showed that linoleic acid can inhibit virus replication by blocking the ACE-2 receptors, allowing the spike proteins to bind together by means of linoleic acid to a closed form that makes the virus non-infectious.
This is quite in line with the discovery that all severe Covid-19 patients had low levels of linoleic acid in their blood.
The research group is quite resigned to the inevitability of antiviral vaccination and mentions as an example that after 30 years of research into developing an HIV vaccine, we have ended up without a vaccine, but with a cocktail of antiviral small molecules that can keep the virus at bay.
The group is therefore now aiming to develop a small linoleic acid-like molecule that can be used in the treatment of Covid-19 disease. Again, an example of orthomolecular treatment.

Prevention and censorship

In the examples with ozone and linoleic acid, we got a few examples of orthomolecular treatment, as an option for covid-19 treatment.
But the orthomolecular methods are first and foremost supreme when we talk prevention.
In the recent many newsletters and in several interviews on radio and TV, as well as letters to the authorities, I have repeatedly pointed out the importance of ensuring that the immune system gets the nutrients it needs to function optimally, and the many scientific references to this can be found in the previous newsletters.
It is especially important that we get the blood content of vitamin D above 75 nmol/L (30 ng/ml), and preferably double that. Roughly estimated, a maximum of 10% of the Danish population is at this level.
That the blood content of vitamin D is only estimated and not factual data is because the regions oppose widespread testing of vitamin D because it costs money to test.
In a newsletter from University of Copenhagen 7/3 2010, Professor Carsten Geisler writes: “Vitamin D is absolutely crucial for the immune system”.
And further on, he states, the research group has discovered as something “completely new that vitamin D is crucial for the activation of the T cells, which play a central role in fighting particularly dangerous infections”.
Well, hello. Isn’t that just the knowledge we need when we have such widespread vitamin D deficiency?
This very important discovery is published in Nature (4), where the research group explains the activation of vitamin D by key T cells in the immune system. –In fact, exactly the cells that can fight the new virus mutations.
I came to mention this in an interview on a small TV station, which posted the interview on Youtube. From here, it was removed a few days later with the stamp “medical deception”. Almost the same day, the Danish National Board of Health went into the media with advice to the population about eating more vitamin D.
Section 77 of the Danish Constitution states: “Censorship and other preventive measures can never be reintroduced.”
This, of course, refers to state censorship. But Youtube, Google and Facebook are so massively widespread that they have something approaching monopoly-like conditions, and it is thought-provoking that here in Denmark we have a former prime minister to sit and administer such censorship.
When these tech giants get together in the medical-political complex, it costs lives.
This is best described in an editorial in the British Medical Journal from last year:(5)
“Politicization of science was enthusiastically introduced by some of history’s worst autocrats and dictators, but it has unfortunately become common in democracies. The medical-political complex tends to suppress science in order to adorn and enrich those in power.
And as the powerful become more successful, richer, and further intoxicated by power, the inconvenient truths of science are suppressed.
When good science is suppressed, people die”.
Therefore, the Vitality Council finds it necessary to spread the knowledge of the science that the population must not see.

Take care of yourself and others.

Claus Hancke MD
Specialist in general medicine

References

  1. https://www.who.int/news-room/feature-stories/detail/who-recommends-against-the-use-of-remdesivir-in-covid-19-patients
  2. Shah M et al, 2021 Int Immunopharmacol. 2021 Feb;91:107301.
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7758022/
  3. Toelzer Christine, Gupta K et al. 2020, Free fatty acid binding pocket in the locked structure of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. Science 06 nov 2020;370(6517):725-30.
    https://science.sciencemag.org/content/370/6517/725
  4. Geisler C, Ødum N et al. 2010, Vitamin D controls T cell antigen receptor signaling and activation of human T cells. Nature Immunology 2010;11:344-349.
    https://www.nature.com/articles/ni.1851
  5. BMJ 2020;371:m4425
    https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4425

Neglected opportunities

Claus Hancke

January 15, 2021

“The world is groping blindly for defences against the new virus variants” – according to a headline in the Danish newspaper Berlingske January 12th. The article then deals with gene sequencing and rapid diagnostics for infection control. But it is clear that panic spreads every time a new variant appears.

The fumbling in the dark began with clusters 1-5 found in Danish mink, which led to politician panic and the most drastic coercive intervention so far against any business in Denmark and the total closure of the region Vendsyssel.

The next time the panic screw was increased is now that the English variant B 1.1.7 is spreading. It is not more dangerous, but more contagious.

When the panic and anxiety from this variant begin to subside, then it’s time to introduce the South African variant and gravely tell us that this variant can now hit children, and then shut the country down. It is so deeply predictable that we absolutely must be pressed down into a state of chronic anxiety so that we conform to what is expected, and all of us line up for vaccination.

However, it is a good thing that the vaccines have arrived. The first vaccine was received by the media and politicians like a Messiah, and it was very nearly close to rose petals being sprinkled on the road in front of the trucks.

It is excellent that the health authorities quickly have launched vaccinating the elderly and seriously ill at risk. So far so good.

But my goodness, how they could have done so much good in the 10 months that have passed if they had listened to science.

When you consider that in order to shop in the supermarket Netto you have to look like a bank robber and wear a face mask whose effect is extremely poorly documented; -then it is striking that for months the authorities have turned a blind eye to well-documented opportunities that could have saved many lives and much suffering.

A study recently published in the Lancet (1) reviewed 89,000 hospitalizations with Covid-19 in March-April 2020 and Influenza Dec-Jan 2017-18.

It was found that Covid-19 caused significantly longer length of stay and greater mortality than the flu and it was concluded that in the future every effort should be made to prevent and vaccinate as well as find methods for treating Covid-19.

The Vital Council can only agree on this 3-string strategy: prevent, vaccinate, find ways to treat.

Unfortunately, this is not the strategy the government has chosen. Instead, they have chosen to put all their eggs in one basket.
Ever since the start of the pandemic, there has been hope and talk about the upcoming vaccine.
The authorities have been going all in, bone-hard, on the vaccine and only the vaccine and have not even wanted to squint at the other options in the three-stringed strategy mentioned above.

You can therefore understand the panic of the politicians until they were reassured that the mink variant was probably also sensitive to the upcoming vaccine. The same has now happened with B 1.1.7 from England, while we are still unsure of the South African variant.
That is to say the vaccines may in the future have difficulty keeping up with the constant changes in the highly mutated RNA virus, and one day they will fall short.

Yet all measures other than vaccines have been swept off the table despite massive documentation.
It is as if the authorities have overlooked that we humans actually have an immune system that is itself capable of adapting a new virus mutant.
Unlike a vaccine, a well-functioning immune system will be able to keep up every time a virus mutates.

Of course, it is necessary for the immune system to function optimally, and it ris necessary that we humans get a diet with the nutrients that the immune system needs.

This is so obvious that it hurts to say over and over again (see 5 previous newsletters from May 2020):
Decades of scientific evidence show that deficiency of especially vitamins A, C, D and K as well as deficiency of selenium, magnesium and zinc weakens the immune response and increases the incidence of infections, especially lung diseases. (2-10)

Specifically, in recent years there has been extensive writing about vitamin D, and the University of Copenhagen wrote almost prophetically on March 7, 2020, on its website in the News section: “Vitamin D is absolutely crucial for the immune system.”

Since then, several studies have been performed on vitamin D against Covid-19, which show significantly less infectivity, shorter hospital stays, milder illness, and lower mortality. (11-17) This documentation is further strengthened by the fact that the groups that are low in Vitamin D are those most affected by Covid-19, especially overweight persons, nursing home residents, immigrants, the chronically ill, and the elderly.

Traditionally, here in Denmark we have considered it sufficient, as long as the serum vitamin D (25-hydroxyvitamin D) level was 50 nmol/L (20 ng/ml) or more. This is not enough. All studies point to the need to have at least 75 nmol/L (30 ng/ml) in the blood and preferably 150 nmol/L (60 ng/ml.)
Far less than half of the Danish population are within these figures.
You cannot reach this preferred level, even if you then eat fatty fish every single day; you have to take supplements.
In turn, there is a major health benefit in eliminating the population’s deficiency of vitamin D. -Not only in the face of several of the major lifestyle diseases, but also of Covid-19.

Research shows, as mentioned, that sufficient vitamin D will shorten the duration of the disease, avoid hospitalizations, and reduce mortality from covid-19 disease. Those who become ill will simply have a mild course of the disease but will still build up immunological defenses until the next time they encounter it. If you also make sure that there is no shortage of the other above-mentioned vitamins and minerals, then the disease picture will look completely different in this country, and it could put a damper on the all-consuming anxiety and worry in the population.

Note: There is no talk of these vitamins and minerals being used to “treat” anything. They are used to correct deficiencies.

But it requires the authorities to think outside the box and show openness to the well-documented possibilities that exist here. Especially when these options are safe.
It is fine to think of collective infection control, but it does not preclude that one also thinks of the individual’s immune system and its well-being.

There has been an unfortunate streak of overlooked possibilities throughout the 10-month-long corona course. Opportunities that could have saved many lives and saved many sufferings.
-And these are, mind you, options that are significantly better documented than face masks.

Take care of yourself and others.

Claus Hancke MD
Specialist in general medicine

References

1. Comparison of the characteristics, morbidity, and mortality of COVID-19 and seasonal influenza: a nationwide, population-based retrospective cohort study. Piroth L et al, Dec.2020, Lancet. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(20)30527-0

2. Arvinte C, Singh M, Marik PE (2020) Serum Levels of Vitamin C and Vitamin D in a Cohort of Critically Ill COVID-19 Patients of a North American Community Hospital Intensive Care Unit in May 2020: A Pilot Study. Med Drug Discov. 8:100064. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32964205

3. Hewison M. Vitamin D and innate and adaptive immunity. Vitam Horm, 2011; vol 86:23-62.

4. Gombart AF, Pierre A, Maggini S. A Review of Micronutrients and the Immune System-Working in Harmony to Reduce the Risk of Infection. Nutrients. 2020 Jan 16;12(1).

5. Schwalfenberg GK. A review of the critical role of vitamin D in the functioning of the immune system and the clinical implications of vitamin D deficiency. Mol Nutr Food Res. 2011 Jan;55(1):96-108.

6. Dancer RC, Parekh D, Lax S, D’Souza V, Zheng S1, Bassford CR, et al. Vitamin D deficiency contributes directly to the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Thorax. 2015 Jul;70(7):617-24.

7. Urashima M, Segawa T, Okazaki M, et al. Randomized trial of vitamin D supplementation to prevent seasonal influenza A in schoolchildren. Am J Clin Nutr. 2010 May;91(5):1255-60.

8. Sabetta JR, DePetrillo P, Cipriani RJ, Smardin J, Burns LA, Landry ML. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin d and the incidence of acute viral respiratory tract infections in healthy adults. PLoS One. 2010 Jun 14;5(6):e11088.

9. Uwitonze AM, Razzaque MS. Role of Magnesium in Vitamin D Activation and Function. J Am Osteopath Assoc. 2018 Mar 1;118(3):181-189.

10. Dofferhoff A et al, Reduced Vitamin K Status as a Potentially Modifiable Risk Factor of Severe Coronavirus Disease 2019, Clin Infect Diseases, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciaa1258

11. Kohlmeier M. Avoidance of vitamin D deficiency to slow the COVID-19 pandemic. BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health. 2020;3.

12. Grant WB, Lahore H, McDonnell SL, et al. Evidence that Vitamin D Supplementation Could Reduce Risk of Influenza and COVID-19 Infections and Deaths. Nutrients. 2020; 12(4):988.

13. McCartney DM, Byrne DG. Optimisation of Vitamin D Status for Enhanced Immuno-protection Against Covid-19. Ir Med J. 2020 Apr 3;113(4):58.

14. Aldridge RA, Lewer D, Beale S, et al. Seasonality and immunity to laboratory-confirmed seasonal coronaviruses (HCoV-NL63, HCoV-0C43, and HCoV-229E): results from the Flu Watch cohort study 30 March 2020.

15. Ilie PC, Stefanescu S, Smith L. The role of Vitamin D in the prevention of coronavirus disease 2019, infection and mortality. Aging Clinical and Experimental research (https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-020-01570-8) Springer Switzerland. 2020 May 6.

16. McCullough PJ, Lehrer DS, Amend J. Daily oral dosing of vitamin D3 using 5000 TO 50,000 international units a day in long-term hospitalized patients: Insights from a seven year experience. J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol. 2019 May;189:228-239.

17. Kaufman H et al, SARS-CoV-2 positivity rates associated with circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels PLOS ONE, sept.17,2020

More is not always better

Klaus Sall

November 13, 2020

Dose response is diverse

Our body and cells react differently to the chemical substances we come into contact with. Our body’s reaction (response) to different concentrations (doses) is called dose-response. Small variations in the structure of substances can be decisive for the body’s reaction to the substances. For several groups of substances, it is known that they can be problematic, but theoretically it is not possible to predict how cells or organisms will react to a chemical substance.

As low doses of chemical substances are studied scientifically, more and more otherwise well-known substances are shown to have unexpected effects at low doses. Since the early 1990s, it has been clear that one cannot theoretically – based on a general dose-response formula – predict the response of cells to low concentrations of a substance.

In everyday life, we regularly experience that there is a linear relationship between dose and effect: Twice as much sugar tastes twice as sweet. Such is the case with the drugs and within the doses we normally use. The graph to the right shows 0-4 teaspoons of sugar in the coffee. It is the linear dose-response that we know best and that we often take for granted in daily life

From everyday life we also know of a decreasing effect on a larger dose. Double the dose of sugar in the coffee does not keep giving double effect. When the tongue’s sensation of sweetness is completely filled, an extra dose cannot be sensed. The body’s relationship to a variety of vitamins and minerals works in the same way. The graph to the right shows the experience of sweetness at 1-14 teaspoons of sugar in coffee.

Many substances first have a measurable effect above a certain threshold value as is known from e.g. alcohol. Below the threshold, no poisoning occurs – if you drink an alcoholic beverage with 7,5 ml or 6 grams of alcohol per hour, it has no effect, but if you drink an alcoholic beverage with 30 ml or 24 grams of alcohol per hour, you exceed the liver’s threshold value for continuously breaking down alcohol, after which alcohol continuously accumulates in the blood and you become drunk.

Some substances used as medicines inhibit processes in the body, so that higher doses inhibit the process more, but only within certain limits. With increasing dose, the inhibitory effect diminishes and eventually disappears. Well-known examples are statins, which lower the blood’s cholesterol content, and drugs that inhibit the stomach’s production of stomach acid.

Some drugs, including several hormones, have a bell-shaped dose-response curve. In addition to the fact that the substances are often active at very low doses, they are also only active within a “window”, so that they have a hormone-like or endocrine disrupting effect above a certain concentration, and then lose effect at higher concentrations. Several hormones and more proteins tested for cancer treatment have this type of dose-response (Reynolds, 2010; Diamond, 2004).

Some drugs have a U-shaped effect curve, so that the drug has a stimulating effect at low doses, but with decreasing effect at slightly higher doses, and then again has a stimulating effect at even higher doses. Several drugs with U-shaped dose-response curves are endocrine disruptors, or promote or inhibit cancer. (Almstrup et al., 2002; Davis & Svendsgaard 1990 and Vadenberg et al., 2012).

Living organisms – including humans – are extremely complex, and the “unexpected” types of non-linear toxic effects can e.g. is due to interactions where a chemical substance can affect sensors on or in the cells, immune reactions, enzymes in the liver, etc.,

In addition, the toxic effects of substances on humans can be determined by individual and often inherited genetic differences. For heavy metals such as mercury and copper, both individual differences and non-linear relationships are known (Andreoli & Sprovieri, 2017; O’Doherty et al., 2019).

In scientific research, organisms’ reactions to chemical substances are often assumed to be linear, so that researchers look for linear relationships without actually knowing if they are relevant. Non-linear contexts are also often overlooked in authorities’ risk assessments of substances. Overall, this means that researchers and authorities often disregard the toxic effects of substances on the basis of a rationale that when a clear toxic effect at low doses was not found at higher doses – well then one can simply ignore these results.

In the EU’s risk assessments of pesticides, GMOs, etc. one often disregards the concrete measurements or experiments that do not meet the requirement of linear and increasing toxicity at higher doses.

Not least Danish researchers such as Almstrup, Grandjean, Skakkebæk and Svendsgaard have helped to focus on non-linear dose response and toxic effects at low and extremely low doses. The same researchers are generally not impressed by the authorities’ ability or willingness to take this new knowledge seriously (Grandjean 2019, Hill et al 2018, Davis and Svendsgaard 1990); – neither is the Vitality Council.

Klaus Sall, cand.scient. in biology

References and further reading

Almstrup K; Fernández MF; Petersen JH; Olea N; Skakkebaek NE and Leffers H. (2002). Dual effects of phytoestro­gens result in u-shaped dose-response curves. Environ Health Perspect. 2002 August; 110(8): 743–748. LINK
Andreoli, V., Sprovieri, F., (2017). Genetic Aspects of Susceptibility to Mercury Toxicity: An Overview. Int J Environ Res Public Health 14. LINK
Davis JM og Svendsgaard DJ. 1990 U-shaped dose-response curves: their occurrence and implications for risk assessment. J Toxicol Environ Health. 1990 Jun;30(2):71-83. LINK
Diamond, D. M. 2004. Enhancement of Cognitive and Electrophysiological Measures of Hippocampal Functioning in Rats by a Low, But Not High, Dose of Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate (DHEAS). Nonlin. Biol. Toxicol. Med. 2004 Oct.; 2(4): 371–377. LINK
Grandjean, P., Abdennebi-Najar, L., Barouki, R., Cranor, C. F., Etzel, R. A., Gee, D., Heindel, J. J., Hougaard, K. S., Hunt, P., Nawrot, T. S., Prins, G. S., Ritz, B., Soffritti, M., Sunyer, J., & Weihe, P. (2019). Time scales of developmental toxicity impacting on research and needs for intervention. Basic & Clinical Pharmacology & Toxicology, 125(Suppl. 3), 70-80. LINK
Hill C. E., Myers J. P., Vandenberg L. N. (2018). Nonmonotonic dose-response curves occur in dose ranges that are relevant to regulatory decision-making. Dose Res. 16, 155932581879828. 1559325818798282–82. LINK
Lagarde, F., Beausoleil, C., Belcher, S. M., Belzunces, L. P., Emond, C., Guerbet, M., & Rousselle, C. (2015). Non-monotonic dose-response relationships and endocrine disruptors: a qualitative method of assessment. Environmental health 14, 13 (2015), LINK
Montévil M, Acevedo N, Schaeberle CM, Bharadwaj M, Fenton SE, and Ana M. Soto AM. 2020. A Combined Morphometric and Statistical Approach to Assess Nonmonotonicity in the Developing Mammary Gland of Rats in the CLARITY-BPA Study. Environ Health Perspect. 2020 May; 128(5):57001. LINK
Reynolds, Andrew R. 2010. Potential Relevance of Bell-Shaped and U-Shaped Dose-Responses for the Therapeutic Targeting of Angiogenesis in Cancer. Dose Response. 2010; 8(3): 253–284. LINK
O’Doherty, C., Keenan, J., Horgan, K., Murphy, R., O’Sullivan, F., Clynes, M., 2019. Copper-induced non-monotonic dose response in Caco-2 cells. In Vitro Cell.Dev.Biol.-Animal 55, 221–225. LINK
Vandenberg et al. 2012. Hormones and Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals: Low-Dose Effects and Nonmonotonic Dose Responses. Endocrine Reviews March 14, 2012 er.2011-1050 LINK
Zoeller RT, Brown TR, Doan LL, Gore AC, Skakkebaek NE, Soto AM, Woodruff TJ, Vom Saal FS. Endocrine-disrupting chemicals and public health protection: a statement of principles from The Endocrine Society. Endocrinology 2012; 153:4097 – 110; LINK

Mink panic in Denmark

Claus Hancke

November 5, 2020

As written in the first Covid-19 newsletter on May 6 (1):

”A vaccine may be excellent, but firstly, it takes at least a year before we have it, and secondly, a vaccine can never keep up with a virus in the many mutations that make its immune profile so varied that a vaccine quickly becomes obsolete as we have seen with the flu vaccine. The only thing that can keep up in response against a virus’ mutations is a well-functioning immune system in the individual.”

And now what has been expected has happened, namely a mutation that spreads a lot of panic, costs 17 million mink their lives, 1,100 mink farmers their livelihood and perhaps life’s work, 6,000 jobs, and Denmark 10 billion kroner in export revenue.

Many ask if this is now also necessary, and international researchers wonder about the Danish reaction, as they cannot see that this mutation is more dangerous than so many other mutations.

In the defense of the authorities, it can be said that 17 million mink do constitute a very serious pool of infection within the country’s borders, and, on mink farms, the virus can persist for years and can perhaps mutate into dangerous varieties.

The current “cluster-5 variant” found in mink is, according to authorities, no more dangerous than the “original Wuhan variant”, but is still considered dangerous by the Serum Institute.

Not more dangerous for humans, but dangerous for the vaccine.

It is feared that this variant will weaken the effect of a future coronary vaccine.
But there will be more mutations. It will continue. If not from domesticated mink, then from forest marten, ermine (stoats), otters, and ferrets. Or what about a variant of the dreaded bird flu that becomes contagious to humans? It is a far more dangerous situation.

If we continue with this eternal focus on vaccines and only vaccines, we can run in circles for decades and constantly have to jump from one position to another to escape new mutant variants.

At the EU level, however, hard work is underway to make human survival dependent on vaccines (2) so that the individual’s immune system can only be strengthened in this way and not by natural infection.

This is a dangerous path to take, and it can result in an inflicted immunological handicap that weakens humanity’s ability to counteract precisely the many mutations that microorganisms undergo in their own evolution.

One can imagine the situation that one day we will be exposed to a life-threatening pandemic like in 1918, which kills millions of people the year before we can get a vaccine. (The current pandemic has not increased overall mortality.)

We therefore need to ensure that the human population’s basic immune system is optimal. It may be possible to do so, but it requires openness to new thinking.

When we focus exclusively on the Covid-19 epidemic, there is an almost overwhelming number of studies that identify vitamin D deficiency as a significant risk factor for infection.

Most recently, three days ago (November 2), a new study (3) was published describing Covid-19 survival in the elderly as a function of their vitamin D intake.
There were 77 Covid-19 patients aged 78 – 100 years equally distributed between men and women. All were admitted to a geriatric emergency department at Angers University Hospital in France from March to May in 2020.

One could see the difference between the three groups: Group 1 (n=29) had taken vitamin D continuously for at least one year, group 2 (n=16) had not taken anything but had received a bolus dose of vitamin D on admission, and group 3 (n=32) had not received vitamin D.

The thrtee groups were comparable over a wide range of potentially confounding factors. The average age of the study participants was 88 years.

Researchers evaluated 14-day mortality and found that 93% survived in group 1, 81% in group 2, and 68% in group 3.

With group 3 as the reference group (Hazard Ratio: 1), group 1 thus had a hazard ratio of 0.07, and group 2 had a hazard ratio of 0.37.

Thus, group 1 with a history of solid vitamin D supplementation had significantly better survival than group 3, which had not taken vitamin D supplements.

Group 2, which received a bolus of 80,000 IU vitamin D at admission, had better survival, but the difference from group 3 survival was not statistically significant.

The conclusion of this study was thus that regular supplementation with vitamin D is associated with less severe COVID-19 disease and better survival in frail elderly individuals. The detailed figures can be seen in the reference below (3).

Study after study of vitamin D’s efficacy has been added to the basket over the last six months, and the studies are all identical. How many studies do we need?

When these studies are combined with the hundreds of previous studies on immune system weakening in the absence of vitamin D and with the even specific studies and a meta-analysis on lung infections like SARS, then one must again ask: How many studies does it take before the authorities will advise vulnerable groups to take vitamin D or at least to have their vitamin D levels in their blood measured?

Many studies (references 4-19) show that one can safely and effectively optimize the population’s resistance and survival of Covid-19 by taking sufficient vitamin D to reach a blood concentration of at least 75nmol / l.

This blood vitamin D concentration can most often be achieved with a daily dose of 80 – 100 micrograms.

If one also supplements with the other well-documented supplements, which have been mentioned in the previous newsletters, then we can get to the point that the general resistance of the population has increased. We need to increase the population’s resistance against the upcoming mutations of Covid-19 and also against other epidemics, which may even be dangerous.

But, for now, remember to wash your hands and keep your distance.

Take care of yourself and others.

Claus Hancke MD
Specialist in general medicine

Ref.:

  1. https://www.vitalraadet.dk/en/2997-2/
  2. https://ec.europa.eu/health/sites/health/files/vaccination/docs/2019-2022_roadmap_en.pdf
  3. Annweiler G et al. Vitamin D Supplementation Associated to Better Survival in Hospitalized Frail Elderly COVID-19 Patients: The GERIA-COVID Quasi-Experimental Study. Nutrients. 2020 Nov;12: 3377 1-12.
  4. Hewison M. Vitamin D and innate and adaptive immunity. Vitam Horm, 2011; vol 86:23-62.
  5. Gombart AF, Pierre A, Maggini S. A Review of Micronutrients and the Immune System-Working in Harmony to Reduce the Risk of Infection. Nutrients. 2020 Jan 16;12(1).
  6. Schwalfenberg GK. A review of the critical role of vitamin D in the functioning of the immune system and the clinical implications of vitamin D deficiency. Mol Nutr Food Res. 2011 Jan;55(1):96-108.
  7. Dancer RC, Parekh D, Lax S, D’Souza V, Zheng S1, Bassford CR, et al. Vitamin D deficiency contributes directly to the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Thorax. 2015 Jul;70(7):617-24.
  8. Urashima M, Segawa T, Okazaki M, et al. Randomized trial of vitamin D supplementation to prevent seasonal influenza A in schoolchildren. Am J Clin Nutr. 2010 May;91(5):1255-60.
  9. Sabetta JR, DePetrillo P, Cipriani RJ, Smardin J, Burns LA, Landry ML. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin d and the incidence of acute viral respiratory tract infections in healthy adults. PLoS One. 2010 Jun 14;5(6):e11088.
  10. Uwitonze AM, Razzaque MS. Role of Magnesium in Vitamin D Activation and Function. J Am Osteopath Assoc. 2018 Mar 1;118(3):181-189.
  11. Valint S. Vitamin D and Obesity. Nutrients. 2013 Mar; 5(3): 949–956.
  12. McCartney DM, Byrne DG. Optimisation of Vitamin D Status for Enhanced Immuno-protection Against Covid-19. Ir Med J. 2020 Apr 3;113(4):58.
  13. Grant WB, Lahore H, McDonnell SL, Baggerly CA, French CB, Aliano JL, Bhattoa HP. Evidence that Vitamin D Supplementation Could Reduce Risk of Influenza and COVID-19 Infections and Deaths. Nutrients. 2020 Apr 2;12(4). pii: E988.
  14. Aldridge RA, Lewer D, Beale S, et al. Seasonality and immunity to laboratory-confirmed seasonal coronaviruses (HCoV-NL63, HCoV-0C43, and HCoV-229E): results from the Flu Watch cohort study 30 March 2020.
  15. McCullough PJ, Lehrer DS, Amend J. Daily oral dosing of vitamin D3 using 5000 TO 50,000 international units a day in long-term hospitalized patients: Insights from a seven year experience. J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol. 2019 May;189:228-239.
  16. Ilie PC, Stefanescu S, Smith L. The role of Vitamin D in the prevention of coronavirus disease 2019, infection and mortality. Aging Clinical and Experimental research (https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-020-01570-8) Springer Switzerland. 2020 May 6.
  17. Martineau A, Forouhi N (2020) Vitamin-D for Covid-19: a case to answer. Lancet 2020;8:735-6.
  18. Joliffe D, Martineau A, Damsgaard Camilla et al. (2020) Vitamin D supplementation to prevent acute respiratory infections: Systematic review and meta-analysis of aggregate data from randomised controlled trials. medRxiv BMJ 17.juli 2020.
  19. Martineau A et al. (2017) Vitamin D supplementation to prevent acute respiratory tract infections: Systematic review and meta-analysis of individual participant data.
    BMJ 2017;356:i6585.

Update on Corona virus

Claus Hancke

August 26, 2020

Since the last newsletter from May 28, things have gone well here in Denmark.
On the other hand, viruses have become widespread, especially in those countries that have not taken the spreading of infection seriously.
In the past month, however, localized infection clusters have emerged in various places here in Denmark as well, especially in immigrant communities.
The reasons for this have been mentioned in the previous newsletters, whose advice is still valid, so I will not repeat it here, but instead focus on what has happened in the last 3 months.

Studies
In a literature study(1) from Norwegian, Russian and Swedish public health institutes six researchers have concluded that early intervention with Zinc, Selenium and Vitamin-D can alleviate the course of the disease, and virtually prevent the cytokine storm, which is the process responsible for the destruction of tissues, microthromboses, inflammation, etc. -the whole cascade that can take the life of the Covid-19 sick persons.

An almost simultaneous study(2) from Germany analyzed Serum-Selenium and Serum-Selenoprotein P, and both values were significantly lower in those who did not survive Covid-19.
(Selenium: 53.3 ± 16.2 vs. 40.8 ± 8.1 μg / l, Selenoprotein-P: 3.3 ± 1.3 vs. 2.1 ± 0.9 mg / L p<0.001). These results must be said to be highly relevant in our country, where we consume so little selenium. This study falls nicely in line with the former study.

On August 3, an article was published in the Lancet(3) which strongly calls for increased intake of vitamin D based on solid literature reviews.
This also falls in line with the first study mentioned above.

And, finally, there is a meta-analysis(4) of the role of vitamin D in the development of acute respiratory infection. It includes 30,000 people in controlled trials (RCTs), and has shown significantly reduced risk of acute respiratory infection already at 10-25 µg of vitamin D daily.
This confirms a previous meta-analysis(5), which also found a significant inverse correlation between the risk of acute respiratory infection and the vitamin D content in the blood.
All of the above studies are nicely in line with the advice mentioned in the five newsletters from May.

Authorities distribute vitamins
Azerbaijan has registered 35,000 Covid-19 cases in a population of 10 million. Of these, 1,800 were hospitalized and 508 died.
Here, the Ministry of Health has provided more than 3,500 Covid-19 patients with a free “medicine package” containing: Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Magnesium, Selenium, Zinc and Paracetamol.
The idea is then that the patients stay at home and treat themselves there.
Every day they are then contacted by the local hospital clinic and have to answer a series of questions, just as the doctor checks that they are taking their pills.
So far, a significant reduction in the number of hospitalizations in this group has been observed(6).

You can only shout cheers when you see authorities who can think outside the box and dare to start such a project. My guess is that the trend will continue and that home treatment will continue to reduce hospital admissions in Azerbaijan.

The idea is not bad because you initiate a completely harmless treatment of a, for some people, -dangerous disease.
But why wait until they get sick?

With timely care, one can improve the immune system of the entire population if one simply provides information about these supplements and their significance.

What could be done here in Denmark is to provide subsidies to the vulnerable groups, especially residents of the country’s nursing homes, who are completely dependent on the public perception of vitamins and minerals. If their own doctor does not prescribe a vitamin supplement, then residents are often denied help to get the supplements, despite their own desire. They are completely dependent upon the doctor’s knowledge or lack thereof. I think Danish authorities and medical staff would be shocked if we measured the level of vitamin D in the country’s nursing home residents.
If you do not want to use public funds to donate these subsidies to the residents, then you can at least make sure that both residents and their relatives are informed.

These newsletters on Covid-19 are unfortunately necessary as this knowledge and the scientific back-up are neglected in the public advice to the Danish population.

Take care of yourself and others

Claus Hancke MD
Specialist in general medicine

References

  1. Alexander J, Alehagen U et al. (2020) Early Nutritional Interventions with Zinc, Selenium and Vitamin D for Raising Anti-Viral Resistance Against Progressive COVID-19. Nutrients 2020, 12, 2358.
  2. Moghaddam A, Heller R et al. (2020) Selenium Deficiency Is Associated with Mortality Risk from COVID-19. Nutrients 2020, 12, 2098.
  3. Martineau A, Forouhi N (2020) Vitamin-D for Covid-19: a case to answer. Lancet 2020;8:735-6.
  4. Joliffe D, Martineau A, Damsgaard Camilla et al. (2020) Vitamin D supplementation to prevent acute respiratory infections: Systematic review and meta-analysis of aggregate data from randomised controlled trials. medRxiv BMJ (endnu ikke peer reviewed) 17.juli 2020.
  5. Martineau A et al. (2017) Vitamin D supplementation to prevent acute respiratory tract infections: Systematic review and meta-analysis of individual participant data.
    BMJ 2017;356:i6585.
  6. lmahamad A, (2020) 3.500 covid-19 patients provided with free medication. Azernews 18.august 2020. https://www.azernews.az/healthcare/168099.html

Be prepared for the next Corona epidemic

Claus Hancke

The population is not

May 29, 2020

The Corona is spreading more slowly now, and, here in Denmark, Covid-19 is gradually infecting fewer and fewer people and we are more aware of protecting ourselves against it.

There have been good effects from keeping our distance and from maintaining good hygiene in which we have all been well instructed.

Much to the surprise of the Danish Serum Institute, less than 2% of the Danish population has had the disease, and only a few of these individuals may have obtained immunity to SARS-CoV-2, which the virus is called.
This means that more than 98% have not been infected and are completely without immunity. So forget about herd immunity.

The Danish population is just as vulnerable it was were in March when it all started.

Let’s try to summarize what we know and what we can do about it.

What do we know now?
SARS-CoV-2, which is the virus responsible for the current Covid-19 pandemic, is characterized in that it – like the influenza virus – triggers a reaction with the release of a number of signaling molecules such as interleukins, interferons, and lymphokines.

When this release is powerful, it is called a “cytokine storm”, and with Covid-19, it is so powerful that immune cells begin to damage the tissues where the process is taking place, and, in this case, it is primarily the lung tissue that is damaged.

During the cytokine storm, a violent inflammatory response and increased release of free oxygen radicals are created, which further damages the lung tissue due to the subsequent inflammatory microcoagulation seen in the pulmonary vessels. Adding too much oxygen at this stage will only aggravate the situation, which several anesthesiologists have experienced when Covid-19 patients’ conditions worsen when they are put on a respirator.

What can we do about it
Thus, it is primarily about attenuating the fatal cytokine storm.
Here vitamin D, magnesium, selenium, and vitamin C are particularly important as they specifically inhibit this cytokine storm and the subsequent inflammatory microcoagulation in the pulmonary vessels.
If the level of these essential substances in the body is high enough then you will have a subdued cytokine storm and thus attenuated symptoms, as seen during influenza infection. Fresh extract of Coneflower (Echinacea) has also been documented in several scientific studies to effectively inhibit this cytokine storm.

It should be obvious to protect ourselves by promoting such harmless and inexpensive remedies, but unfortunately in the medical and pharmaceutical world, one tends to stare blindly at the most expensive solutions.
Medical professionals were first intrigued by the antiviral drug Remdesivir, which could shorten the disease period of Covid-19 from 15 to 11 days. This fascination has now been replaced by a new one, another drug, an experimental cancer drug, Bemcentinib that may prevent viruses from entering the cells. A phase II trial is underway for 120 people, and we hope we will be able to get the result in a few months.

Well, it is excellent that medical professionals try to find a medicine that can help in this situation, but is it absolutely necessary to find a new, expensive medicine with side effects, when there are other far cheaper options without side effects?

The long awaited vaccine
While all this is going on, the pharmaceutical industry is working full speed on a vaccine. A vaccine against an RNA virus is very difficult to make, and using a vaccine is especially problematic because viruses constantly mutate and thereby often change the immune response.

No vaccine has ever been safety-tested, in the same way that medicine is tested, and this is a bit problematic because in recent years, the industry has started to add substances whose purpose is to stimulate the immune system for effective antibody formation. And stimulating antibody formation is good enough, too, but the safety of these substances has never been investigated. In Denmark, the use of mercury (thimerosal or thiomersal) in childhood vaccines was stopped from 1992 and in influenza vaccines from 2004, with the exception of the vaccine in 2009, which was an embarrassing exception. The toxic mercury should never be used again for human use – neither in the teeth, for that matter.

But in recent years aluminum has been added in the form of nanoparticles as well as squalene emulsions. These adjuvants have not been safety tested. It has just been noted (WHO has noted) that the number of side effects is not greater than is usually seen with vaccination. Aluminum is a neurotoxin, but it has been used in vaccines in the form of various aluminum salts since 1930, so in that form it probably isn’t particularly harmful. The problem is that nanoparticles are now being used that cannot be stopped by a cell membrane. They can penetrate all tissues.
It cannot be ruled out that it is safe to use these additives. It’s just never been investigated.

It should be a simple task to make a study with each of these ingredients against a real placebo such as brine.
We have many excellent vaccines, so let’s not be vaccine deniers. Let’s welcome a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine when it arrives, and then just hope it is properly safety tested. Of course, this hope becomes a requirement if we are to be mandatory vaccinated.

Of course, the Coronavirus will return
When and how bad we do not know, but it will come.
As mentioned in the Vitamin C newsletter, one of Europe’s experts in Covid-19, Professor Christian Drosten from the University of Berlin, has stated that the second wave could be tougher than the current one.
And since more than 98% of the Danish population is without immunity against it, we should not sit with our hands in our laps and wait for a vaccine.

We need to be proactive.
We need to make sure that we have enough of the nutrients that can reduce the risk of our getting sick, and especially the nutrients that can dampen the cytokine storms, so that we get a mild course of illness if we get sick anyway.

Especially old people and people who eat only very little, who may also be weakened by chronic disease, will do well by supplementing the diet in order to be well equipped with an optimally functioning immune system as the next virus threat approaches.

An appropriate daily dose for a normal-weight adult will typically be:

  • Vitamin A: 1-2 mg
  • Vitamin B6: 4-5 mg
  • Vitamin C: 2-3,000 mg
  • Vitamin D3: 75-100 µg
  • Selenium: 100-200 µg
  • Zinc: 20-30 mg
  • Magnesium: 200-300 mg

Note: The low dose is for those weighing less than 70 kg (155 pounds / 11 stones).

If you start now, you will be prepared in the fall. This is an obvious strategy for the country’s nursing homes.

This is the fifth and final Covid-19 newsletter.

Unfortunately, the five newsletters are necessary as this knowledge and scientific back-up are neglected in the public counseling of the population.

Take care of yourself and others,

Claus Hancke, MD,
Specialist in general medicine

Refs:

  • McGonagle D et al. (2020) Immune mechanisms of pulmonary intravascular coagulopathy in COVID-19 pneumonia. Lancet May 7, 2020:1-9
  • Zhang Y, Leung D, Richers B, et al. (2012) Vitamin D Inhibits Monocyte/Macrophage Proinflammatory Cytokine Production by Targeting MAPK Phosphatase-1. Journal of Immunology. 2012;188(5):2127-2135.
  • Alberto Boretti, Bimal Krishna Banik (2020) Intravenous vitamin C for reduction of cytokines storm in acute respiratory distress syndrome PharmaNutrition.
    2020 Jun;12:100190. Published online 2020 Apr 21.
  • Sharma M, Anderson A et al.(2009) Induction of multiple pro-inflammatory cytokines by respiratory viruses and reversal by standardized Echinacea, a potent antiviral herbal extract. Antiviral Research, 2009;83(2):165-170.
  • Cannell JJ, Zasloff M, Garland CF et al. (2008) On the epidemiology of influenza.
    Virol J. 2008;5:29.
  • Gorton HC, Jarvis K (1999) The effectiveness of vitamin C in preventing and relieving the symptoms of virus-induced respiratory infections. J Manip Physiol Ther, 22:8, 530-533
  • Hemilä H (2003) Vitamin C and SARS coronavirus Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, Volume 52, Issue 6, December 2003, Pages 1049–1050
  • WHO Global advisory committee on vaccine safety 2020 (ikke ændret siden 2006). https://www.who.int/vaccine_safety/committee/topics/adjuvants/squalene/Jun_2006/en/