Scientists are investigating whether vitamin D frequently touted for its use in maintaining bone health, could also prevent serious COVID-19 complications. A new study published in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS One illuminates this potential, finding that individuals with vitamin D deficiency were 36% more likely to need hospitalization from COVID-19.

The findings point toward a connection between immune resilience and vitamin D levels, even though the data stops short of proving that supplementation can directly reduce the severity of COVID-19. Still, it’s a significant insight in the ongoing effort to identify who remains vulnerable as the world learns to live with the virus.

“We found people with low vitamin D weren’t necessarily more likely to catch COVID-19,” said lead researcher Kerri Beckmann, a senior research fellow at the University of South Australia. “But if they did get infected, their odds of serious illness and hospitalization were notably higher.”

The study tapped into the vast UK Biobank dataset, analyzing health information from over 150,000 participants. Researchers stratified the data by vitamin D levels and tracked COVID-19 outcomes, including infection rates and hospitalization.

Low levels of vitamin D were not associated with a higher risk of acquiring COVID-19. When infected, however, those lacking vitamin D were much more likely to develop severe illness necessitating hospitalization.

It’s an important distinction. While vitamin D won’t necessarily prevent you from contracting COVID, having adequate levels may improve how your body handles the virus similar to how a vaccine booster might reduce the severity of symptoms.

“Vitamin D plays a key role in regulating the immune system, so it’s plausible that low levels may influence how the body responds to infections,” Beckmann explained.

How Common is Vitamin D Deficiency?

Surprisingly prevalent. Based on a 2022 study appearing in Frontiers in Nutrition, approximately 22% of Americans are deficient in vitamin D. The rate is even greater among some groups, including individuals with darker skin tone, those who reside in the northern latitudes, and those who have restricted sun exposure because of lifestyle or chronic disease.

Vitamin D is sometimes referred to as the "sunshine vitamin" because our bodies produce it by exposing our skin to sunlight. But diet and supplements can also contribute to keeping levels healthy.

Benefits of Vitamin D

The worth of Vitamin D reaches far beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. It's needed for:

Bone health: Vitamin D allows your body to absorb calcium. Without sufficient levels of it, bones become brittle and cause issues such as osteoporosis in adults and rickets in children.

Immune modulation: It assists in modulating innate and adaptive immune reactions — two pillars of your body's defense against disease-causing organisms.

Inflammation regulation: Low blood levels have been associated with higher inflammation, which can lead to worse COVID respiratory outcomes.

And although scientists are hesitant to overhype the value of supplements, it's obvious that having healthy vitamin D levels is part of a larger picture of immune support.

Should You Start Taking Vitamin D Supplements?

Not so fast. Experts, including those involved in the study, stress that while the findings are compelling, they do not confirm that vitamin D supplements alone can prevent hospitalization from COVID-19.

“This is an area worth exploring further, but it’s too early to say supplementation is a silver bullet,” Beckmann noted. “Many people with poor overall health also have low vitamin D levels, which complicates the picture.”

That said, for people at risk of deficiency — including older adults, people with limited sun exposure, and those with darker skin — checking vitamin D levels with a healthcare provider could be a smart step, especially if they’re concerned about COVID outcomes.

How to Boost Your Vitamin D?

There are three main sources of vitamin D:

Sunlight: Just 10 to 30 minutes of mid-day sunlight several times a week may be enough for many people, depending on skin tone, geography, and season.

Diet: Not many foods provide vitamin D naturally. The richest sources from food are fatty fish such as salmon, sardines, mackerel, and trout; egg yolks; mushrooms; and fortified foods such as milk or cereal.

Supplements: If your doctor finds a deficiency, they may suggest a daily supplement. Most adults require 600 IU (15 mcg) daily, while people over 70 need 800 IU (20 mcg).

Be careful with the dosage — too much vitamin D can be toxic and cause such complications as kidney damage.

Where Do We Go From Here?

While COVID-19 is no longer the emergency it once was, the virus still circulates and continues to cause complications — especially among vulnerable populations. Knowing that vitamin D levels may influence how someone fares with an infection opens the door to more targeted prevention efforts.

That might include screening for deficiency in high-risk groups, public health messaging around safe sun exposure, or considering fortified foods in communities with higher rates of deficiency but more research is needed. Clinical trials will be crucial in determining whether vitamin D supplementation could become a recommended part of COVID-19 care protocols. For now, maintaining healthy levels is simply good preventive medicine.

The latest study doesn't claim that vitamin D is a cure for COVID-19. But it adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting that micronutrient deficiencies can shape how our bodies respond to viral infections.

In a post-pandemic world where we're learning to coexist with SARS-CoV-2, this kind of insight is valuable — not just for COVID, but for broader public health. As Beckmann summed it up: “COVID may not be the threat it once was, but understanding who is still at risk, and why, will help us stay a step ahead.”

Commonly nicknamed the “Asian glow” or “Asian flush,” alcohol flush reaction is a physical response to drinking alcohol seen predominantly in people of East Asian descent.

This condition is marked by a reddening of the face, increased heart rate, and sometimes nausea or headaches shortly after consuming alcohol.

About 560 million people worldwide, which makes it roughly 8% of the global population, carry a genetic mutation called ALDH2*2 that causes this reaction. An estimated 45% of East Asians experience flushing when they drink, and many use antihistamines to mask the symptoms.

But researchers warn that these visible reactions are more than just a cosmetic issue, they’re a red flag indicating a heightened vulnerability to serious diseases.

What Causes It?

The root cause of alcohol flush reaction lies in how alcohol is metabolized in the body.

Normally, alcohol is broken down in two steps.

• First, it is converted into acetaldehyde, a compound far more toxic than alcohol itself.
• Then, acetaldehyde is quickly broken down into acetate by an enzyme called aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2), which the body can safely eliminate.

However, in people with the ALDH2*2 mutation, this second step is impaired. Their version of the ALDH2 enzyme has little to no activity, causing acetaldehyde to accumulate in the bloodstream. This toxic buildup is what leads to the flushing and other symptoms.

The World Health Organization classifies acetaldehyde as a Group 1 carcinogen, meaning there is strong evidence that it causes cancer in humans. Even with moderate alcohol intake—such as two beers, the acetaldehyde levels in people with this mutation can reach carcinogenic levels.

Why It’s Dangerous

While many consider alcohol flush reaction an inconvenience, the health risks it signals are far more serious. Experts have linked the ALDH2*2 mutation with significantly elevated risks for several life-threatening conditions if alcohol consumption continues.

People with the mutation who drink moderately (defined as two drinks per day for men and one for women) have a 40 to 80 times higher risk of developing esophageal cancer compared to those without the mutation. The risk increases with the amount of alcohol consumed, making it a dose-dependent danger.

The mutation is also associated with higher risks of:

• Head and neck cancers
• Gastric (stomach) cancer
• Coronary artery disease
• Stroke
• Osteoporosis

Importantly, these elevated health risks are not seen in non-drinkers with the same mutation, highlighting that alcohol intake is the trigger.

Why Antihistamines Don’t Help

Many young people, particularly college students, take over-the-counter antihistamines like Pepcid AC or Zantac to reduce the visible symptoms of alcohol flush reaction. While these drugs may lessen skin flushing by reducing blood vessel dilation, they do nothing to prevent the dangerous accumulation of acetaldehyde in the bloodstream.

Experts caution that using antihistamines this way is risky. By masking the body’s warning signals, individuals may end up drinking more than they should, unknowingly increasing their health risks.

A Problem of Awareness

Despite the potentially deadly consequences, awareness of the ALDH2*2 mutation remains low.

The variant is believed to have originated from a single individual in Southeast China 2,000 to 3,000 years ago. Today, its prevalence is highest in Taiwan (49 percent), Japan (40 percent), China (35 percent), and South Korea (30 percent). Yet, alcohol consumption in East Asia continues to rise.

Between 1990 and 2017, alcohol use in East Asia increased from 48.4 percent to 66.9 percent. The region now bears the highest burden of alcohol-attributable cancers globally, with 5.7 percent of all cancer cases linked to alcohol, nearly double the rate in North America.

Many people still believe that facial flushing from alcohol is harmless or even a sign of a strong liver. In fact, it’s a clear signal of toxicity and should not be ignored.

Raising Public Education and Health Literacy

Efforts to raise awareness are growing. In Taiwan, researchers and health advocates founded the Taiwan Alcohol Intolerance Education Society, which collaborates with government agencies to educate the public. The group launched National Taiwan No Alcohol Day on May 9, with “5-9” sounding like “no alcohol” in Mandarin, a clever linguistic nudge toward abstinence, as reported by the Washington Post.

Research also suggests that personalized health information can help. A study conducted among Asian American young adults found that those who were informed about their genetic risks related to the ALDH2*2 variant reduced both their drinking frequency and volume over the following month.

Experts emphasize that the message is clear: if you experience alcohol flush reaction, your body is sounding an alarm. Ignoring it may come at a serious cost.

A disease that can strip somebody of their memories, the way they think, even their core beliefs and personality, Alzheimer’s affect millions of people throughout the world. It is estimated to affect 6 million Americans by the US National Institute of Aging, most of whom are older than 65 or older. While treatment for Alzheimer's does exist, they usually treat the symptoms as there is no cure.

However, a new study suggests that insulin delivered through a nasal spray could be a future treatment for Alzheimer's disease. Researchers found that this insulin effectively reached important memory parts of the brain in a small group of older adults. Their findings were published on July 23 in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Translational Research & Clinical Interventions.

Why Insulin for Alzheimer's?

Scientists are looking at insulin as a possible way to treat Alzheimer's because it's thought to improve brain activity. It's already known that insulin resistance (when the body doesn't respond well to insulin) is a risk factor for Alzheimer's. However, past research struggled to confirm if insulin given through the nose actually made it to the right places in the brain.

Direct Path to the Brain

They used brain scans to show that insulin given through the nose traveled to 11 key brain areas. These areas are important for memory and thinking. An interesting discovery was that people who were just starting to show signs of memory problems absorbed the insulin differently than others.

A lead researcher explained that this study fills a big gap in our understanding of how insulin given through the nose reaches the brain. This person also noted that finding different absorption rates in people with early memory issues was a surprise. This means scientists are no longer guessing; they now have a clear path or "roadmap" directly to the brain.

How the Study Was Done and What It Found

Researchers used brain scans on 16 older adults, who were about 72 years old on average. Seven of them had normal thinking skills, and nine had mild memory problems. All of them used the insulin nasal spray, and they said it was easy to use.

The scans clearly showed that insulin levels went up in important memory and thinking parts of the brain, like the hippocampus (which helps with memory), the amygdala (involved in emotions and memory), and other brain regions.

The study also found that people with healthy brains absorbed more insulin compared to those with mild memory issues. For women in the study, better heart health seemed to lead to better insulin absorption in the brain. On the other hand, individuals who had higher levels of a substance called amyloid beta (which is a sign of increased Alzheimer's risk) absorbed less insulin in many parts of their brain.

Only two people mentioned minor headaches after using the spray and getting their scan, which suggests the treatment is generally well-tolerated and doesn't cause many side effects.

Future Steps and Hope for Treatments

A lead researcher pointed out that one of the biggest challenges in treating brain diseases is getting medications to actually enter the brain. This study proves that they can now reliably check if nasal spray systems are delivering the medicine effectively. This is a very important step before they can start larger trials to test the treatment's effectiveness.

The findings also help explain why some patients might respond better to insulin given through the nose than others. The researcher stressed that there is an urgent need to find effective and easy ways to prevent and treat Alzheimer's. These results mean scientists now have the tools to confirm if treatments are reaching their intended brain targets, which is vital for designing successful studies.

The research team plans to conduct bigger studies within the next one to two years. They want to investigate other factors that might affect how insulin gets to the brain, such as the health of blood vessels, the presence of amyloid beta clumps, and differences between men and women. The researcher concluded by saying that while there's still a lot to learn, these findings are promising for creating more effective and easy-to-use treatments for Alzheimer's disease.

‘Fight through cancer’, ‘you can’t let cancer kick you down’ are things survivors and people who have had recent cancer diagnosis. While it is a good sentiment, one must understand that cancer is difficult a difficult process to go through. However, this young college student did not let this stop her.

LaShae Rolle, a 27-year-old competitive powerlifter, can squat a massive 441 pounds, bench press 292 pounds, and deadlift 497 pounds. Last year, breast cancer threatened her dreams of competing against the best. But Rolle didn't let it stop her. She powered through her cancer treatment, maintaining an intense strength training program all along. And then, she wrote a study about her experience.

Lifting Through Treatment

Rolle, who is studying public health sciences at the University of Miami, became the subject of her own unique study. She documented her journey of elite-level strength training while undergoing chemotherapy, a mastectomy (breast removal surgery), and radiation.

Her study, published in the journal Lifestyle Medicine, challenges the common belief that cancer patients should only do low or moderate exercise. Rolle explained that strength training was key to her identity as an athlete and researcher. During her cancer journey, it helped her feel connected to herself and in control of her body and mind.

By the end of her treatment, Rolle had managed to keep almost all the strength she had before her cancer diagnosis. She proudly stated that she kept going, adapting her workouts around her chemotherapy cycles to train safely. This physical activity gave her a sense of normalcy when everything else felt uncertain.

Why This Research Matters

Previous studies have shown that moderate exercise can help cancer patients by reducing tiredness, improving physical ability, and easing treatment side effects. However, that research usually focused on average people doing regular workouts, not elite athletes trying to maintain high-intensity efforts during treatment.

In the Miller School of Medicine news release, Tracy Crane, a director at the University of Miami's Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center and Rolle's mentor, emphasized that Rolle's story is a powerful reminder that recovery from cancer isn't just about getting better; it's about regaining strength, identity, and purpose. She added that Rolle's commitment to powerlifting shows how movement can be a way to heal, empower, and advocate for oneself.

Rolle's Training Plan and Impressive Results

Rolle was diagnosed with stage 2B breast cancer in 2024. Her cancer was fueled by female hormones, and she didn't have a genetic link to the disease. Her colleagues at the University of Miami helped her create a strength training plan that fit around her chemotherapy schedule:

• High-intensity days were planned before her chemo sessions, focusing on squats, bench press, and deadlifts.
• Moderate days between chemo cycles included exercises like rows and shoulder presses.
• Recovery days immediately after chemo involved light movement and therapy.

By the end of her treatment, Rolle had retained an incredible 93% of her squat strength and 87% of her bench press and deadlift strength. These are remarkable numbers for someone going through chemotherapy. Rolle kept herself accountable by documenting everything with videos and in a training diary, which reminded her of her ongoing strength. She expressed amazement looking back at videos of herself lifting over 400 pounds while on chemotherapy.

Researchers note that these specific findings mainly apply to elite athletes who already have a background in high-intensity training, rather than the average cancer patient. However, Rolle believes her study highlights the importance of creating treatment plans tailored to each patient's needs. She is motivated to continue lifting and to advocate for evidence-based exercise as a key part of cancer care.