The Medical Advisor

Evidence continues to pile up on vitamin D’s therapeutic potential against COVID-19, as well as its usefulness for chronic conditions like diabetes and heart disease. I published a review on the importance of vitamin D for COVID-19 prevention and treatment in October 2020 1   and was widely vilified as a result. Now, another review has been published highlighting vitamin D’s role in managing COVID-19 infection as well as preventing complications. Not only do vitamin D levels affect the severity of COVID-19 infection, the team wrote in the peer-reviewed journal Cureus, but maintaining optimal levels may reduce symptoms and related long-term problems. 2 Vitamin D Modulates Your Immune System, Reduces Inflammation One way vitamin D fights COVID-19 is via immune-modulating properties. It influences innate immunity by maintaining the integrity of physical barriers, helping to keep infectious agents from entering the body. It also affects adaptive immunity, increasing human cathelicidin LL-3

Parkinson's disease is a neurological disorder in which neurons and dopamine-producing cells in your brain begin to die. Symptoms progress over time and include tremors, slow movements, rigid limbs, shuffling gait, stooped posture and an inability to move. Patients may also experience a reduced ability to make facial expressions. While patients suffer significant physical disability, the condition may also trigger depression, speech impediments and personality changes. There is also an association with dementia. Parkinson’s affects as many as 7 million to 10 million adults worldwide, and approximately 60,000 Americans are diagnosed with Parkinson's every year. (1) Although incidence of the disease increases with age, an estimated 4% of those with Parkinson's are diagnosed before the age of 50. Men are 1.5 times more likely to have Parkinson's than women, and treatment can be expensive. Medications can an average $2,500 a year, while therapeutic surgery may cost up to $1

Genetically engineered (GE) mosquitoes created by biotechnology company Oxitec have been released in the U.S., even though the long-term effects could be disastrous. Oxitec is using Aedes aegypti (A. aegypti) mosquitoes for this real-world experiment, the species known to carry yellow fever, dengue fever, chikungunya, Zika, West Nile and Mayaro, (1) a dengue-like disease. (2) Oxitec genetically engineered the males to carry a "genetic kill switch," such that when they mate with wild female mosquitoes, their offspring inherits the lethal gene and cannot survive or reproduce in the wild. In the U.S., Oxitec is marketing the insects as Oxitec Friendly™ mosquitoes, trying to put a nonthreatening name on a reckless project that could quickly backfire. It may even be too late, as the GE mosquitoes have already been released in multiple locations. EPA Extended Oxitec’s Experimental Use Permit In April 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved an initial Experimental Us