Inhibitory effects of Vitamin D on inflammation and IL-6 release. A further support for COVID-19 management?

The ongoing worldwide pandemic of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), raised the urgency to address knowledge gaps and to establish evidence for improving management and control of this viral infection. Throughout a keen analysis of the World Health Organization (WHO) most updated data, a gender-specific difference in the occurrence of infection was determined, which seems to correlate with patient's vitamin D status. Therefore, our purpose is to provide insights into the nutritional importance of vitamin D for its immunomodulatory effect, in order to help counteracting the COVID-19 pandemic. Novel interesting findings suggest that vitamin D, by inducing progesterone-induced blocking factor (PIBF), might regulate the immune response and also modulate cytokine IL-6, which appears to be increased in COVID-19 infections. Therefore, in addition to the standard recommendations to prevent the infection, supplementation of vitamin D might be considered an approach to help counteracting this global epidemic.

Finding the best therapeutic approach for PCOS: the importance of inositol(s) bioavailability.

Broadening clinical evidence has markedly designated inositol(s) as a common and effective therapeutic approach for PCOS and infertility. Although considerable research has been focused on the use in clinical practice of myo-inositol (myo-ins) and D-chiro-inositol (D-chiro-ins), the two major inositol stereoisomers, less attention has been paid to their bioavailability. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to gather and analyze information on inositol(s) bioavailability, to better delineate its optimal concentration for scientific and clinical purposes. Throughout the search in PubMed, Google Scholar, and ResearchGate we identified only two studies that investigated the pharmacokinetic (PK) profile of different myo-ins administrations. This analysis found no advantage in terms of PK for single 4 g dosing of myo-ins compared to 2 g twice a day, which allowed to get a 24-hour coverage, contrary to the singular dose. Indeed, the differences regarding the area under the curve (AUC) between the two PK profiles are linked only to the maximum concentration (Cmax) but not to the time variable. In conclusion, splitting the therapeutic dosage of 4 g myo-ins in two distinct administrations seems to be the best approach for a full-day coverage.