#171: All Things Covid: Vitamin D, Masks and More with Chris Kresser

All Things Covid: Vitamin D, Masks and More with Chris Kresser

As humans, we often fall into black and white thinking. It can be easy to let the constant waterfall of media information and social snippets wash over us without stopping to think of the full context. In this age of COVID-19, though, it’s more important than ever to pause and look at what the science really has to say.

When we slip into confirmation bias and seek out answers that solidify what we already believe, we lose the ability to think critically. Now, more than ever, is the time to change that so we can overcome this pandemic. That’s exactly what Dhru and Chris Kresser talk about on this episode of The Broken Brain Podcast. 

Chris Kresser is a renowned expert, leading clinician, and top educator in the fields of Functional Medicine and ancestral health, and the New York Times bestselling author of The Paleo Cure. Listed among the 100 most influential people in health and fitness by Greatist.com, he was awarded “Best Inspirational Voice” and “Best Health & Wellness Website” by Paleo magazine in 2019. Chris founded the Kresser Institute in 2015 to provide the next generation of Functional Health practitioners and coaches with the skills and tools they need to turn the tide of chronic disease—and change the future of medicine. Through the Kresser Institute, Chris created and launched the ADAPT Practitioner and Health Coach Training Programs, and he and his team have trained over 2,000 health professionals around the world in his unique approach.

In spring of 2020, largely in response to COVID-19, Chris decided to move on from his position of co-founder and co-director of the California Center for Functional Medicine to develop Adapt180 Health: a revolutionary new membership-based Functional Medicine practice and health transformation service.

In this episode, Dhru and Chris jump into an open conversation about the most pressing COVID topics and what the latest research is showing. Starting with vitamin D, they look at some dramatic results of several studies, with the takeaway being that a majority of COVID patients have been found to have vitamin D deficiency, and those who are vitamin D deficient have higher inflammatory markers and a higher risk of death. They discuss the science behind mask wearing and why it’s a helpful piece of stopping the spread of coronavirus, but only one piece. They also talk about the latest findings of the vaccine trials and what we know, and don’t know. 

In this episode, we dive into: 

-Vitamin D levels among asymptomatic and critically ill COVID-19 patients and the correlation with inflammatory markers (12:56)  -Randomized control trial of vitamin D (17:26) -Vitamin D testing and supplement recommendations (32:40)  -Why masks are getting so much attention when the data is nuanced (35:28)  -The research on COVID-19 and masks (46:06) -COVID-19 vaccine—what we know and what we don’t know (1:08:14)  -Concerns around the safety of a vaccine when it’s developed so quickly (1:15:37)  -Oxford AstraZeneca phase III vaccine trial and how it differs from Pfizer and Moderna vaccine trials (1:30:42) -Rapid at home COVID testing (1:41:01) -What you can do today to take control of your health (1:49:03) 

For more on Chris Kresser, be sure to follow him on Instagram @chriskresser, on Facebook @chriskresserlac, on Twitter @chriskresser, on YouTube @chriskresser, and through his website https://chriskresser.com. To learn more about his ADAPT Health Coach Training Program and his ADAPT Practitioner Training Program visit: https://kresserinstitute.com. You can also find his book, The Paleo Cure at https://paleocurebook.com/.

Also mentioned in this episode:

Vitamin D -www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-77093-z -https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960076020302764?via%3Dihub#bib0100   Masks -https://reason.com/2020/11/16/masks-are-a-tool-not-a-panacea/ -https://pws.byu.edu/covid-19-and-masks -https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M20-6817   Vaccines -Dr. Hyman Video: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CHY-_aXHw3E/ -https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4037 -https://www.research.ox.ac.uk/Article/2020-11-23-oxford-university-breakthrough-on-global-covid-19-vaccine -https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)32466-1/fulltext   Testing -https://www.propublica.org/article/rapid-testing-is-less-accurate-than-the-government-wants-to-admit   Fluoride -https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/article-abstract/2748628   Alternative Ideas to Lock Downs That Need More Discussion -https://covidrecovery.ie/ -Katz COVID Reality Check 21: Left & Right, Right & Wrong, Front & Center https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sij0TJw8vcg&feature;=youtu.be

For more on Dhru Purohit, be sure to follow him on Instagram @dhrupurohit, on Facebook @dhruxpurohit, on Twitter @dhrupurohit, and on YouTube @dhrupurohit. You can also text Dhru at (302) 200-5643 or click here https://my.community.com/dhrupurohit.

Interested in joining Dhru’s Broken Brain Podcast Facebook Community? Submit your request to join here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2819627591487473/.

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