Healthy
Perspectives
By Tonya Bramlage
Getting a D in autoimmunity:
It’s not a bad grade, it’s a great benefi t!
It’s easy to be overwhelmed by the overload
of health information fl ying around on
television and the internet, particularly since
COVID-19 has come to town. When you’re
not sure what’s real and what isn’t and you
don’t want to call your doctor every day with
questions, it’s best to stick with the basics
... and in this case the basics include vital
dietary information such as knowing what
vitamins, minerals and fatty and amino acids
your body craves.
Let’s talk about one in particular that many
people’s normal diet is lacking – vitamin D.
By defi nition a vitamin is an organic molecule
that is an essential micronutrient which
an organism needs in small quantities for
the optimal functioning of its metabolism.
40 GASPARILLA MAGAZINE • March/April • 2021
The term “vitamin” does not include the
three other groups of essential nutrients;
minerals, essential fatty acids and essential
amino acids. Essential nutrients cannot be
synthesized in the organism, either at all or
not in suffi cient quantities and therefore must
be obtained through proper diet.
Vitamin D is needed to make antibodies
that regulate how our bodies respond to
and fi ght infections. This is accomplished by
increasing the production of natural antimicrobial
agents that kill microorganisms
associated with infections. Vitamin D plays a
vital role in the regulation and suppression of
the infl ammatory cytokine response, which
causes the most severe consequences of
COVID-19.