Health & Fitness

Just four weeks after we celebrated our 10th annual Mercury Awareness and Mercury-Free Dentistry Week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration released a long-overdue safety communication on amalgam.

In an astounding about-face to its previous stance, the FDA issued a warning that mercury fillings may adversely affect pregnant women, children and other susceptible individuals, and should be avoided by these groups.

The safety communication¹ was posted September 24, 2020, and with this, we have suddenly achieved an incredibly important goal that we’ve had our sights on for the last decade!

Goal Achieved: FDA Releases Amalgam Safety Communication

As noted in the FDA’s statement:²

“Today, the FDA is issuing updated recommendations concerning dental amalgam and potential risks to certain high-risk individuals that may be associated with these mercury-containing fillings …

The FDA has found that certain groups may be at greater risk for potential harmful health effects of mercury vapor released from the device [amalgam]. As a result, the agency is recommending certain high-risk groups avoid getting dental amalgam whenever possible and appropriate.”

Groups identified by the FDA as being at increased risk for harmful effects from dental mercury fillings include:

Pregnant women and their developing fetuses

Women who are planning to become pregnant

Nursing women and their newborns and infants

Children, especially those younger than 6

People with pre-existing neurological disease such as multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease or Parkinson’s disease

People with impaired kidney function

People with known heightened sensitivity (allergy) to mercury or other components of dental amalgam

FDA Admits Amalgam Dangers

After years of pressure from Consumers for Dental Choice and its allies, the FDA finally admits the unvarnished truth about amalgam, noting³ that “Dental amalgam is a mixture of mercury and a powdered alloy made up of silver, tin and copper” that “releases small amounts of mercury vapor over time.”

The agency also admits there are “uncertainties” and risks associated with this mercury vapor release, especially for the high-risk groups listed. In particular, there is “the potential for mercury in dental amalgam to convert to other mercury compounds in the body,” and mercury could potentially accumulate in body fluids and tissues, resulting in “unintended health outcomes.”

“These uncertainties in the most vulnerable patients are why today we are recommending people who may be at high risk for adverse health effects of mercury exposure use non-mercury alternatives to dental amalgam, such as composite resins and glass ionomer cement fillings,” the FDA states.⁴

While the FDA downplays the importance of its changed recommendation by stressing that the benefits of dental amalgam likely “outweigh their risks for most patients,” this update is nothing short of monumental, and opens the door, finally, for the elimination of dental mercury for all patients in the U.S., as has been done in many other countries already.

I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you who have supported Consumers for Dental Choice during these past 10 years, as it is this organization’s unwavering dedication that has now borne fruit.

Consumers for Dental Choice Sued FDA — and Won

The FDA is legally required to classify — that is, issue a rule for — all medical devices, including dental amalgam. But for 30 years, FDA dodged its legal duty to classify amalgam.

Consumers for Dental Choice put an end to FDA's negligence when, in 2008, this dynamic nonprofit organization assembled plaintiffs and sued FDA, demanding that amalgam be classified. The judge agreed and told FDA to sit down with Consumers for Dental Choice to determine a deadline. FDA was compelled to commit to classifying amalgam by July 2009.

But when July 2009 came around, it was clear the FDA had not considered the science — especially the evidence of harm amalgam can cause vulnerable populations like children, pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers.

Its abysmal rule reflected this shortcoming, as it did not restrict the use of amalgam for these most vulnerable individuals. The rule did not even require that patients be told that amalgam is made of mercury. Nonetheless, FDA's 2009 rule did acknowledge that amalgam could be harmful, and that there was no proof of safety for the populations most susceptible to this toxin.

In response, Consumers for Dental Choice challenged FDA's rule, while simultaneously pursuing other opportunities to advance mercury-free dentistry, like defeating pro-mercury state dental boards, fighting for amalgam fact sheet laws for patients at the state level, and getting amalgam into the Minamata Convention on Mercury.

As Consumers for Dental Choice racked up win after win — regaining licenses for mercury-free dentists persecuted by state boards, gaining fact sheets to protect dental patients, achieving an amalgam reduction requirement in the Minamata Convention — the FDA’s rule was looking increasingly archaic.

Decade-Long Wait Is Over

Nearly a decade after the FDA issued its flawed amalgam rule, Consumers for Dental Choice launched a nonstop campaign focused on getting the FDA to move on amalgam.

They assembled an accomplished team of experts to approach the FDA, and in 2018, unveiled the “Chicago Declaration to End Mercury Use in the Dental Industry” at the University of Illinois School of Public Health.

This declaration, signed by more than 50 heavy-hitter environmental groups, called on the FDA "to bring its policies in line with the Federal Government as a whole and with its responsibilities under the Minamata Convention and to publicly advise a phase down of the use of mercury amalgams with the goal of phasing out entirely."

The declaration also called for the immediate ban on amalgam use in children, pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers. Working with key signatories to the “Chicago Declaration,” Consumers for Dental Choice were able to secure meetings with top officials at the FDA, during which they were able to submit scientific studies for the FDA to review.

The first sign of progress came with the FDA's September 2019 scientific review⁵ of amalgam, “Epidemiological Evidence on the Adverse Health Effects Reported in Relation to Mercury from Dental Amalgam,” which recognized that the elemental mercury in dental amalgam can convert inside the body into toxic methylmercury — the same type of mercury that the FDA warns about in fish.

The FDA also recognized bioaccumulative effects of mercury. Since patients are exposed to many sources of mercury — including high-mercury fish in their diets, occupational exposures and environmental mercury from waste incinerators — the mercury from amalgam could be the proverbial straw that breaks the camel's back.

FDA Reverses Stance on Amalgam

Consumers for Dental Choice also organized a strong showing of public support from you. Its online petition, which had nearly 50,000 signatures, was presented to the FDA in person at its first meeting with the agency. Many of you also submitted public comments on patient preferences to the FDA.

FDA was also made aware of the changes to amalgam rules in other parts of the world, such as amalgam phase-out dates set by the Philippines, Ireland, Slovakia, Finland, Nepal, Moldova, Czech Republic and New Caledonia, and the bans on amalgam use in children issued by the European Union, Vietnam and Tanzania.

Having finally reached the top of the FDA, Consumers for Dental Choice succeeded in persuading the agency to reopen and take another in-depth look at the amalgam policy.

A scientific advisory committee meeting — which included testimonies by 16 experts from the Children's Environmental Health Network, Tuskegee University, the International Indian Treaty Council, the Organic & Natural Health Association and the Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice, as well as city and county commissioners, a physician expert in environmental justice, a pharmacist specializing in toxicology and several attorneys — took place in November 2019.

You can see Consumers for Dental Choice's team and their colleagues in action in the video below, which features highlights of the advisory panel meeting. 

Ultimately, the FDA advisory committee members recommended the agency provide information to patients about the risks of dental amalgam, especially for vulnerable populations. Many even agreed that the use of amalgam needs to end, which has been the goal of Consumers for Dental Choice all along.

Final Step Ahead

Now that the FDA has finally broken its silence on the dangers of mercury for pregnant and nursing mothers, children and people with certain underlying conditions, the final step — a full ban on amalgam for all — looms near.

The American Dental Association, which has long defended amalgam’s safety, is now running out of allies. For now, however, the ADA still maintains its contrarian view.

In response to the FDA’s updated recommendations, the ADA stated⁶ that there was “no new scientific evidence cited as part of the FDA recommendation," and that the ADA “reaffirms its position that dental amalgam is a durable, safe and effective cavity-filling option.”

On the upside, the ADA affirmed its support of patient decision-making, agreeing with the FDA’s statement that “all dental restorative decisions and treatment options should be made by the patient and the dentist.”

Seeing how the ADA’s ethical rules in the past were used by state dental boards to bar dentists from even informing patients about the fact that mercury is a key ingredient in amalgam, and how the ADA deceptively promoted amalgam as “silver fillings,” this shift, while small, is better than nothing.

In its September 24, 2020, safety communication on dental amalgam,⁷ the FDA specifically advises dentists against using the term “silver filling,” “as this may imply the filling is made solely from silver and does not accurately convey the mercury component of this restorative material.” The FDA also highlights this in its Dental Devices description page for amalgam, which received its last update September 29, 2020, noting that:⁸

“Dental amalgam is a mixture of metals, consisting of liquid (elemental) mercury and a powdered alloy composed of silver, tin, and copper. Approximately half (50%) of dental amalgam is elemental mercury by weight. The chemical properties of elemental mercury allow it to react with and bind together the silver/copper/tin alloy particles to form an amalgam.

Dental amalgam fillings are often referred to as ‘silver fillings’ because of their silver-like appearance, although the use of this term in not recommended because the term does not correctly explain the materials in amalgam.”

Most of us who have fought for this updated FDA amalgam policy for the past decade are still in shock that it finally happened, and without any significant forewarning. That said, it is fantastic good news, and we extend our thanks to all of you who have fought this battle with us.

The FDA’s updated recommendations change everything, because once amalgam is recognized as a hazard for specific high-risk groups, it doesn’t take much to expand that logic to include all people.

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On August 28, 2020, Ireland began a national trial of their new Health Passport Ireland initiative.¹ “Protecting Society and Economy,” their website reads, Ireland’s health passports are actually nothing more than a way to track and display results of COVID-19 testing — and facilitate increased COVID-19 testing for businesses and the public, plus display COVID-19 vaccination status, when one becomes available.²

At this time, Ireland’s health passports are being launched on a trial basis within a range of industries, including health care (hospitals and nursing homes), child care, education, agriculture, entertainment and others.³ It’s plausible that they could soon be required to gain entry into schools, hospitals, offices, airports and more.

It’s being touted as a measure that increases freedom — “Using the rapid real-time scanning technology, we can now enjoy freer travel with increased protection from COVID-19,” Health Passport Ireland states⁴ — but one day, when you head out the door, you may not be able to simply walk into a shop, restaurant or even a doctor’s office or your place of work like you used to, unless you can prove you don’t have COVID-19 and have been vaccinated via your “green” health passport app.

Display Your Scan ‘Whenever Appropriate’

As for how it works, the new health passport system claims to combine the “most advanced and validated testing solutions” so you can have immediate access to your COVID-19 status, which you can then choose to display or scan whenever appropriate.⁵ This involves first getting tested for COVID-19, after which an authorized medical administrator will create a Health Passport Ireland account in your name and update your COVID-19 test results.

Users will then need to download the Health Passport mobile app onto their phone, which will automatically be linked to their most recent COVID-19 test results. If your health passport turns green, it indicates you’ve tested negative “allowing you to safely enjoy daily life.” If not, you’ll be given a red status, at which point “you should self-isolate with medical attention.”⁶

Further, test results automatically expire over time, turning your health passport amber — a warning that it’s time to get tested again.

For those who haven’t been tested, Health Passport Ireland states that you can still immediately use the technology by downloading the app and using it to “easily scan others whenever needed,” and adding that by scanning others to get their COVID-19 status, “It gives great security for you and your family throughout our daily lives, for example when availing of services, whilst travelling, at events, at work and much more.”⁷

So, to sum up, in order to achieve the freedom you need to go about your normal, daily life, you only need to get tested for COVID-19, have a health administrator create a Health Passport account in your name, download the app on your phone, receive your COVID-19 test results on your phone (and get retested as required), then display your COVID-19 status whenever it’s requested.

Health Passports Going Global

Ireland’s health passport is a world’s first, developed by Irish-based ROQU Group. It’s designed, however, to expand on a global scale and is compatible with all official COVID-19 tests, including swab tests, blood tests and rapid diagnostic tests. According to Robert Quirke, president and CEO of ROQU Group:⁸

"Around the world, there is continued frustration and disappointment due to COVID-19 restrictions … Using our global visibility, we are helping local companies by making the best COVID-19 testing solutions readily available to all. As testing and research continues to improve, we want to ensure that Irish society and economy can easily access testing solutions that offer the highest levels of clinical validation.

The purpose of the pilot trial is to demonstrate how Health Passport works across a variety of real-life business and social scenarios.”

Expansion plans are underway, with ROQU noting that the system will soon be rolled out globally in countries such as Canada, the U.S., the U.K., Germany, France, Italy and Kenya, with other locations following.

“No matter where your test is performed worldwide, this can now be safely and securely updated into your private Health Passport account. This is vital for passengers departing and arriving into Ireland,” Health Passport Ireland stated.⁹

Ireland Pushed Health Passport for People With Disabilities

In June 2019, months before the pandemic was declared, Ireland’s Health Service Executive (HSE) launched another health passport initiative, this time supposedly to help people with intellectual disabilities gain equal access to health care.¹⁰ The passports, which are available to people with intellectual disabilities within certain health care groups, include multiple sections, detailing personal information, communication abilities, medical history and more.

Once again touted as a way to improve health care access, privacy concerns aren’t mentioned, nor is the fact that, should such a passport fall into the wrong hands, it could be used to promote discrimination as opposed to ending it.

Vaccination Status Will Also Be Displayed

Health Passport Ireland (soon to be Health Passport Canada, U.S., Germany and more) isn’t only intended to display your COVID-19 test results. It will also display your official vaccination status, once a COVID-19 vaccine becomes available. Considering you can also link the app to other medical services and records, it’s not a stretch to assume it may one day be used to track the status of all of your vaccines and other medical procedures.

It seems we may soon be living in a world where your personal health data — including results from COVID-19 testing and data showing whether or not you’ve received certain vaccines — must be shared and authenticated before you’re able to enter a sports arena, travel by air or even enter your workplace.

Ireland’s Health Passport is only one such system in the works. The technology behind such innovations, which many are calling a threat to civil liberties and privacy, is already available to the general public in the App Store and Google Play via Civic Technologies’ Civic Wallet. Civic Technologies, which bills itself as a “leading innovator in digital identity solutions,”¹¹ released its “Civic Wallet” app June 16, 2020. Previously it was only available in private beta mode.

In addition to offering a way for users to send and receive digital currency, including bitcoin, ethereum, CVC and USDC, which are U.S. dollars converted to assets on the ethereum blockchain,¹² it will also offer proof-of-health verifications via its so-called Health Key.

Civic Technologies, in turn, has partnered with Circle Medical, an affiliate of San Francisco-based hospital UCSF Health, which will use the app so 500 of its employees can prove their COVID-19 health status. Civic plans to roll out its proof-of-health verification for companies with more than 500 employees.

Contact Tracing Army in the Works

In May 2020, Johns Hopkins launched an online course to train “an army” of contact tracers, for which hundreds of people joined within hours of its release. Those who take the course will be trained to interview people diagnosed with COVID-19, identify their close contacts who might have been exposed and then give them guidance on how to self-quarantine for two weeks.¹³

Meanwhile, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, set up with funds from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has partnered with the ID2020 Alliance to launch a digital identity program called ID2020 in Bangladesh.¹⁴ Your health information, in the form of COVID-19 test results, is set to be sent to an electronic database so that contact tracers can enforce isolation and quarantines, even if you’re healthy.

The Rockefeller Foundation’s April 21, 2020, white paper, “National COVID-19 Testing Action Plan — Strategic Steps to Reopen Our Workplaces and Our Communities,”¹⁵ also lays out a strategic framework that is clearly intended to become part of a permanent surveillance and social control structure that severely limits personal liberty and freedom of choice.

The Rockefeller plan calls for COVID-19 testing and tracing of 1 million Americans per week to start, incrementally ramping it up to 3 million and then 30 million per week (the “1-3-30 plan”) over the next six months until the entire population has been covered.

While it’s been said that quarantine will be voluntary, some related documents state that if you do not comply, police may enforce a detention order to assure compliance. It’s also stated in some states that you can be fined up to $2,000 a day or incarcerated for not staying in quarantine.¹⁶

A Health Passport, scanned at an airport or other entry point, would also be an easy way for authorities to keep tabs on your travel history and enforce self-quarantines for travelers coming from certain areas.

For instance, the city of Chicago issued an emergency travel order that mandates visitors coming from states with 15 or more new confirmed COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents according to a seven-day average, must quarantine for 14 days.

While the quarantine wasn’t being actively enforced, the city health commissioner announced that anyone who willfully defies the self-quarantine order could face fines of up to $7,000.¹⁷

Will Medical Privacy Continue To Be Violated?

Ultimately, this and other privacy violations, like contact tracing apps, could lead to a future in which a vaccine certificate or “unique patient ID number” replaces personal identifications such as your driver’s license, state ID card, Social Security card and passport, and is tied not only to your medical records in total, but also your finances.

If you may soon be required to “prove” that you’ve passed certain medical tests and received certain vaccines just to enter a building or go to work, it’s concerning to think what other information may also be required one day, and whether states will continue to take away additional freedoms and your right to privacy in the name of public health.

Apps that started out to track your COVID-19 test results and vaccination status could turn into tools of control and power, making it impossible for you to attend school, work or travel unless you have the right color or results.

“The next step could be using the same system to track other personal data — a person’s criminal record and social-media profile. And then all the information could be integrated into one online database that contains the entire personal history of every citizen — in the name of safety, of course,” Jurica Dujmovic wrote in Market Watch.¹⁸

“This crucial first step must be met with resolute resistance, lest it becomes a gateway to something that we, as a society, will no longer be able to defend ourselves from,” he adds. “If that happens, COVID-19 will be the least of our concerns.”

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Olives have been widely enjoyed for centuries. Homer called olive oil “liquid gold” and it is closely associated with all past and present civilizations near the Mediterranean Sea.¹ Wild olive trees were likely first domesticated from those growing in the Mediterranean basin; some historians believe it was the olive that made the plant attractive enough to do so. But the deliberate act of making olive oil happened about 2500 BC.²

The olive tree also has deep cultural symbolism, often representing peace and health. For instance, the official emblem of the World Health Organization is surrounded by olive tree branches.³ The symbolic use of the branches and leaves may have originated from the traditional use of the leaves in folk medicine.

Olives are too bitter to be eaten directly, so they must be cured first.⁴ The polyphenol responsible for the bitterness is oleuropein.⁵ The fruit is rich in phytonutrients, which may explain the health benefits attributed to them. These include a positive impact on the respiratory system, musculoskeletal system, digestive system, cardiovascular system and immune system.

In the current market, testing has revealed food fraud when it comes to properly identifying extra virgin olive oil, which some estimate affects 50% of the olive oil sold in the U.S. Up to 80% of the oil may not meet the legal standard for extra virgin olive oil.⁶

Effects of Natural Remedy May Be From Polyphenol Oleuropein

Both the olives and the extract from olive leaves are beneficial to your health. Mounting evidence demonstrates beneficial effects of olive derivatives such as olive leaf extract (OLE) may be strongly linked to the polyphenols found in the plant and plant products. OLE contains a higher quantity of polyphenols and greater variety than those found in extra virgin olive oil.

Interestingly, the polyphenols between the leaves and the fruit have structural differences that researchers believe may improve the capacity of OLE to affect health. The most studied antioxidant phytonutrient in the plant is oleuropein, which is found exclusively in olives.⁷ Oleuropein is the most prevalent found in the leaves, pulp, seed and peel of olives.⁸

Evidence shows that the phytonutrient exerts an antioxidant effect through different pathways and it helps counteract oxidative stress in a similar fashion to that of vitamin C and vitamin E. The phytochemical also has an anti-inflammatory effect through the inhibition of proinflammatory cytokines.

Oleuropein has been shown to reduce interleukin-1 beta and nitric oxide in an inflammatory response. Evidence suggests the compound has an anti-atherosclerotic effect and could decrease lipid levels. In this way, researchers believe it reduces atherosclerosis and suppresses inflammatory factors.

The leaves of the plant have also been traditionally used as a mouth cleanser and to treat intestinal discomfort, diarrhea and urinary tract infections.⁹ Oleuropein administered to liver damaged mice demonstrated protective effects by reducing hepatic steatosis and the progression to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.

The plant uses the phytochemical as a natural resistance to microbial attack, which lab evidence demonstrates is active against Gram negative and positive bacteria. Oleuropein additionally has antimycoplasmal activity against antibiotic-resistant strains. Antiviral activity is demonstrated against hepatitis B and HIV.

Mitochondrial DNA damage from oxidative stress can lead to neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease. Some data reveal that oleuropein has a potential neuroprotective effect, particularly in animal studies involving aged rats. The treated animals demonstrated that administration of oleuropein protects against neuronal loss.

Evidence Supports Anticancer Effect of OLE

A traditional Mediterranean diet has long been linked with a lower prevalence of cancer and cardiovascular disease. One of the main components of the diet is olive oil, which has demonstrated an anti-inflammatory and protective effect against free radicals. The effects of bioactive components in OLE and olive oil may be a result of the phytoestrogen action.¹⁰

The similar structure has been hypothesized to reduce the progression and problems of hormone-related cancers.¹¹ Some of the most prevalent types include breast cancer, uterine and colorectal in women, and prostate and colorectal cancer in men, as well as melanoma.¹²

Researchers hypothesize that as people live longer, the prevalence of cancer is likely to continue to rise.¹³ Making strong lifestyle choices, such as eating foods to reduce the inflammatory response, may play a pivotal role in lowering diseases such as cancer that are associated with age.

Olive tree leaves have been widely used in traditional medicine in the Mediterranean region. Research into the effects of extra virgin olive oil is abundant, yet evidence suggests that the bioactive components in OLE offer greater and possibly more potent results.

Olive trees produce large amounts of polyphenols to combat pathogens and insect attack. The concentration and variety are influenced by the age of the tree, geographical location and cultivar. However, it should be noted, while there are thousands of phytochemicals within the leaf, they are not present as independent compounds.

The combination of these compounds may be what confers the health benefits. There is evidence OLE and other polyphenols have the ability to scavenge the overabundant production of reactive oxygen species and nitrogen species responsible for damaging DNA and playing an important role in aging and pathology.

The antioxidant properties of polyphenols are widely accepted as the pathway for health benefits. In past research, polyphenols found in olive leaf extract have inhibited the growth of pancreatic, breast, prostate and colorectal cancer cell lines. Scientists conducting a literature review on the effects of OLE concluded:¹⁴

“There is strong evidence from cell models which demonstrates that olive polyphenols, and specifically the combination found in olive leaf, are able to modulate and interact with molecular pathways and in doing so may inhibit the progression and development of cancer.”

Duration of Upper Respiratory Infections Also Reduced

Evidence also shows the antiviral components of olive leaf extract can shorten an upper respiratory illness. In one study, 32 high school athletes were engaged in a randomized control trial using either a placebo or olive leaf extract equivalent to 100 milligrams (mg) of oleuropein.¹⁵

The athletes took the supplement for nine weeks during competition while the researchers measured their training load and respiratory illness symptoms twice a week. They found that taking the olive leaf extract did not reduce the incidence of an upper respiratory infection, but it did cause a 28% reduction in the number of sick days the athletes required to recover.

Oleuropein found in olive tree extract also has environmental uses. The antiviral properties have demonstrated the ability to reduce infectivity from viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus (VHSV).¹⁶ This is a highly contagious and fatal disease in fish that can affect both fresh and marine species.

It is found in farmed fish and wild marine fish. First reported in the Great Lakes region in 2005, VHSV is known to infect 40 different species from salmon, trout and yellow perch, to walleye, northern pike and minnows.¹⁷

High Blood Pressure Effect on Identical Twins

High blood pressure can damage your heart and blood vessels by making them work harder and less efficiently. Overtime, high blood pressure damages the inner lining of the arteries. It is often called “the silent killer” since symptoms are not usually noticeable. You'll only know if your blood pressure is high by having it measured.¹⁸

With the new definition of high blood pressure in 2017,¹⁹ the prevalence of the condition changed. In 2015 to 2016, the prevalence was 29% in all adults in the U.S.²⁰ After the upper limit for high blood pressure was reduced from 140/90 to 130/80, the prevalence rose to 45%.²¹ Nearly half of all adults in the U.S. now have high blood pressure.

Treatment often includes lifestyle changes first, and pharmacological treatment second. In one study researchers tested olive leaf extract as a food supplement in a group of 40 identical twins who had borderline high blood pressure.²² Twin studies are an important means of testing interventions while controlling for genetic differences.²³

One twin in each pair received olive leaf extract for eight weeks or advice on changing lifestyle factors that impact blood pressure. Every two weeks, the researchers measured the group's body weight, blood pressure, heart rate, glucose and lipids. In those who received the olive leaf extract, the dose was 500 or 1000 mg per day.

The researchers found there was a change in blood pressure that appeared to be dependent on the dose. In those receiving 500 mg, the systolic (top number) went down 6 mmHg more than the control group, or down 13 mmHg in those taking 1,000 mg versus 500 mg.

After eight weeks, the average blood pressures were nearly identical to baseline in the control group, but they were significantly reduced in the group taking 1,000 mg. Researchers also found there were differences in LDL cholesterol measurements. They concluded that OLE can lower blood pressure and cholesterol.

More Benefits to Olive Leaf Extract

Olive leaf extract comes in capsules and in liquid form. As demonstrated in the video above, the liquid can be added to a smoothie. Women who are pregnant or nursing should avoid OLE, however. Since it can lower your blood pressure, people on blood pressure medication should consult with their physician if they choose to use it.

There are topical uses for OLE, including those related to hair care. In one animal study, researchers showed that topical administration could induce hair growth.²⁴ While mice are often used to study skin diseases, further testing is needed to determine the potential to promote hair growth in humans.

OLE is also a traditional remedy for high blood sugar. In an animal study and a human trial, OLE lowered blood sugar. Scientists studied 79 people with Type 2 diabetes and gave them either a placebo or 500 mg of OLE each day. Over the course of 14 weeks, the people taking the OLE had significantly lower hemoglobin A1C and fasting plasma insulin levels.²⁵

People taking medication to control their blood sugar should consult with their physician before trying to supplement with OLE, because doing both can result in a dangerously low or even lethally low blood sugar level.

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Aside from insulin resistance, discussed in “The Real Pandemic Is Insulin Resistance,” mounting research reveals vitamin D deficiency is one of the primary risk factors for severe COVID-19 infection, hospitalization, complications and death.

Vitamin D can strengthen your immune system in a matter of a few weeks, and according to recent research, correcting vitamin D deficiency could save thousands of lives in Great Britain alone. As reported by conservative member of the British Parliament David Davis and writer Matt Ridley in a September 26, 2020, article in The Telegraph:¹

“As we face six tough months of curfews, isolation and economic misery, with vaccines a distant hope, testing struggling to control the virus, and the hospitalization rate once again rising, it’s surely time to try anything reasonable to slow the pandemic down.

There is one chemical that is known to be safe, known to be needed by many people anyway, known to have a clinically proven track record of helping people fight off respiratory diseases, and is so cheap no big firm is pushing it: vitamin D. It is not a silver bullet, but growing evidence suggests that it might help prevent COVID turning serious in some people.”

Randomized Control Trial Confirms Vitamin D Cuts ICU Rates

As reported by The Telegraph, while initial support for vitamin D relied on data showing correlations between vitamin D levels and infection rates and COVID-19 outcomes, we now have a randomized, controlled trial backing it up.

The study,^2,3,4,5 published online August 29, 2020, found hospitalized COVID-19 patients who received supplemental calcifediol (a vitamin D3 analog also known as 25-hydroxycholecalciferol or 25-hydroxyvitamin D) in addition to standard of care — which included the use of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin — had significantly lower intensive care unit admissions. It also eliminated deaths.

Patients in the vitamin D arm (50 out of 76 enrolled patients) received 532 micrograms of calcifediol on the day of admission (equivalent to 106,400 IUs of vitamin D⁶) followed by 266 mcg on Days 3 and 7 (equivalent to 53,200 IUs⁷). After that, they received 266 mcg once a week until discharge, ICU admission or death.

Of those receiving calcifediol, only 2% required ICU admission, compared to 50% of those who did not get calcifediol. In other words, the addition of vitamin D reduced a patient’s risk of needing intensive care 25-fold.⁸

What’s more, none of those in the vitamin D arm died, compared to 7.6% in the standard care group. The graph below, created by GrassrootsHealth,⁹ illustrates the difference in ICU admissions and deaths between the two trial groups.

As noted by Davis and Ridley:¹⁰

“While the sample is too small to conclude that vitamin D abolishes the risk of death in COVID patients, it is nonetheless an astonishing result, and corresponds with Prof Backman’s assertion that correcting vitamin deficiency might cut mortality by half. The Government should now act on this latest evidence.

Vitamin D supplementation is cheap — it costs less than a penny a pill — and readily available. If you allocated this to the identified comorbidity risk group it would cost £45 million: to these, plus to every ethnic minority citizen, about £200 million, to every obese person somewhat more. These costs are trivial rounding errors by comparison with the costs of lockdown.

With hospitals already facing pressures from influenza during the winter months, any way of reducing this strain should be taken up. This will no doubt save thousands of lives in any second wave. There is now no reason not to act.”

Vitamin D Sufficiency Cuts Fatalities in Half

Another study,^11,12,13 published online September 25, 2020, in PLOS ONE, found COVID-19 patients with a vitamin D level of at least 30 ng/mL had a significantly lower risk of adverse clinical outcomes, including a 51.5% lower risk of dying.

Hospital data of 235 COVID-19-positive patients were analyzed for this study. Of those, 74% had severe symptoms and 32.8% were vitamin D deficient. As reported by the authors:¹⁴

“After adjusting for confounding factors, there was a significant association between vitamin D sufficiency and reduction in clinical severity, inpatient mortality serum levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) and an increase in lymphocyte percentage.

Only 9.7% of patients older than 40 years who were vitamin D sufficient succumbed to the infection compared to 20% who had a circulating level of 25(OH)D< 30 ng/ml.

The significant reduction in serum CRP, an inflammatory marker, along with increased lymphocytes percentage suggest that vitamin D sufficiency also may help modulate the immune response possibly by reducing risk for cytokine storm in response to this viral infection.

Therefore, it is recommended that improving vitamin D status in the general population and in particular hospitalized patients has a potential benefit in reducing the severity of morbidities and mortality associated with acquiring COVID-19.”

One of the co-authors of this study was Dr. Michael Holick, a professor of medicine, physiology and biophysics and molecular medicine at Boston University School of Medicine. Holick is also on GrassrootsHealth’s vitamin D expert panel,¹⁵ and is widely recognized as one of the leading vitamin D experts in the world.

Higher Vitamin D Lowers Risk of Positive SARS-CoV-2 Test

In a September 17, 2020, paper,¹⁶ Holick and his team also reported findings showing that people with lower vitamin D levels in their blood had a significantly higher risk of testing positive for SARS-CoV-2.

Analysis of vitamin D results from the preceding 12 months and SARS-CoV-2 test data from mid-March through mid-June 2020 from 191,779 patients revealed the higher the vitamin D level the lower the risk of testing positive for SARS-CoV-2.

People with a vitamin D level of at least 55 ng/mL (138 nmol/L) had a 47% lower SARS-CoV-2 positivity rate compared to those with a level below 20 ng/mL (50 nmol/L).¹⁷

Even after adjustment for gender, age, ethnicity and latitude, the risk of having a positive test result was 43% lower among those with a vitamin D level of 55 ng/mL compared to those with a level of 20 ng/mL.

Granted, there are many reasons to be suspicious of COVID-19 tests. They may well be worthless, considering the high rate of false positives. Still, at present, it’s the only metric we have to assess the potential value of any given intervention.

Experts Weigh in on Vitamin D

In the video above, Holick, along with Rufus Greenbaum, a citizen scientist in the U.K., physicist Gareth Davies, Ph.D., and Drs. William Grant and David Grimes present important new information about vitamin D as it relates to COVID-19:

Britons Are Sorely Deficient in Vitamin D

As noted by Greenbaum, the information presented is aimed at everyone, including national and local health policy experts, politicians, health care professionals, insurance companies and laypersons.

Additional information can be found on vitaminduk.com. There, you can also download each expert’s presentation. For clarity, the U.S. and Europe use different units of measure for vitamin D. The U.S. uses ng/mL and Europe, including the U.K. use nmol/L. You can easily translate ng/mL into nmol/L by multiplying the ng/mL measurement by 2.5.

For reference, GrassrootsHealth experts (which include Holick) recommend a vitamin D level between 40 ng/mL and 60 ng/mL (100 nmol/L to 150 nmol/L) for optimal health and disease prevention.

For bone health, a level of 30 ng/mL (75 nmol/L) is recommended. In the U.S., a vitamin D level below 20 ng/mL (50 nmol/L) is considered deficient, whereas the U.K. department of health defines deficiency as a level below 10 ng/mL (25 ng/mL).

According to Greenbaum’s data, many Britons are so deficient in vitamin D that to achieve a target level of 100 nmol/L or higher, they need to increase their blood levels of vitamin D by four to six times.

Now’s the Time to Optimize Your Vitamin D Level

As we move into fall in the Western Hemisphere, now’s the time to start optimizing your vitamin D level. Experts are already warning that SARS-CoV-2 may reemerge in the fall when temperatures and humidity levels drop, thereby increasing the virus’ transmissibility. Optimizing your vitamin D is particularly important if you are elderly or have darker skin. To make sure your immune system has a chance to work optimally, follow these three steps.

For more details about how vitamin D can help prevent and combat COVID-19, see my special report, available for free download on StopCOVIDcold.com (no opt-in required). There, you can also find a two-minute COVID risk quiz to assess your personal risk for developing COVID-19.

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