Vitamin D deficiency in the body provokes the development of pneumonia twice as often as usual.

This conclusion was made by specialists from an institute in Eastern Finland. Scientists analyzed the medical records of 1,400 Finnish residents aged 53-73 who had pneumonia and found that most patients had very low levels of vitamin D at the time of illness.

In the period from 1998 to 2001, analyzes were taken from patients to measure the level of vitamin D. The researchers also studied materials on incidence for the same period of time. It turned out that people with a lack of vitamin D were 2.5 times more likely to get pneumonia.

Earlier studies suggest that a deficiency of this vitamin seriously weakens the protective functions of the body and the immune system. In addition to pneumonia, people with vitamin D deficiency often suffer from seasonal colds.

Finnish researchers note that in the northernmost countries, vitamin D deficiency is common, since in the northern hemisphere cold weather is a daily reality, and the number of sunny days a year is minimal.

Vitamin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin can be obtained in a “natural” way only in the warm season, and in the remaining months, doctors strongly recommend taking multivitamin complexes that can maintain the required level of trace elements and vitamins in the body. Finnish doctors, for example, recommend that all residents of their country over 60 take at least 20 mcg of vitamin D every day to maintain immunity.