A vitamin may hold key to SA’s – and younger people’s – low Covid-19 death rate

Denmark has ordered the culling of 17m mink after a strain of coronavirus that has jumped from the animal to humans, and back, has mutated. The UK, in turn, has barred visitors from Denmark, with concerns that Covid-19 vaccines in trials may not be effective for newer varieties of the disease.

But, as Robert Miller – a South African entrepreneur who has pursued medical research along with two doctors – points out: We need to prepare for the possibility that vaccines will never protect the world as much as we'd like from Covid-19. On the BizNews Inside Covid-19 podcast, he shares a hypothesis, published in a medical journal, a deficiency in NAD+ (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) – plus zinc – that is synthesised from Vitamin B3 is linked to Covid-19 symptoms and 'long Covid'.

South African bread is fortified, which might help explain why fewer have fallen seriously ill or died among groups who rely on cheaper loaves of bread, compared to how the disease has played out elsewhere. And the older you get, the less NAD+ you apparently have in your system. It's an interesting theory, and one that has been tested on mice, though scientists are not yet willing to put the idea into human trials. 

PS: Thinking of moving to the US? Find out more about the business opportunities that come with a green card at this week's sponsored Wednesday noon webinar with a specialist in this type of visa, CMB Regional Centers. Free, but you must register: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2883703850607113232.