Filmmaker Tyler Perry hopped on social media to share the importance of taking a vitamin D supplement as way to protect our health during the pandemic.
The movie mogul posted a short Instagram video Tuesday sharing the benefits of the fat-soluble vitamin that is found in very few foods (such as the fatty flesh of salmon), noting that “it helps with immune and respiratory health.”
The Sistas executive producer was quick to note that vitamin D, which that can be taken as a supplement, wasn’t an antidote for the ailment.
“This is not a cure for COVID-19. Please hear me clearly. This is not a cure for COVID-19,” he stressed.
Perry went on to say that his vitamin D is low and it’s common for most Black people to experience this too due to our skin’s melanin, which blocks vitamin D produced from sunlight. And there’s a downside to this deficiency as it relates to the novel coronavirus.
“What I read in a study out of Spain, Italy and China is that a lot of people who died from COVID were low in vitamin D,” the director said. “Listen to me, I think that if America, this entire nation, was keeping [a] recording of who was dying and if they were low in vitamin D or deficient in different areas, we would know it—but apparently no one is keeping a record, which is insane to me.”
Perry suggested that fans consult with their doctors about their levels as we continue to wade through this pandemic.
Earlier this month, this virus hit close to home for the director. On April 8, Perry shared that Charles Gregory, a long-time crew member and hair stylist “lost his battle with COVID-19.” In the Instagram caption for that post, Perry wrote that while everyone can “contract this virus. It is Black people who are dying from it in much larger numbers. This thing is real, Black people.”
According to the CDC, Black communities are disproportionately affected by the disease. People with pre-existing conditions such as diabetes, asthma, obesity and high blood pressure may fair worse than those without these illnesses when it comes to the coronavirus. The novel coronavirus has infected over a million people in the U.S. with 60,000 deaths.