New Scientist reporting on Aug 3 Lancet publication
If newspaper headlines are to be believed, there’s a simple way to protect ourselves from the coronavirus: take a daily vitamin D tablet. Some say the benefits are so great that people should take mega-doses. But the scientific evidence doesn’t back up the claims. What should we believe?
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble compound made in the skin through the action of sunlight, and is also found in foods such as oily fish. It is chiefly known for building strong bones, but also plays a role in the immune system, including helping to kill virus-infected cells.
Some studies had previously suggested that taking vitamin D tablets wards off respiratory infections like coughs and colds, but in June the UK’s Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) concluded that the evidence is not strong enough to support such an effect. However, it does advise taking a daily supplement for bone health, as do many other health bodies.
What about covid-19? Several respected researchers have said that vitamin D has potential to protect people from getting being infected with covid-19 in the first place or if they are infected, help to reduce their illness, and some supporting evidence has started to accrue.
However most is in the form of observational studies, which can be misleading because they don’t prove low vitamin D causes infections, just that it correlates with them. For instance, one study to make headlines last week found that people admitted to hospital with covid-19 had half the risk of death if they had adequate vitamin D levels, was of this type.
A third factor could be causing both low vitamin D and susceptibility to the virus, for instance obesity, as the vitamin is stored in fat tissue.
Read more: The truth about supplements: do they work and should you take them?
The best way to assess the benefits of vitamin D supplements would be trials giving people with covid-19 the vitamin to see if can help treat their symptoms. One recent such study from Spain found that people in hospital with covid-19 who received high doses of vitamin D were much less likely to need intensive care than those who did not receive it.
However, the study was quite small, involving just 76 people, and there happened to be more cases of high blood pressure in the group that got no vitamin D, which would have made their prognosis worse. But even when the results are corrected for that difference, there was still a large effect, says José Manuel Quesada Gómez at the Hospital Universitario Reina Sofía in Córdoba, Spain, who was involved in the study.
The trial also only tells us that Vitamin D seems to work as a treatment for hospital patients, not that it works as a prevention method for the public. It is promising, but a larger study is needed, says Susan Lanham-New, who is a member of SACN.
Regardless of its impact on covid-19, there is one thing that all experts seem to agree on: most people in temperate climates like in the UK become vitamin D deficient over winter, when the sun is too weak to prompt production of the vitamin in the skin. And so, if only to support strong bones, most people should take a standard vitamin D supplement every day, from October onwards in the northern hemisphere.
If people are concerned about coronavirus and want to take double the daily recommended dose, it is unlikely to do harm, says Lanham-New. “The most important thing is to avoid vitamin D deficiency.”
Journal reference: The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, DOI: 10.1016/S2213-8587(20)30268-0
See also in VitaminDWiki
COVID-19 news
COVID-19 and Dark Skins
COVID-19 treated by Vitamin D - studies, reports, videos
As of Jan 24 had: 34 trials, 4 trial results, 12 meta-analyses and reviews, 46 observations, 25 recommendations, 42 associations, 83 speculations, 37 videos see also COVID-19 and Vitamin D: Governments. Health problems. Hospitals
and has the following recent updates
Top Vitamin D and COVID-19 recent updates
- COVID-19 2.7 X more likely to be severe if less than 30 ng of vitamin D (China) – Jan 2021
- 2.7 fewer COVID-19 hospital deaths in those having more than 30 ng of vitamin D – Mayo Jan 9, 2021
- Vitamin D Help Us Fight Infections - interview of Dr. Thakkar (transcript) Jan 20, 2021
- COVID-19 onset strongly associated with latitude in Europe (Vitamin D)– Jan 21, 2021
- France: 73 experts and 6 academies recommend vitamin D to prevent COVID-19 Jan 19, 2021
- Elderly COVID-19 patients getting 400,000 IU of vitamin D had better survival (Italy, April)– Jan 14, 2021
- Vitamin D-COVID interview by Dr. Campbell of Davies (member of UK Parliament) - Jan 17, 2021
- Iranians with COVID-19 were 2.3 X more likely to die if low vitamin D – Jan 2021
- Many COVID-19 risks are associated with low vitamin D (7 studies) – Systematic Review Jan 2021
- 40 ng of Vitamin D to fight COVID 15K to 50K weekly or 100K monthly - Spanish Jan 2021
- Poor COVID-19 prognosis was 6 X more likely if low vitamin D – Jan 21, 2021
- Unraveling the roles of vitamin D status and melanin during COVID-19 (Review) Jan 11
- 30 x fewer COVID-19 deaths in those getting 400,000 IU of Vitamin D - Jan 2021
- 2.8 X fewer COVID-19 nursing home deaths if add 10,000 IU Vitamin D daily for a week (small observation)- Jan 2021
- 3.7 X less likely to die of COVID-19 if supplemented with Vitamin D - meta-analysis Jan 5, 2021
- COVID-19 test positive 4.5 X more likely if had low vitamin D test within 4 years – Jan 6, 2021
- Don’t Let COVID-19 Patients Die With Vitamin D Deficiency - Jan 5, 2021
- Less likely to test positive for COVID-19 if higher Vitamin D – meta-analysis Jan 6, 2021
- Vitamin D reduces COVID-19 by 80 percent - anonymous meta-analysis - Jan 5, 2021
- COVID 19 Video - Drs. Seheult and Campbell : Lessons Learned and a Look Ahead - Jan 4
- Many drugs increase ACE2 and COVID-19 (176 page review) - Dec 2020
- Italian nursing home COVID-19 – 4X less likely to die if taking Vitamin D– Dec 22, 2020
- Take 50,000 IU of Vitamin D weekly before and after COVID-19 vaccination by VItaminDWiki
- COVID-19 lung infection upsets Vitamin D genes (so more or different form of Vit D is required) - Dec 22, 2020
- COVID-19 Disease and Vitamin D: A Mini-Review – Dec 15, 2020
- French Consensus – 200,000 IU of Vitamin D if get COVID-19 – Dec 22, 2020
- Rational approach to COVID-19: 50k-100k of Vitamin D weekly – Dec 2020
- Shift workers 2X more likely to get COVID-19 (low Vitamin D) - Dec 2020
- COVID-19 plus pneumonia in ICU with low vitamin D equaled Death - Dec 2020
- Excellent on-going analysis of Vitamin D and COVID-19 publications
- 7X less likely to die of COVID-19 if taking Vitamin D loading dose – Dec 11, 2020
- COVID-19 patients with low vitamin D had far fewer natural killer cells – Dec 2020
- COVID-19 Vitamin D: Overview of Evidence by Dr. Seheult (Video and transcript) - Dec 10, 2020
- 75 articles indicate that Vitamin D should fight COVID-19 – Evidence Review Dec 10, 2020
- COVID-19 Vitamin D: Overview by Dr. in Sri Lanka (Video and transcript) - Dec 8, 2020
- Vitamin D recommended to fight COVID-19 by 2 groups – Dec 7, 2020
- Vitamin D helps athletes while reducing their COVID-19 risk - Dec 4, 2020
- 5X more likely to test positive for COVID-19 if low vitamin D in previous 5 years (900,000 people) - Dec 4, 2020
- 5.8 X more likely to die of COVID-19 if low vitamin D - Systematic Review Dec 3, 2020
- Evidence of Vitamin D fighting COVID-19 etc. - take 4,000 IU if less than 20 ng (UK) – Dec 1, 2020
- 3.8 X higher risk of COVID-19 death if low vitamin D – Belgium Nov 25, 2020
- Hyperglycemic 2X more likely to have severe COVID-19 - Nov 2020 Diabetes
- COVID-19 protocol proposed in India includes Vitamin D - Nov 12, 2020
- A Medical School COVID-19 protocol includes Vitamin D for all phases – Marik Nov 2020
- Vitamin D has eliminated ICU COVID-19 in hospital in Dubai since June - Sept 26, 2020
- COVID-19 and Vitamin D: Health Authorities do not understand risk-reward – Nov 2020
- c19study.com/d has excellent synopsis of Vitamin D and COVID studies
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click to see 3 weeks in Nov 2020
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- COVID-19 – Putative Roles of Vitamin D – Nov 2020
- Fight COVID-19 without drugs or vaccines, Vitamin D is the single most-studied way – Nov 2020
- Hospital COVID-19 observation: 7X more likely to live if more than 20 ng of vitamin D– Nov 19, 2020
- Higher vitamin D associated with fewer cases and deaths in India Nov 2020
- COVID-19 defeated 3x faster by 420,000 IU Vitamin D nanoemulsion – RCT Nov 12, 2020
- 2X fewer COVID-19 deaths observed if infrequent vitamin D (2X more deaths if daily dose) – ClinicalTrial Oct 20, 2020
- Vitamin D and COVID-19 - observational studies found it helps, never hurts - Campbell Oct 31, 2020
- COVID-19 patients who happened to be taking Vitamin D did much better – Oct 27,2020
- 9X COVID-19 survival in nursing home if had 80,000 IU dose of vitamin D in previous month – Oct 2020
- Virtually no COVID-19 cases in countries having more than 30 ng of Vitamin D - Sept 17, 2020
- Rate of COVID-19 test positive is 40 pcnt lower if high vitamin D (192,000 people) - Holick Sept 2020
Many clinical trials are testing Vitamin D to fight COVID-19