The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) – A supportive approach with selected micronutrients
Int. Journal for Vitamin and Nutrition Research. https://doi.org/10.1024/0300-9831/a000693
Uwe Gröber - Academy for Micronutrient medicine (AMM), Essen, Germany
Michael F. Holick - Boston University Medical Center, Massachusetts, USA
Increase Vitamin D as soon as possible - to prevent infection or reduce symptom severity
If wait till hospital:
Start with initial bolus dose of 50,000 - 200,000 IUs of vitamin D
Followed by 50,000 - 60,000 weekly while in hospital
Note: >70% of the RCT using Vitamin D to fight COVID-19 are using
at least 100,000 IU during the first week
COVID-19 treated by Vitamin D - studies, reports, videos
As of March 31, 2024, the VitaminDWiki COVID page had: trial results, meta-analyses and reviews, Mortality studies see related: Governments, HealthProblems, Hospitals, Dark Skins, All 26 COVID risk factors are associated with low Vit D, Fight COVID-19 with 50K Vit D weekly Vaccines Take lots of Vitamin D at first signs of COVID 166 COVID Clinical Trials using Vitamin D (Aug 2023) Prevent a COVID death: 9 dollars of Vitamin D or 900,000 dollars of vaccine - Aug 2023
5 most-recently changed Virus entries
Note: Zinc proven to treat colds when given every 2 hours. no knowlege of the dosing periods needed for COVID-19
Note: Two COVID-19 clinical trials are using a combination Vitamin D and Zinc
Virus and Zinc
- COVID was associated with low Vitamin D or Zinc – umbrella review Feb 2023
- 23 COVID mitigation strategies: at least 6 of which increase Vitamin D in cells - Sept 2022
- COVID and Zinc - many studies
- Surviving COVID with vitamins and minerals is not a myth – June 2022
- Vitamin D, Zinc, Magnesium etc. are needed to fight COVID – April 2022
- How vitamins D, C, Zinc, and Selenium might fight COVID - Dec 2021
- Nutritional supplementation during COVID hospitalization helped - RCT - Jan 2022
- COVID-19 decreased risk if add Vitamin D, A, C, NAC, Se, Zn, or Omega-3 – Dec 2021
- COVID-19 patients had low levels of Zinc, Vitamin A, Vitamin D, and Vitamin C – Sept 2021
- COVID-19 risk reduced 4X by each of: Vitamin D, Omega-3, Curcumin, Zinc (each increases D in cells)
- Vitamin D, C, A, and E, as well as Iron, Se, and Zinc each augment vaccine response – July 2021
- How Vitamin D, Magnesium, Omega-3 and Zinc prevent and treat COVID-19 etc. – June 2021
- COVID-19 treatment outside of hospital – Vitamin D, zinc, etc. – May 2021
- Important Role of Micronutrients during COVID-19 (Zinc, Vitamin D, C, Folate) – May 5, 2021
- Many supplements appear to fight COVID-19 – vitamin D cited 52 times – May 2021
- Zinc therapy for COVID-19 – Feb 2021
- COVID-19 alternative treatments - real-time database
- Overview of reviews of COVID-19 and vitamin D, etc. – April 2021
- COVID-19 what it is, prevention by Functional Nutrition doctor - Feb 2021
- Vitamin D, Zinc, etc. look promising for COVID-19 (Holick) - Jan 25, 2021
- Less than 10 dollars of Vitamin D per COVID-19 life saved in Myanmar - Jan 2021
- Micronutrients for COVID-19: Vitamin D, Vitamin C, Melatonin, Zinc, Se, etc. - Dec 2020
- Zinc (which increases vitamin D in tissues) may both prevent and treat COVID-19
- COVID-19 possible therapies: Vitamin D, Selenium, Zinc, Vitamin C, Potassium, Resveratrol , etc.– Aug 5, 2020
- 7 reasons to think that Zinc should fight COVID-19 – July 2020
- Observations that Vitamin D, Zinc, and Selenium separately reduce COVID-19 – Aug 7, 2020
- Mild COVID-19 quickly treated by Zinc lozenges in 4 people – June 6, 2020
- Zinc, respiratory tract infections and COVID-19 – July 2020
- Fight COVID-19 with Vitamin D, Vitamin C, Zinc, Selenium, Resveratrol, etc. - Sardi May 12, 2020
- Common cold prevented and treated by Vitamin D, Vitamin C, Zinc, and Echinacea – review April 2018
- Loss of smell may be related to low Zinc or perhaps low vitamin D
- Dengue fever immune response and micronutrients (vitamins D, E, A, and Zinc, Iron, Chromium) – Nov 2015
- Overview Colds and flu and Vitamin D
 Download the PDF from VitaminDWiki
Zinc and COVID-19
Worldwide the pandemic of COVID-19 spreads rapidly and has had an enormous public health impact with substantial morbidity and mortality especially in high-risk groups, such as older people and patients with comorbidities like diabetes, dementia or cancer. In the absence of a vaccine against COVID-19 there is an urgent need to find supportive therapies that can stabilize the immune system and can help to deal with the infection, especially for vulnerable groups such as the elderly. This is especially relevant for our geriatric institutions and nursing homes. A major potential contributing factor for elderly is due to their high incidence of malnutrition: up to 80% among the hospitalized elderly. Malnutrition results when adequate macronutrients and micronutrients are lacking in the diet. Often missing in public health discussions around preventing and treating COVID-19 patients are nutritional strategies to support optimal function of their immune system. This is surprising, given the importance that nutrients play a significant role for immune function.
Several micronutrients, such as
- vitamin D,
- retinol,
- vitamin C,
- selenium and
- zinc
are of special importance supporting both the adaptive and innate immune systems. As suboptimal status or deficiencies in these immune-relevant micronutrients impair immune function and reduces the resistance to infections, micronutrient deficiencies should therefore be corrected as soon as possible, especially in the elderly and other vulnerable groups.
According to epidemiological, experimental and observational studies, some case reports and a few intervention studies the supplementation of vitamin D and/or zinc are promising. The multiple anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory effects of Vitamin D could explain its protective role against immune hyper reaction and cytokine storm in patients with severe COVID-19. A randomized, placebo-controlled intervention study even shows that high dose vitamin D supplementation promotes viral clearance in asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 positive individuals. Besides, the data of a recent prospective study with COVID-19 patients reveal that a significant number of them were zinc deficient. The zinc deficient patients had more complications and the deficiency was associated with a prolonged hospital stay and increased mortality. Thus, immune-relevant micronutrients may help to increase the physiological resilience against COVID-19.
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Conclusion
The supplementation with micronutrients, including vitamin D and zinc is a safe, effective, and low-cost strategy to help support optimal immune function in times of respiratory tract infections with SARS-CoV-2. The application of immune-relevant micronutrients above the recommended
dietary allowance (RDA), but within recommended upper safety limits, for specific micronutrients such as vitamins D and zinc is urgently warranted, especially in vulnerable groups such as the elderly. Public health officials are encouraged to promote nutritional strategies in their recommendations to improve public health, especially in vulnerable groups such as the elderly
VitaminDWiki pages with HOLICK in title (47 as of April 2022)
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