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 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
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Recent COVID-19 articles Click here for all VIRUS articles on VitaminDWiki
- COVID fought by Vitamin D: 2.3X less likely to die of COVID if supplemented, 1.9 X less likely to become infected – meta-analysis March 2024
- US has the most vaccinations before age 1 and the most deaths - March 2024
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- Long-COVID 3.1 X more likely if insufficient amounts of Magnesium and Vitamin D – March 2024
- COVID US survey: 43% not expect to ever return to normal – Gallup March 2024
- COVID-19 leaves its mark on the brain, dropping in IQs - March 2024
- 100% not need COVID hospitalization with fluvoxamine plus one other drug – Thailand RCT April 2024
- COVID maximum downregulation of Vitamin D receptor and CYP27B1 resulted in death - Feb 2024
- COVID-19 vaccines adverse events: myocarditis, pericarditis, etc. (99 million people, not US) – Feb 2024
- COVID could have been stopped in Wuhan – book March 2024
- Vitamin D: Viral infections, Infectious diseases, EBV and MS, Virus and Cancers – Grant March 2024
- Senator Ron Johnson hosted talks on COVID treatments - 2020 - 2024
- COVID infection (without hospitalization) – 1.7X more likely to die in 6 months if low Vitamin D – March 2024
- COVID senior pneumonia deaths: 50% if low Vitamin D and unvaccinated vs 16% if Vitamin D or vaccinated – June 2023
- 5 X less COVID infection of health care workers who took lots of vitamin D – meta-analysis Feb 2024
- 18,000 schoolchildren in Canada to be suspended for not being vaccinated - Feb 2024
- Vaccines increased your risk of dying of COVID in NZ - official data - Feb 2024
- Study urged a global moratorium on mRNA vaccines (300 peer reviewers agreed) – Jan 2024
- CDC recommends 100 vaccinations by age 18 – Feb 2024
- Professor Raoult is calling for a moratorium on COVID-19 vaccines - Jan 2024
- COVID deaths cut in half by a single dose of 600,000 IU of Vitamin D - RCT Jan 2024
- Is 50 ng of Vitamin D enough to fight COVID - TrialSiteNews - Jan 2024
- COVID and or vaccinations causing less Vitamin D and more sickness - Jan 2024
- Long-COVID a month shorter if more than 20 ng of Vitamin D - Jan 2024
- COVID, Vitamin D, Drs. Grimes and Campbell - Jan 2024
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- COVID infections and vaccinations decrease Vitamin D – many studies
- Moderna is monitoring 150 million websites for ‘Anti-Vaccine’ Narratives - Nov 2023
- But not VitaminDWiki, so far
- The four viruses that are increasing at an ‘exponential rate’ (are all fought by Vitamin D) – Nov 2023
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- Doctors in NY cannot opt out of COVID boosters for children - Oct 2023
- Multiple COVID vaccinations might increase Cancer Incidence - many studies
- COVID fought by Vitamin D - video review of literature with transcript - Dec 2021
- What to do if you catch COVID - Dr. McCullough Sept 2023
- Long COVID with Neuro-Cognitive symptoms had especially low vitamin D levels – Sept 2023
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- The ONLY Solution to Long COVID (Vitamin D) - video and transcript Sept 2023
- Long-COVID can hide in the body for years in scores of locations – Sept 2023
- Vaccine Clinical Trial - cardiovascular death 3.7X more likely if vaccinated - preprint Sept 2023
- One in five people with long COVID can no longer work (Doctors in this case) - Sept 2023
- Number of people with long COVID could be vastly underestimated - Aug 2023
- mRNA Vaccine Toxicity -free book by Doctors for COVID Ethics - Aug 2023
- Politics says put your masks back on, Science says masks may INCREASE COVID infection - Aug 2023
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- Athletes who had been COVID infected had lower Vitamin D levels – July 2023
- Vitamin D was the most popular supplement during the COVID Pandemic – July 2023
- COVID cost the US 18,000 dollars per survivor, and many excess deaths - July 2023
- COVID, Long-COVID and Vitamin D in children - Review April 2023
- COVID in hospital stopped by Vitamin D Receptor activators (curcumin, quercetin) – RCT June 2023
- Children with COVID 4X more likely to have poor Vitamin D Receptors (Note: COVID deactivates VDR) – April 2023
- Chance of moderately severe COVID 3X less likely if plant-based diet – April 2021
- COVID, Long COVID, and Vitamin D – May 2023
- 3,600 studies found COVID Vaccination problems (REACT19) - Dec 2024
- COVID death 1.5 X less likely if high vitamin D, emergency D (50K to 100K) is great – meta-analysis March 2023
- Poor vaccine batches associated with adverse events - March 2023
- Probably less of a problem if had high Vitamin D when vaccinated
- Excess deaths - 5 possible reasons - many studies
- COVID was associated with low Vitamin D or Zinc – umbrella review Feb 2023
- COVID predicted to be a pandemic that could be stopped by high dose vitamin D - Feb 2020
- COVID and other Virus fought by UV - many studies
- Seniors raised Vitamin D levels, more COVID survivors, less CKD (Slovakia) – Feb 2023
- COVID recovery 1.6X faster after 200,000 IU of Vitamin D RCT – Feb 2023
- Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome of COVID in Children 3X more likely if low Vitamin D – Feb 2023
- COVID was associated with low Vitamin D or Zinc – umbrella review Feb 2023
- Vitamin D, now conclusive (for COVID) - Dr. Campbell Video and transcript - Feb 1, 2023
- COVID ICU 3X less-likely if take any amount and type of Vitamin D – meta-analysis Jan 2023
- 2nd COVID infection increases the risk of Long-COVID - 2022
- More COVID vaccinations, more infections - Cleveland Clinic - Dec 2022
- COVID vaccination increased by 137X the risk of 10-14 year olds of dying (UK) – Jan 2023
- Chart of excess deaths and vaccination in the Netherlands - for 2022
- China: From Zero Covid to No Plan - people left to improvise - NYT Dec 18, 2022
- COVID variants in US evade bivalent vaccination by 3X to 13X – Cell Dec 13, 2022
- Fight infections such as COVID with 50 ng of Vitamin D – Sunil Dec 2022
- COVID and Vitamin D: any amount of D, at any time, for any duration reduced ICU - meta-analysis Dec 2022
- The vitamins and minerals that help the immune system respond to respiratory viruses – Dec 2022
Many clinical trials are testing Vitamin D to fight COVID-19