Research: Vitamin D supplements do not reduce risk of Covid-19

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A “myth” that had been created around these supplements, regarding their protective effect against the coronavirus or other acute respiratory infections, is dispelled.

Two large clinical trialsone British and one Norwegian, did not find it to exist nothing to do with between vitamin D supplementation and reduced risk of Covid-19 infection. A “myth” that had been created around these supplements, regarding their protective effect against the coronavirus or other acute respiratory infections, thus collapses.

Vitamin D has long been recognized as supports the body’s innate immune reactions against respiratory viruses and bacteria. Some studies have found evidence that the vitamin in question may protect against related infections, especially people who are deficient in D. Thus, this particular vitamin has attracted a lot of attention for its possible role in the prevention and treatment of Covid-19, but the most relevant studies to date have been observational studies (with mixed and inconclusive findings) rather than clinical trials.

The first test, held in Britain in 2020-21 and published in the British Medical Journal British Medical Journal (BMJ) led by Dr. Adrian Martino of Queen Mary University of London, involved 6,200 people over the age of 16 who were not using vitamin D at the start of the study. The participants were randomly divided into two groups: the first had a blood test and those with low levels of D (86% of the 3,100 subjects) took a vitamin supplement at two different doses for six months, while the other half (the control group for reasons for comparison) did not have a blood test or take extra vitamin D.

It was found that during the following semester there was no difference between the two groups, regarding the diagnoses of respiratory infections in general and of Covid-19 in particular (based on molecular tests). In other words, giving D did not reduce the risk of getting sick from the coronavirus.

The second trial, also in Norway in 2020-21 and published in the BMJ, led by Dr. Arne Soraas of the Oslo University Hospital, used -instead of D supplements- cod oil which, among other things, contains vitamin D. They involved 34,741 people aged 18-75 who were randomly divided into two groups and one received daily cod oil (5 mL), while the other placebo (corn oil). And that trial found no positive effect of cod oil, relative to placebo, in terms of reducing the chance of someone being diagnosed with Covid-19.

The conclusion, according to the researchers, is that extra vitamin D does not reduce the risk of Covid-19 or other acute respiratory infection. The Swedish professor Peter Bergman of the medical Karolinska Institute of Stockholm University said vaccination remains the most effective way to protect against the coronavirus and pointed out that especially healthy people with normal vitamin D levels have no reason to take vitamin D supplements or cod liver oil. On the other hand, administration could be considered (after blood tests are done and D deficiency confirmed) in the case of people who are rarely exposed to the sun, pregnant women and the elderly with chronic conditions.

RES-EMP

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