- According to a new study, the extra vitamin D may lower the risk of coronavirus infection.
- Black people are less likely to have COVID-19 if they have more of the nutrient, researchers found.
- Research on vitamin D is mixed, but it may be one tool to help people who are vulnerable to the virus.
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There is new evidence that you can protect more than the recommended amount of vitamin D against COVID-19, especially if you are black.
Higher levels of vitamin D are linked to an increased risk of coronavirus infection in black people, according to a study published in the JAMA Open Network on March 19.
Researchers from the University of Chicago looked at data from 4,314 people who were tested for COVID-19 between March and early April 2020, and checked their vitamin D levels based on medical records from the past year.
They found that black people with the recommended levels of vitamin D (or slightly higher) had the chance to test positive for COVID-19 as counterparts with a higher nutritional value than recommended. And those below the recommended vitamin D levels were even more likely to get sick.
For white people, however, there was no clear association between vitamin D levels and coronavirus infection rates.
This study was an extension of a previous study by the same research team that found that people with vitamin D deficiency were twice as likely to get COVID-19.
The researchers wanted to see if increasing vitamin D beyond what is commonly considered “enough” for optimal health could potentially protect against coronavirus.
“It supports arguments for designing clinical trials that can test whether vitamin D can be a viable intervention to reduce the risk of the disease, especially in people of color,” said Dr. David Meltzer, lead author of the study and head of the hospital. medicine at the University of Chicago Medicine, said in a press release.
COVID-19 makes black and brown people excessive, and vitamin D can be one solution
People of color have an excessive risk for vitamin D deficiency, which may partly explain why they were hit the hardest by the virus. The human body naturally produces vitamin D when the skin is exposed to sunlight. People with darker skin take longer to produce the nutrient because they contain more melanin, which blocks UV rays from the sun.
However, there is also strong evidence that systemic racism – from poor access to health care to less socio-economic resources – is a driving force for the high COVID-19 percentage among coloreds, and a supplement is not a silver lining to weigh it. not.
Evidence for the outcomes of vitamin D and coronavirus is mixed
A growing body of research has investigated whether vitamin D COVID-19 or related complications can occur, but evidence so far has been mixed.
There are good data showing a link between higher vitamin D and a lower risk of severe COVID-19. In a small study published in October 2020, it was found that patients with coronavirus who get a very powerful form of vitamin D are significantly less likely to need intensive care, and no one dies.
Experts have advocated for vitamin D supplementation as a precautionary measure, especially for vulnerable people such as the elderly and people with pre-existing conditions as well as coloreds. They recommend that each adult receive 4,000 IU of vitamin D per day, ten times the current dose recommended by health officials.
However, several studies have found no evidence that vitamin D can cause better results. There are many factors in the research that can explain these differences in the results, such as how much vitamin D is ingested and at what stage of exposure to coronavirus (before infection, shortly after or late in the disease).
We do know that vitamin D plays an important role in the health of the immune system and that it can be protective against other respiratory viruses. More research could help medical experts better understand whether vitamin D can help patients with COVID-19 or prevent infection in the first place, and how much it is ideal.
“So far, the data have been relatively unconvincing. Based on these results, we think that previous studies may have given doses that were too low to have a major impact on the immune system, even if they were adequate for bone health. be that different levels of vitamin D are sufficient for different functions, “Meltzer said in the press release.