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Vitamin D Insufficiency is Prevalent in Severe Covid-19

medrxiv.org

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Re: Vitamin D Insufficiency is Prevalent in Severe Covid-19

#61

Post by Angostura »

korethr wrote: post #58

Interesting. Okay, let's play with this. Let us extrapolate from the strong correlation found by this retrospective review, and postulate that Vitamin D Insufficiency (VDI) is indeed a major contributing factor in either the severity of a COVID-19 infection, or the chances of contracting it. (I am not claiming this is indeed true, correlation != causation, but I think strong correlations are certainly worth looking a…

Vitamin D is the only vitamin that the UK’s NHS recommends most people take - usually they recommend during winter. With the Covid lockdown they have extended the advice to say keep taking it.

Re: Vitamin D Insufficiency is Prevalent in Severe Covid-19

#62

Post by aardvark291 »

namdnay wrote: post #43
mcsb4 wrote: post #33

Anecdotelly, in Europe the countries worst hit by the virus have the most strict confinement: Italy, Spain and France. Makes you wonder if there is a correlation to Vitamin D insufficiency due to lack of sun light.

You’ve got the causality the wrong way round

Yeah, and Italy, Spain, and France are some of the sunnier countries in Europe (compared to Germany, UK, Belgium, Scandinavia, etc). If anything I would expect vitamin D deficiency to be less common there.

Re: Vitamin D Insufficiency is Prevalent in Severe Covid-19

#63

Post by korethr »

MattSteelblade wrote: post #37

I think it's worth pointing out the conclusion in their abstract and what the authors are trying to accomplish: "...we suggest that prospective, randomized controlled studies of VDI in COVID-19 patients are warranted."

The alt-text of xkcd 552 comes to mind: "Correlation doesn't imply causation, but it does waggle its eyebrows suggestively and gesture furtively while mouthing 'look over there'."

Re: Vitamin D Insufficiency is Prevalent in Severe Covid-19

#64

Post by nicoburns »

o10449366 wrote: post #30
mindcrime wrote: post #8

Interesting thing... Vitamin D is one of those things that, when vitamins come up on HN, you will often hear the refrain that "it's the one vitamin that large numbers of people are actually deficient in and ought to supplement." I've heard that many times over the years and I have taken a Vitamin D supplement on and off (more off than on) over the years. When this COVID-19 thing first hit, I had a physical scheduled…

Likely placebo. Vitamin D is extremely soluble in our bodies and takes months of consistent supplement dosage to have an effect on our baseline levels.

I had winter depression for years, and Vitamin D supplementation has all-but completely cured it. If I forget to take it for a few days (in the winter), then I really notice the difference, and taking the supplement (via drops) reliably helps within 2-3 hours of taking them.

I don't see how this could be a placebo as 1. I wasn't really expecting them to work in the first place. 2. I've tried all sorts of things over the years to try and relieve my depression, and nothing else has worked.

It's possible that raising baseline levels isn't actually required to have beneficial effects. Of course, the quantities of vitamin that aren't raising baseline levels must be going somewhere. It doesn't seem unlikely to me that at least some of it is going directly towards production of whatever things the body uses vitamin D for.

Re: Vitamin D Insufficiency is Prevalent in Severe Covid-19

#65

Post by crazygringo »

I don't doubt this at all.

But at the same time, isn't it suspected that vitamin D insufficiency is linked with a worse immune system generally?

(Anecdotally it made a big difference for me not getting winter colds ever since my doctor pointed out I had a significant wintertime deficiency and I started supplementing.)

In other words, there's unlikely to be any unique link between vitamin D and COVID-19. That this just falls in the wide bucket of "unhealthier people are more affected by COVID-19", similar to obesity.

Re: Vitamin D Insufficiency is Prevalent in Severe Covid-19

#67

Post by hollander »

tannerbrockwell wrote: post #41

If you get the test make sure it is the right one! 25 (OH) stays in the blood longer, so this is the more accurate test. (half life of 3 weeks in your blood). Many experts recommend a level of at least 30 ng/ml ... some actually suggest that 50 ng/ml! The scale on the test results is: Interpretive Data: Deficiency: 100 ng/mL "The majority of 25-OH vitamin D (25-D) in the circulation is derived from the conversion of…

I think 80 is a better level. People living in Spain and similar regions, who work outside most of the year, have levels up to 220 and they have no problems with it. You should not pursue that value via supplements. Taking 2000IU or 4000IU daily is healthy, but go much higher for longer periods and you end up with calcification of your bones. That's not reversible, and it might kill you in the end.

Re: Vitamin D Insufficiency is Prevalent in Severe Covid-19

#68

Post by _bxg1 »

dontbenebby wrote: post #7

Is there any evidence multivitamins are harmful (not just that there's no proof they help improve health?) It's because of stuff like this I take one. Maybe I'm wasting money, but absent a harm I feel it's worth it to hedge my bets.

I read up on this because I had a really bad sinus infection a couple months ago and found myself taking "Emergen-C" every morning, which advertises "1000% your daily value of Vitamin C". Immediately after my sinus infection cleared up the virus stuff started, so I kept taking it for a while.

From what I read, at least with Vitamin C, you have to get into the 2000% range before there start being negative side-effects.

Re: Vitamin D Insufficiency is Prevalent in Severe Covid-19

#69

Post by elric »

0xebfc wrote: post #16
dontbenebby wrote: post #7

Is there any evidence multivitamins are harmful (not just that there's no proof they help improve health?) It's because of stuff like this I take one. Maybe I'm wasting money, but absent a harm I feel it's worth it to hedge my bets.

Certain vitamins and minerals. Fat soluble vitamins can build up to the point of causing problems. Excess of iron and magnesium may have negative effect AFAIK.

For most people, excess magnesium levels would be pretty hard to reach. Unless you count loose stools as harmful, which some forms of magnesium supplements can cause.

Combining calcium and vitamin D can be seriously problematic. And high doses of calcium in general can make you more likely to end up with kidney stones -- those are not fun to pass!

Some supplements can even compete with each other for absorption (calcium & magnesium come to mind), so taking them together in a multivitamin is probably not the way to go.

Re: Vitamin D Insufficiency is Prevalent in Severe Covid-19

#70

Post by open-source-ux »

Interesting...in the UK, the NHS (National Health Service) recommendation is for adults to take a 10mcg (micrograms) vitamin D supplement daily (10mcg = 400IU). This advice was issued in 2016 after a science advisory body (Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition) published a 300 page report of the evidence on vitamin D and health. [1][2]

The NHS also say more recently in response to the lockdown [3]:

Consider taking 10 micrograms of vitamin D a day to keep your bones and muscles healthy.

This is because you may not be getting enough vitamin D from sunlight if you’re indoors most of the day.

There have been some news reports about vitamin D reducing the risk of coronavirus. However, there is no evidence that this is the case.

Do not buy more vitamin D than you need.

They also warn:

Taking too many vitamin D supplements over a long period of time can cause too much calcium to build up in the body (hypercalcaemia). This can weaken the bones and damage the kidneys and the heart.

If you choose to take vitamin D supplements, 10 micrograms a day will be enough for most people.

Do not take more than 100 micrograms of vitamin D a day as it could be harmful. This applies to adults, including pregnant and breastfeeding women and the elderly, and children aged 11 to 17 years.

[1] Vitamin D and Health [PDF] https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachm...

[2] The new guidelines on vitamin D – what you need to know: https://www.nhs.uk/news/food-and-diet/the-new-guidelines-on-...

[3] Vitamin D: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vitamins-and-minerals/vitamin-...

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