2023-04-20 10:57:59
At the same time as the corona pandemic began, the feverish search for ways and means to protect oneself began. In addition to washing hands, keeping your distance, various home remedies and miracle cures, vitamin D was also an alleged way of arming yourself against the virus. The claim that taking vitamin D can strengthen the immune system and thus also protect against Covid-19 disease has been made again and again.
In this fact check, we have already looked at whether the vitamin strengthens the immune system against colds. But what about the protective effect against the corona virus? We went in search of answers from science.
No less Covid-19 through vitamin D
We found three robust studies that examined this [1-3]. Two of them came to the conclusion: It didn’t matter whether the participants took vitamin D regularly or not [1,2]. They all tested positive for the coronavirus about the same number of times during the study period. They also fell ill with Covid-19 with a similar frequency. The preventive intake also had no influence on the severity of the disease. We consider the results of these two studies to be very meaningful, because they examined a total of 37,700 people.
The research team of the third study [3] came to the opposite conclusion and observed a protective effect of vitamin D, but had examined far fewer people, namely only 321.
Taken together, the studies speak against protection against corona infection or Covid-19 disease through vitamin D.
Sick from vitamin D deficiency? Or vitamin D deficiency because you are ill?
Vitamin D appears to play a role in immune defense [4]. There is also the assumption that people with a very low vitamin D level in their blood could get more seriously ill with Covid-19 than people without a deficiency. Because researchers observed lower vitamin D levels on average in people who were particularly seriously ill with Covid-19 or died of it [4,5].
However, this assumed connection does not mean that the lack of vitamin D is also responsible for the serious illness, or that vitamin D can help those affected.
It is possible that those affected are not ill because of the vitamin D deficiency, but have a deficiency because they are ill. Vitamin D is mainly formed in the skin through direct sunlight [6]. It is likely that people in poor health or the very old spend less time outside and therefore produce less vitamin D. And it is precisely these people who also have a higher risk of becoming particularly seriously ill with Covid-19. Certain diseases such as kidney or intestinal diseases can also lead to lower vitamin D levels and at the same time to a higher risk of severe Covid disease [7].
Vitamin D has also been studied for the treatment of Covid-19. We have summarized the result in this fact check.
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