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Coronavirus: There is no evidence of vitamin D effectiveness against Covid

2021-02-09T17:46:13.930Z


Does the "sun vitamin" help against a severe course of Corona? According to experts, current studies on this are insufficient to make a recommendation.


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Vitamin D pills: what can the "sun vitamin" do?

Photo: Grace Cary / Getty Images

Since the beginning of the pandemic, theses have been wafting through the net that the supplementary intake of vitamin D could offer additional protection against Covid-19.

Now the German Nutrition Society (DGE) has examined the study situation in this regard and comes to the conclusion: The data are not sufficient to demonstrate a clear cause-effect relationship.

Therefore, the intake of vitamin D supplements cannot be recommended across the board.

In contrast to other vitamins, the body can produce vitamin D itself - through sunlight, or more precisely UV-B radiation of certain wavelengths.

It is necessary to stay outdoors, because the UV-B components cannot penetrate through window panes.

Diet - such as fatty sea fish, offal, mushrooms or eggs - makes a relatively small contribution to vitamin D supply (around 10 to 20 percent).

It is only advisable to take vitamin D supplements if there is actually an undersupply, i.e. if a value that is too low has been proven and a better value cannot be achieved by spending time in the sun or eating.

Those who already have enough vitamin D are unlikely to benefit from extra pills.

Rather, you can overdose on vitamin D and thus provoke undesirable side effects, such as kidney stones, kidney calcifications and disorders of the cardiovascular system.

Link between vitamin D and severe courses of Covid

According to survey studies, a vitamin D deficiency could potentially increase the risk of acute respiratory infections.

However, according to the DGE, it is questionable whether taking vitamin D supplements also protects against severe Covid-19 courses.

The DGE experts reviewed dozens of studies and observations from different countries.

A connection between a low vitamin D level and an increased risk of Sars-CoV-2 infection for a severe course of the disease can actually be assumed, according to the current DGE technical information on the subject (as of January 11, 2021 ).

Nevertheless, the conclusion of the nutritionists is: »At the moment there are no arguments in favor of supplementing vitamin D in people with an adequate vitamin D status with the aim of preventing Sars-CoV-2 infection or reducing the severity of Covid-19 19 disease. "

Some studies have reported positive effects of vitamin D administration in the course of Covid 19 disease.

However, the data mostly showed technical deficiencies, for example because the vitamin status of the test subjects was not known before they became ill, the comparison groups were very different or were prone to risk factors such as obesity or diabetes.

Criticism of studies

An example: At the Reina Sofia hospital in Madrid an attempt was made to get to the bottom of the matter.

50 Covid-19 patients were given vitamin D, only one of them ended up in the intensive care unit.

In contrast, half of a control group of 26 patients who were not given any vitamin D supplements had to be treated for intensive care and two of them died.

However, the Spanish study quickly came under fire.

On closer inspection, it became clear that in the second group - the patients without vitamin D administration - more previous illnesses, such as high blood pressure and diabetes, were registered and therefore more risk factors for a severe course of Covid-19.

"If you put the (relatively) healthy people in the vitamin D group and the (relatively) sick people in the control group, then it is clear beforehand what the outcome will be," says Martin Smollich, pharmacologist and professor at the Institute for Nutritional Medicine at the University Hospital Schleswig -Holstein in Lübeck.

Smollich also emphasizes that a causal connection between vitamin D deficiency and Covid-19 cannot be proven.

Rather, a low vitamin D level measured at hospital admission could be the result of Covid 19 disease.

In the context of an acute, severe infection, the vitamin D level drops drastically in the short term.

In addition, a vitamin D deficiency "occurs more than average in diseases and living conditions that in turn increase the Covid 19 risk, i.e. in old age, with obesity or with type 2 diabetes".

The virologist Sandra Ciesek had already said in the NDR's Corona podcast that the risk of vitamin D deficiency generally increases in people who are rarely outdoors.

This applies, for example, to the chronically ill or those in need of care who may no longer be able to eat well.

Exactly this group is also considered to be particularly at risk of Covid-19.

Few people in Germany have a vitamin D deficiency, but many have a suboptimal value.

In other words, a blood value that is below the optimum, but not yet in a range that is assessed as harmful.

The Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) is also currently not aware of any studies that prove that taking vitamin D preparations protects against infection with the coronavirus or illness.

It is scientifically undisputed that vitamin D contributes to the normal function of the immune system.

But that does not mean that you should therefore take high-dose vitamin D supplements as a preventive measure and without medical supervision.

Icon: The mirror

kry / dpa

Source: spiegel

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