We’ve written about vitamin D levels before, and why your levels are so important:
New research is suggesting that the good old “sunshine vitamin” may reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection severity.
The clinical trial studied 76 patients who had been admitted to the hospital. All received the same standard COVID interventions. They were then randomized into two groups.
One group of 50 was treated with calcifediol, a form of vitamin D used in hospital settings. The other group did not.
- Of the 50 calcifediol subjects, one ended up in the ICU, and there were no deaths.
- Of the 26 patients who did not receive the additional treatment, 13 ended up in the ICU, and two died.
As the study authors write:
“Early calcifediol (25-hydroxyvitamin D) treatment to hospitalized COVID-19 patients significantly reduced intensive care unit admissions. Calcifediol seems to be able to reduce severity of the disease.”
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0960076020302764
A new preprint study (one that has yet to be peer-reviewed) in The Lancet by the same group of researchers uses a much larger study group of 930 participants. Some of their findings include:
- Calcifediol treatment reduced the risk of ICU admission by 82 percent.
- Treatment with calcifediol reduced COVID-19 mortality by 64 percent.
- Patients with vitamin D levels (based on a 25-Hydroxy Vitamin D test) higher than 20 ng/mL had a 55% lower risk of ICU admission.
To be clear, the jury is still out on general vitamin D status and disease outcome, and the larger study has yet to be peer-reviewed, but the results are exciting.
In the meantime, vitamin D levels are easy to test and easy to supplement if your levels are low.