re: Study: Vitamin D deficiency found in over 80% of COVID-19 patients

I think vitamin K2 helps with absorption or at least there's good supplements that have K2 with the D3.

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I’ve been spending as much time as possible outside since this started for this reason

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My work from home office is outside underneath my deck. I’ve been outside since March. Still supplement with vitamin D.

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Even still, a vitamin D supplement and 30 min of sunshine is nearly zero risk and possibly high reward

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I would investigate it further.

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There’s really no reason not to suggest this other than the current political environment

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The problem there is not with recommending it but suggesting it's a sure thing and promoting unsafe behavior. That has not worked out well for red herrings like hydroxychloroquine.

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I also believe that only taking the vitamins is not the same.

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For many people, Vitamin D deficiency isn't related to lack of sun exposure. For them, taking the vitamins seems to work.

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Mine was low enough a couple of years ago that I had to take megadoses of D for a while

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Yeah, my PCP found my levels were low at my physical last year and I've been on 50,000 IU/week since then.

And save for a short period when there was a bit of a communication problem, I've been taking it. And when I didn't have my prescription, I was taking 4,000 IU/day in over the counter supplements.

Note that Vitamin D will not protect you from catching Covid: I tested positive for Covid but, my symptoms were quite a bit more mild than I expected.


If people want more info, there is an hour long MedCram video that goes into Vitamin D, how it works, and the studies regarding Vitamin D and Covid.

Vitamin D and COVID 19: The Evidence for Prevention and Treatment of Coronavirus (SARS CoV 2)

The link also has the sources/links in the info section so you don't have to watch if you just want to check out the sources/studies yourself.

Here is a good source that stands out after a quick look:
Vitamin D and SARS-CoV-2 infection—evolution of evidence supporting clinical practice and policy development

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Susceptibility to viral infection and disease severity during viral infection are largely determined by host characteristics which influence immune response. For example, demographic characteristics, such as age and ethnicity, appear to greatly influence survival when patients are infected by the newly described SARS-CoV-2 agent. Children less than 10 years of age have an extraordinarily low mortality rate of 0.01%, while the very old (greater than 80 years) have greater disease severity and a mortality rate of close to 12.5% [4]. Patients with obesity have a 50% increased mortality rate [5], while black patients have approximately twice the mortality of white patients [6]. These differences are not entirely explained by the presence of comorbid illnesses such as diabetes mellitus and hypertension, conditions which are also commoner in those with obesity, and in older and black populations. We and others have hypothesized that nutritional state, and in particular vitamin D deficiency, which is also highly prevalent in those with obesity, and in older and black populations, might also affect infective risk and disease severity through its effects on immune function.

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Nice little graphic.

I read somewhere that if you go outside and simply take your shirt off and are wearing shorts, your vitamin D levels come up to near-normal in 15-20 minutes. That's how effective natural sunlight can be.

They also use UV light treatment to the skin area behind your knees to improve mood/depression related to low vitamin D.

Sorry, no links....lazy Sunday...

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Study: Vitamin D deficiency found in over 80% of COVID-19 patients

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What percentage of a healthy Spanish population around this hospital are also vitamin D deficient? That would give the appropriate perspective on this study.

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For many people, Vitamin D deficiency isn't related to lack of sun exposure. For them, taking the vitamins seems to work.

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Maybe I’m not knocking the vitamins. Whatever works.

I make it a point to go sit outside in the sun on my lunch break, this has been knows to likely help for quite awhile. I don’t know if my sitting in the sun for 45 minutes makes a notable difference, but I do it almost everyday anyway.