Vitamin D: Effective against COVID-19, really?

The role of vitamin D in good bone and musculoskeletal health has long been highlighted.Vitamin D receptors are also present in many body cells, which suggests an important role in ensuring the different functions of the organism.

For several months, many articles have been multiplying online to question the link between supplementation in vitamins D and may develop the COVVI-19.Some believe that vitamin D would indeed have a protective effect.For the moment, however, the data are still lacking on the subject.Detox channel looks at the question.

Health vitamin D effects

Unlike other vitamins that are mainly found in food, vitamin D is only found in a limited way on our plate (fatty fish, eggs, dairy products, especially when they are enriched with vitamin D).It is indeed acquired mainly by our exposure to the sun: UVB radiation will induce synthesis (particularly in spring and summer).

Whether during the pandemic period of Covid-19 or not, maintaining a varied diet and rich in vitamin D is necessary to avoid any deficiency.Vitamin D deficiency must be carried out in patients at risk.Supplementation can then be recommended, especially in winter, for populations at risk, such as people over 65, menopausal women, children or pregnant women, in order to maintain their skeletal health.It is also encouraged for people little exposing themselves to the sun or with health problems such as intestinal malabsorptions or renal failure.

For effects on other pathologies such as cancers, plaque sclerosis or autoimmune diseases, observed for the moment in the context of epidemiological or clinical studies, supplementation seems to have a promising effect, but the available data arestill too heterogeneous and not very conclusive.For example, no protective effect of vitamin D supplementation on the risk of cancer or cardiovascular disease could be demonstrated in a large study published in 2019 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Vitamine D : efficace contre la Covid-19, vraiment ?

Effects against COVID-19?

Regarding COVVI-19, despite numerous online publications and on social networks concerning vitamin D, the effectiveness of supplementation in the face of the disease remains uncertain to date.The National Institutes of Health in the United States and the French Pharmacology Society have also passed this message, specifying that the available data does not affirm that there is a possible protective effect against the disease.

However, several studies are currently being carried out on the subject, to open interesting reflection avenues.We can notably cite the fact that since 2012, researchers from the Queen Mary University of London have endeavored to demonstrate that vitamin D supplementation would have a prevention effect on acute respiratory infections with encouraging results updated in July 2020.

Indeed, these scientists have shown that the relative reduction in the risk of developing acute respiratory infection is notable in people who have received vitamin D supplementation.The reduction was even maximum for daily supplementation of 400 to 1000 UL, for a period less than or equal to 12 months.However, researchers specify that "the relevance of these results in the case of COVID-19 is not known and requires dedicated research".

Regarding the question of whether vitamin D can help patients with serious forms of COVID-19, in particular individuals admitted to intensive care units, Geneva University Hospitals have published a critical review of the literature which specifies that studiescarried out on the effect of vitamin D also arrive only in partial conclusions and still not conclusive.Systematic vitamin D supplementation is therefore not recommended to date to protect itself from COVID-19 and its severe forms.

Like any supplementation, that of vitamin D is not trivial and must always be carried out as part of a medical prescription.The dosage must be adapted to the patient's profile and the degree of his deficiency.Indeed, even if the risk of acute poisoning is low, undesirable effects can nevertheless appear in the context of excessive or unsuitable supplementation sockets.In addition, ANSES recommends a daily vitamin D intake around 15 micrograms or 600 IU for an adult.

Texte rédigé avec le soutien de Mélanie Deschasaux, Chargée de Recherche Equipe de Recherche en Epidémiologie Nutritionnelle (EREN)

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