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Vitamin D and Covid-19
- whalesalad 6y agoHN has a strange obsession with this supplement.
- 2ion 6y agoData needs to be built, but who can say no to a supplement that's relatively cheaply available, in ample supply and doesn't hurt to take reasonable doses over a few weeks?
- ketamine__ 6y agoClinical trial success is around 14%. Most things fail. Remember Curcumin? https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2017/01/12/curcumin-will-waste-your-time https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2017/01/12/cu... > Taking the properties and activities all together, though, these efforts would seem to be largely – and almost certainly completely – wastes of time and money. What’s worse, it appears that from 2001 on there are at least 135 registered clinical trials using the stuff. The review goes into four examples for which details are available, all of them complete wipeouts, and those would seem to serve as good proxies for the rest given that no curcumin trial has ever reported any convincing positive results.
- worker767424 6y agoProbably because no one here goes outside.
- underseacables 6y agoThat’s because the general consensus is that higher levels of vitamin D are associated with rapid recovery or avoidance of Covid. Rational people would say that’s a good thing and support it.
- addicted 6y agoIs there any sound basis to the “general consensus”?
- nomel 6y agoThe "general consensus", that I'm aware of, is the continuous trickle of studies that shows some relation, like those found in this link.
- mlyle 6y agoI think a lot of the evidence is marginal. Low vitamin D levels are an indicator of frailty, so all the observational evidence may be showing something other than a causal relationship between vitamin D levels and COVID outcomes. IV vitamin D seemed to be beneficial in early COVID-19 patients in one randomized trial, which is the best evidence of a causal relationship we have between vitamin D and prevention of severe COVID. Attempts at giving oral vitamin D after diagnosis showed no benefit, but wouldn't really be expected to, either. There's probably some protective effect, but it's also probably much smaller than most are estimating. That said, taking a small to moderate dose of vitamin D is likely to do more good than harm to people for other reasons, and may provide a small margin of protection against severe COVID. Further, it's cheap and easy to do. Since March, I've been taking a multivitamin that includes a moderate amount of D.
- skybrian 6y agoDid you mean "more good than harm?"
- mlyle 6y agoYah, I edited and fixed on re-read. Pretty stupid for me to be saying the opposite of what I mean. :D Really eager downvotes on my comment, too, today.
- colordrops 6y agoThe irony is always lost in these threads criticizing scientific studies by providing vague anonymous opinions.
- orangecat 6y agoHN had a strange obsession with masks around March, so this is not necessarily grounds for dismissal.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- hugi 6y agoIt does? First time I've seen it mentioned here.
- lkbm 6y agoHere's the past year, by date: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=pastYear&page=0&prefix=false&query=Vitamin%20D&sort=byDate&type=story https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=pastYear&page=0&prefix=fal... Something about it is on the front page every month or two. Honestly, I'm fine with it. I think more people need to know they should be supplementing with vitamin D. It's possible it doesn't help with COVID-19, but the evidence is enough and the risk of harm low enough that it's clearly a rational decision to supplement at this point.
- SloopJon 6y agoI don't know that I'd call it a "strange obsession," but it's a popular topic, right up there with intermittent fasting. Here are some active posts just from the last two or three months: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25289921 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25289921 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25261441 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25261441 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25113595 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25113595 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25077519 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25077519 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24912172 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24912172 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24768721 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24768721 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24734774 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24734774 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24607645 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24607645
- voisin 6y agoThree of those are links I posted so maybe it is just my strange obsession! Like many others have commented, I am baffled why this is not being reported broadly and pushed as part of a low-cost, apparently no downside public health agenda, particularly leading into the darker winter months.
- headsupftw 6y agoBecause it's good for you? Even if it does absolutely nothing to help you defend against COVID-19.
- megameter 6y agoIt predates the pandemic. The first studies suggesting "maybe we are all D3 deficient" go back over a decade, and so articles about it have popped up on HN a few times a year. Then add the pandemic and the new implication that it affects COVID outcomes and you start to get a hype cycle. I will say that I find some value in D3 supplements personally and have used them, at varying levels, since 2009. But like most health issues, its impact can't be reduced down to a one-factor analysis, and often entails discussion of other supplements and deficiencies.
- warlord1 6y agoOh. Wait a minute. I thought that HackerNews was a racket for pro-vaxxers. Why is this posted here?
- throwawaysea 6y agoPer the linked source, 41 studies including 2 randomized trials show that a vitamin D deficiency increases the severity of COVID-19 infections. Other sources (example: https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m3872/rr-5 https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m3872/rr-5) also corroborate the scale of studies indicating a relationship between Vitamin D deficiency and COVID-19 health outcomes. Some notable findings: one randomized study of 50 people hospitalized for COVID-19 found that of everyone given a high dose of Vitamin D, only one ended up in the ICU (https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/expert-answers/coronavirus-and-vitamin-d/faq-20493088 https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/e...). And 80% of those hospitalized for COVID-19 have Vitamin D deficiency (https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20200518/more-vitamin-d-lower-risk-of-severe-covid-19 https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20200518/more-vitamin-d-lowe...). Seroconversion is also higher for those with Vitamin D deficiency (https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.10.05.20206706v1.full.pdf https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.10.05.20206706v...), meaning that you are also more likely to have caught COVID-19 at some point (in a way that you developed detectable antibodies) with VDD than without. Interestingly, overall Vitamin D deficiency in the US population is at around 42% (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21310306/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21310306/), with some minorities having significantly higher prevalence. This might partially explain why the US has worse outcomes for COVID-19 than some other nations, and it may also explain the distribution of which demographic groups are more at risk for COVID-19. Lastly, the link between VDD and COVID-19 health outcomes also raises a different philosophical question: if those who face adverse health impacts from COVID-19 are at increased risk due to their own poor diet or lifestyle (as indicated by Vitamin D deficiency), should all of society have to shoulder the burden of mask mandates, lockdowns, and other impacts? Or should individuals be allowed to make decisions as to what activities they undertake and what risks they are OK with based on their own assessment of risks and benefits?
- destitude 6y agoIronic that they then lock-up people in nursing homes in the USA during these lockdowns which prevents them from getting any exposure to the sun.
- gnusty_gnurc 6y ago
- woeirua 6y agoCan we stop posting this until the large randomized controlled trials report back here in another month or so?