4 ms·
HN has a strange obsession with this supplement.
by whalesalad 6y ago
HN 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.
- mlyle 6y agoIf you're saying I'm criticizing studies, I've done nothing of the kind. I've attempted to contextualize and summarize the evidence. Also, I'm not anonymous; my name is on the comment.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- skybrian 6y agoIdeally we'd compare it with other promising interventions we hadn't heard of, to avoid availability bias. I'm not saying you shouldn't do it, though.
- an_opabinia 6y agoWe're living a global, natural experiment of promising interventions you haven't heard of.
- rohan1024 6y agoIs this the reason that countries closer to equator are suffering less than those away from it?
- Frost1x 6y agoAre they? That would be an interesting spatial data plot to see.
- AnthonyMouse 6y agoThere are a ton of confounders there. Most of those countries have younger populations. The outdoor temperature is higher there. They have different economies and population densities. Or it could be Vitamin D, at least in part. To know the answer somebody has to actually do the science.
- ketamine__ 6y agoSuffering less? https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/coronavirus-guayaquil-ecuador-bodies-corpses-streets/2020/04/03/79c786c8-7522-11ea-ad9b-254ec99993bc_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/coronaviru...
- elorant 6y agoGreece is close to the equator and during November we have had the highest rate of deaths among all EU countries. So I doubt this is the only factor in play.
- newacct583 6y agoI think most of us would. And in fact vitamin D supplementation is associated with all sorts of health benefits having nothing to do with Covid. Take your vitamin D! That said: the kind of aggregate mortality effect the (comparatively sparse) data on that site points to is absolutely miniscule compared to much more straightforward mitigations like wearing a mask and avoiding restaurants. And these are things that HN is wildly divided on. "Rational people" might wonder why that is.
- mlyle 6y agoAre we wildly divided on these things? I've not seen it. I think wearing a mask is a relatively small benefit but small bends in exponential functions can have massive differences in aggregate outcomes.
- strombofulous 6y agoI (n=1, but still I browse HN a lot) have only seen posts that are against the idea of wearing masks be heavily downvoted. I've seen a few people discussing whether or not they're important to wear outside, but the WHO seems to agree that being outside makes covid less likely to spread[0], so imho that is a fine thing to discuss [0] https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/deciding-to-go-out.html https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/..., under "What makes activities safer?" they list "They are held in outdoor spaces. Indoor spaces with less ventilation where it might be harder to keep people apart are more risky."
- ska 6y agoIf it were the general consensus, this posting (i.e. the summary page) would look different; we'd have much higher powered studies and a clearer view of what was going on.
- 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.