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Lack of Vitamin D is associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection and mortality
- darig 6y agoAnecdotal, but I've been taking 6,000 mU every day last year... I work in an office with 10 people (with a few people that also own and operate mask-less bars on the side), my wife works in healthcare treating COVID patients, and I have 2 kids that attend in person public school 2 days a week (who I've also given 2,000 mU to every morning). None of my immediate family has gotten sick, but nearly everyone at the office, and nearly all of their family members have gotten it. Some very bad cases. Everyone thought I was weird at first, but the 2nd half of 2020, everyone was taking pills when I passed the D3 bottle around. I also heard tobacco had a positive deterring effect even though doctors were reluctant to state that publicly... so I also would keep a dip in my mouth most of the time in the office.
- bobobob420 6y agoMan this board is really obsessed with vitamin d usage. Y’all even got me taking a 5000 iu pill with the K vitamin in it. Hope you’re all happy now.
- DarknessFalls 6y agoMake sure what you're using goes through an FDA certification process.
- tedunangst 6y agoWhat certification process?
- DarknessFalls 6y agoCertain brands like Nature Made are certified by the FDA as having exactly the number of IUs advertised. https://www.fda.gov/food/dietary-supplements https://www.fda.gov/food/dietary-supplements
- bird_monster 6y ago> Man this board is really obsessed with things that might make you less likely to die from a COVID infection If you rewrite your first sentence this way, does it better highlight why this board is interested in this information?
- wolco2 6y agoI remember vit-d coming up in articles before covid.
- mixmastamyk 6y agoColds and flu can linger for weeks in the winter with low D levels.
- sp332 6y agoOther things in that category are not as prevalent here.
- bird_monster 6y agoCan you provide an example? I haven't seen anything as easy/cheap to address? Most of what I've seen is related to comorbidities and general health factors (weight). Nothing as easy as "Go sit in the sun for an hour and/or take this supplement".
- bobobob420 6y agoNo beyond covid the commentators here are really obsessed with vitamin d I feel, it’s just covid made the posts come more. Now I don’t mind, but the vitamin D and other threads which are just comments on scientific research kinda turn into typical Reddit /r/all threads which I can’t stand. I much prefer people’s perspective here on technology not vitamin d
- stevekemp 6y agoI live in Finland, where winters are short on sunlight. Taking a vitamin D tablet once per day is a common occurence here for a lot of the population.
- finikytou 6y agoso I got high calcium by using 2000-3000 IU a day which impacted my brain function (very cloudy) and body feeling weak. I had to stop the pills.be careful not to take too much as it also stores in the body.
- idiocrat 6y agoIt seems Magnesium regulates Calcium. To fix Calcium it is being suggested to take care of Magnesium first. (Source: I'm not a doctor)
- valenterry 6y agoDid you take vitamin K together with D3? If not you should. And potentially supplement calcium and magnesium also.
- 10x-dev 6y agoI'm taking 800IU a day with calcium. I don't know why some folks here are taking 3000-5000. That seems obscenely high.
- bArray 6y agoYeah you can overdose [1]. It's not just what these people are getting in supplements, but also about what they are getting naturally. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypervitaminosis_D https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypervitaminosis_D
- izzydata 6y agoDo they actually make 5000IU pills? I've been taking 1 pill of 1000IU whenever I stay inside an entire day without even 5 minutes outdoors, but I really don't know for sure what the recommended doses are.
- dmix 6y agoI asked this before and apparently in the US you can find 5000IU pills. Here in Canada all I could find was 1000IU and I take 5x of the pills instead. It still does the job, I presume.
- pengaru 6y agoAre you (or any of the parent comments) noticing anything after supplementing? As arguably a hormone I'm curious if there's any experientially observable effects from high doses.
- dmix 6y agoNo I personally have not felt anything taking it at 5000. Or you know, not taking it after a period. It's just like taking a vitamin. It's also a low enough dose to be safe for my adult body size/weight.
- balfirevic 6y agoThere is no recommended dose without knowing your current blood levels. Get yourself tested - if you're severely deficient start taking large doses (3000IU - 5000IU or more) for a few weeks, get yourself tested again and then adjust. If you're not deficient just keep doing what you're doing.
- hnrodey 6y agoFor the past couple of months I have been taking 5000IU daily of Vitamin D. Will get my levels checked here in a week or so with my annual physical and will know how my body is handling this dosing. In addition to Vitamin D, my daily regimen includes Vitamin C (ascorbic acid), zinc gluconate and magnesium glycinate.
- izzydata 6y agoAren't most other vitamins readily available in foods? That seems like a lot of supplements to worry about.
- l0b0 6y agoI've self-administered vitamin D for decades, 2,000 IU daily for the last few years. When my GP heard about it, they ordered a test. Even with that intake + a reasonably healthy diet I was in the lower 1/3 of the healthy range, so I've upped to 3,000 IU. (Obviously I'm not saying this applies to anybody else.)
- olladecarne 6y agoTo add to the anecdata, I take 5000 IU daily during the winter and about every other day in the summer and my blood tests in the winter showed I had 54 ng/ml, the healthy range is 30-100. I'm not super diligent about it though and take it more often during times I feel tired since I think it helps. Depending on if I go outside in the summer sometimes I don't take it for weeks. However when I got the blood tests I had been taking it regularly, which is why I requested it since I think vitamin D is not measured in the default blood test
- fy20 6y agoWhat form do you take Vitamin D in? I've read it needs to be taken with fat to be absorbed properly, and Vitamin K is good to take with it as well. I've recently (too early to tell) switched from plain Vitamin D tablets to gell tablets with Vitamin D + K, filled with Omega 3.
- PKop 6y agoThis could also explain the higher Covid death rates for Blacks in the US, while Africa has relatively lower death rates https://www.nature.com/articles/s41371-020-00398-z https://www.nature.com/articles/s41371-020-00398-z
- dehrmann 6y agoClimate and socioeconomic conditions are probably also factors, but yes, I wouldn't be surprised if vitamin D is one, too.
- computerphage 6y agoAge demographics as well.
- vmception 6y agoI got my blood tested and everything came back in normal ranges except Vitamin D, which was HALF of the normal range! I and the doctor both knew that the link to COVID susceptibility was inconclusive, but that its such low hanging fruit that might as well take a supplement. Its honestly just not even worth debating "but maaaaybe low Vitamin D is linked to other things and those people were already sick!" okay, typical useless internet discussion. Now back to getting it into normal ranges. The doctor gave me 50,000 IU weekly doses. Available by prescription only.
- travisjungroth 6y ago50,000 IU dosages aren’t really available by prescription only when 5,000 IU pills are OTC.
- vmception 6y agohahaha I see what you mean. so it really comes down to the concentration, specific instructions, and how a single pill is digested, as the pill is the same size as the others but the delivery method relies on the slow destruction of the outer layer, with explicit warnings not to chew them. lower dose pills don't have the same warning.
- travisjungroth 6y agoI wonder why you’d do this over 7,000 IU daily.
- vmception 6y agoIt is a weekly dose. A single weekly dose.
- travisjungroth 6y agoRight. You’re taking a fancy, slow release, 50k IU once a week. Why not take a not fancy, regular release, 7k IU pill every day? I’m not saying once a week is bad, but there seems to be a cost to it. And assuming everyone involved is a rational actor, something justifies that cost. What is it? Is there some effect that heavy infrequent dosages has? More convenient? Higher patient compliance?
- DoreenMichele 6y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_D https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_D It's technically a steroid, not a nutrient. We can manufacture it in the body. "Essential nutrients" are things we cannot manufacture. It's essential to bone health and bone marrow is where the body makes white blood cells. It's generally understood to be important to normal immune function. If you have reason to believe you are Vitamin D deficient, it is always a good idea to address that. If you are not deficient, there is no reason to believe that taking "extra" will protect you from anything. In fact, it may be quite harmful, in part because it is a steroid and in part because it is fat soluble so you can end up storing the excess to the point of hitting "toxic" levels.
- rcxdude 6y agoI mentioned this in the thread above, but it's now an NHS recommendation for all adults to suppliment vitamin D because the majority of people in the UK are at least a little deficient in it (because of the low levels of sunlight).
- DoreenMichele 6y agoYes, living far enough north is a good reason to suspect you may be deficient -- something folks seem to not like hearing when I say it. There are quite a lot of people who have good reason to believe they may be deficient. But there seem to never be enough qualifiers to make anyone on the internet happy. My above statement is as accurate as I know how to make it and I can't readily think of anything I would change about it, in spite of how poorly it seems to have gone over with folks here.
- travisjungroth 6y ago> If you are not deficient, there is no reason to believe that taking "extra" will protect you from anything. You’re right. Buuut, a lot of people are walking around deficient. And even though it’s fat soluble, there’s a pretty big window where you can supplement and not worry about overdoing it.
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- nradov 6y agoThis site has a fairly complete index of all the studies related to vitamin D and COVID-19. Before commenting here I recommend reading through all of the article abstracts as much of what you might want to know has already been addressed. https://vitamin-d-covid.shotwell.ca/ https://vitamin-d-covid.shotwell.ca/
- worker767424 6y agoConsidering how relatively safe Vitamin D is, why aren't governments pushing really hard on it? Same with N95 masks. At this point, if there was a push, we could have had plenty of them, and they're significantly more effective, but there's no push. It's weird. But the US is botching vaccine distribution, too, so at least it's consistent.
- rcxdude 6y agoThe NHS in the UK now recommends all adults suppliment vitamin D, not because of COVID, but because a large part of the population is deficient due to the low levels of sunlight we get.
- easytiger 6y agoMy understanding is that it can take years for measurable benefit from supplements to be realised for this
- DoreenMichele 6y agoI have no reason to believe this is true. It can take years to fully remedy a serious backlog of nutritional deficits, but that's a completely different metric from "years for measurable benefit...to be realized."
- gojomo 6y agoFor seeing an overall mortality benefit in normal times, maybe. But it's the D-related-compound levels in your body right now (or seasonally) that have a noticeable effect on fighting current viral infections. It takes about 7 days for ingested Vitamin D to be fully converted into calcifediol, an important active form measured in the blood, and with good results as a treatment preventing ICU admission in serious COVID cases. So if you'd like a better chance of fighting off a COVID infection over the next few months with only mild effects, ensure you're on a daily regimen of Vitamin D now.
- dvdbloc 6y agoThe US also botched testing quite a bit, keep your expectations low and you’ll never be disappointed/surprised
- X-Istence 6y agoI've been taking Vitamin D supplements for the last year, and most recently I had my doctor run tests. They were very surprised that the test came back and I was under the minimum range, even with the supplements. They had not expected that at all. So instead they asked me to up my dosage. Ever since then I've felt mentally better than before, it really helped my mood and improved my ability to think.
- jychang 6y agoWhat body weight are you? What dosage were you at before? What dosage are you at now?
- X-Istence 6y agoI'm a big guy. 300 lbs. Was at 2,500 IU, now at 5,000 IU.
- selflesssieve 6y agoI’m also interested. What’s your latitude and do you get sun often?
- X-Istence 6y agoI live in San Francisco. There's plenty of sun, I don't spend an awful lot of time outside though, and especially not uncovered or without adequate sun screen to protect my tattoos and my skin (skin cancer sadly runs in the family)
- the_jeremy 6y agoWarning for others: HN seems to be pro-armchair diagnosis on vitamin D supplements, which makes sense given the demographic and stereotypical lifestyle factors. Vitamin D is fat soluble. It can build up in your system over time. Normal levels are 30-50 ng/ml, and you can get your levels tested by asking for the test whenever you get a blood draw or your physical. Taking vitamin D supplements at high levels indefinitely without medical testing is dangerous (albeit a slowly building danger over months that is relatively easily reversed). Anecdata: I was taking 5000 IU daily for a year, and my levels went up to 79 ng/ml. I stopped taking it for 6 months, and my levels went down to 47 ng/ml.
- boredatworkme 6y agoAnecdotal - In my country, doctors advice newborns to be given a certain dosage of Vit-D for the first year, in addition to trying to get them out in the open in the morning sun. We seem to be fairing slightly better with respect to COVID mortality numbers.
- mattlondon 6y agoSame here in the UK (and baby formula even has to have Vit D (among a big list of other things) in it) with advice to leave babies by windows and go for walks to avoid jaundice etc, but we're still seeing terrible rates of infection.
- andi999 6y agoI like the idea of the Vitamin D link, and it seems well established. But the idea of this paper I find too crude. There can easily big cofactor if you look at the average vitamin D levels per state. Like when the is less Vitamin D might be more people have office jobs leading to higher obesity (for the mortality rate). For infection rate could also be meeting people in offices/indors. Also areas with less sunlight have people indoors more often.
- supernova87a 6y agoWow, anyone reading the source paper in detail (or trying to take away conclusions) has to know that the stats are really, really rough. The authors are almost just doing internet desk research -- counting the number of Covid deaths/cases and just plotting that against the average Vitamin D level in the population of each Indian state in general. Based on a couple thousand healthy patients of the general population. (BTW, I think it's really important that everyone learn to see through the math/symbols/technical jargon when reading such research papers to understand the populations really being studied. All those r and p numbers are meaningless if the underlying patient data are flawed.) That is really rough. I could not imagine this would be credible if you substituted for example (just to think about it locally with a population you might know), "New York" for "Maharastra" state in the plot and asked if you believed the strength of finding that average Vitamin D level in New York state correlates with Covid death rate. How about for Florida -- would that be believable too? And also, the noticeable points making up the perceived trend are so few, and the points are not even weighted for population size (?)! Much more work in detail -- at the patient level with Vitamin D measurement -- would have to be done to be credible. I would not act on this information in the present form.
- NightMKoder 6y agoIt doesn’t seem like they controlled for any other variable at all - even time. From the paper: “Various literature databases like PubMed and Google Scholar were searched to find the mean of 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] levels in different states and union territories of India”. I would have to assume not all those studies were done at the same time. This would maybe be a great elevator pitch to get some resources. Not sure if that’s the intent. Relatedly, have there been proper double-blind studies for vitamin d injections & COVID outcomes? I would guess there’s not a lot of interest given other substances that have better “method of action” hypotheses. Or maybe it’s just lack of funding (hence we see an article like this every month or so)?
- sieabahlpark 6y ago> It doesn’t seem like they controlled for any other variable at all - even time. Yet this post is still popular on HN. Makes you think just how many other headlines are just so completely wrong hidden behind terrible studies. 100% of scientists agree with who guarantees their paychecks
- john_w_t_b 6y agoI’ve been taking vitamin D daily for the past year. I came across the study below recently that suggests that Coenzyme Q10 could also reduce hospitalization rates for COVID. This is another low cost over the counter nutritional supplement. It’s also called ubiquinone. https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.10.13.20211953v2 https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.10.13.20211953v...
- da02 6y agoHow much Vitamin D do you take daily? Also look into zinc gluconate 15mg, quercetin 200mg, and selenium. A few times a week is safe while helping against colds and flus. This post has links to various studies: https://knowledgeofhealth.com/modern-day-zinc-deficiency-epidemic/ https://knowledgeofhealth.com/modern-day-zinc-deficiency-epi... For selenium: Google: selenium virus mutation
- verroq 6y agoMalnourished people are more susceptible to disease? Shocking.
- tgsovlerkhgsel 6y agoWhat I found interesting is ``` Correlation analysis showed no substantial relationship between the mean vitamin D levels and the risk of infection in the younger population (r = −0.16, p = 0.42) or the rate of mortality in the older age group (r = −0.24, p = 0.23). ``` Together with the rest of the issues pointed out here in the comments, I'm sceptical about the value of this study. That said, given that most people should be taking supplements in winter anyways, and that I've seen ZERO warnings about dangers of low-dose supplementation (600 IU/day, not the 3000-6000 some are mentioning here)...
- eugeneblue 6y agoAdding another data point. Live in Ireland. Sun doesn't provide any benefit in the winter as the sun's rays get blocked by atmo. I consume no food with supplements. I'm 100kg/220lb moderately athletic, nearly 50 y/o. 1000IU is not enough to keep the SAD (Seasonal affective disorder) away. Its like my batteries are running low. I consume 2000IU daily. If I miss two days in a week, I can feel the difference. With covid-19, I've had no colds or flu so can rule out the occasional virus for same effect. Self treating for 12+ years. Try to consume the minimum to feel "awake"