New research shows Vitamin D can help fight Covid-19

A new research conducted by the Technological University Dublin (TUD) and Trinity College Dublin (TCD), has highlighted how Vitamin D is essential in helping the immune system fight novel Coronavirus (Covid-19).

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The two separate Irish studies both recommend that taking vitamin D (vitD) supplements may enhance resistance to respiratory infections such as Covid-19, according to a newly published Irish study paper.

VitD is produced in the skin by exposing the body to just 10-15 minutes per day of sun and, in Ireland, it can only be made between late March and late September.

According to researchers from the TUD and TCD, a combination of factors including poor dietary intake, low supplementation rates and suboptimal sun exposure, has resulted in widespread vitD deficiency across the country.

Therefore, people from at-risk groups would benefit from a vitD dietary supplement and that supplementation may limit the severity of Covid-19 for those who become infected.

Although elderly people were most likely to be vitD deficient, Dr Daniel McCartney (TUD) and Dr Declan Byrne (TCD) said all adults should consider taking 20-50 micrograms of vitD a day.

Dr McCartney, Lecturer in Human Nutrition and Dietetics, TUD, said vitD deficiency was prevalent in Ireland especially amongst nursing home residents, older people in general, and hospital patients.

VitD deficiency, he added, may significantly increase the risk and severity of viral respiratory infections, including Covid-19.

VitD supplementation
“Supplementing a healthy diet with 20-50 micrograms per day of vitamin D represents a cheap, safe and potentially very effective protection for Irish adults against Covid-19,” Dr McCartney added.

Dr Byrne, Clinical Senior Lecturer, St James’s Hospital and School of Medicine, TCD, added that their findings emphasised the need to introduce vitD supplements for all nursing home residents, hospital inpatients as well as the older population.

“These recommendations are important while we await development of a vaccine and trial evidence of effective drug treatment for Covid-19,” he said.

“Our findings call for the immediate supplementation of all hospital inpatients, nursing home residents and older Irish adults with vitamin D. Our findings also suggest that vitamin D supplementation in the broader adult population, and particularly in front-line healthcare workers, may further help to limit infection and flatten the Covid-19 curve.”

Writing in the April 2020 edition of the Irish Medical Journal (IMJ), McCartney and Byrne said vitD deficiency (serum 25(OH)D<50nmol/l) was associated with increased risk of acute viral respiratory infection and community acquired pneumonia, with several molecular mechanisms proposed to explain this association, while vitD supplementation was shown to reduce the risk of respiratory infection. (‘Optimisation of Vitamin D Status for Enhanced Immuno-protection Against Covid-19’, IMJ, Vol 113; No. 4; P58).