Evidence Regarding Vitamin D and Risk of COVID-19 and Its Severity
Mercola et al.,
Evidence Regarding Vitamin D and Risk of COVID-19 and Its Severity,
Nutrients 2020, 12:11, 3361, doi:10.3390/nu12113361 (Review)
Review of vitamin D and COVID-19 concluding that the evidence seems strong enough that people and physicians can use or recommend vitamin D supplements to prevent or treat COVID-19 in light of their safety and wide therapeutic window.
Mercola et al., 31 Oct 2020, peer-reviewed, 3 authors.
Abstract: nutrients
Review
Evidence Regarding Vitamin D and Risk of
COVID-19 and Its Severity
Joseph Mercola 1, *, William B. Grant 2
1
2
3
*
and Carol L. Wagner 3
Natural Health Partners, LLC, 125 SW 3rd Place, Cape Coral, FL 33991, USA
Sunlight, Nutrition, and Health Research Center, P.O. Box 641603, San Francisco, CA 94164-1603, USA;
wbgrant@infionline.net
Department of Pediatrics, Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital, Medical University of South Carolina,
10 McClennan Banks Drive, MSC 915, Charleston, SC 29425, USA; wagnercl@musc.edu
Correspondence: dr@mercola.com; Tel.: +1-239-599-9529
Received: 4 October 2020; Accepted: 29 October 2020; Published: 31 October 2020
Abstract: Vitamin D deficiency co-exists in patients with COVID-19. At this time, dark skin color,
increased age, the presence of pre-existing illnesses and vitamin D deficiency are features of severe
COVID disease. Of these, only vitamin D deficiency is modifiable. Through its interactions with
a multitude of cells, vitamin D may have several ways to reduce the risk of acute respiratory
tract infections and COVID-19: reducing the survival and replication of viruses, reducing risk of
inflammatory cytokine production, increasing angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 concentrations,
and maintaining endothelial integrity. Fourteen observational studies offer evidence that serum
25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations are inversely correlated with the incidence or severity of
COVID-19. The evidence to date generally satisfies Hill’s criteria for causality in a biological
system, namely, strength of association, consistency, temporality, biological gradient, plausibility (e.g.,
mechanisms), and coherence, although experimental verification is lacking. Thus, the evidence seems
strong enough that people and physicians can use or recommend vitamin D supplements to prevent
or treat COVID-19 in light of their safety and wide therapeutic window. In view of public health
policy, however, results of large-scale vitamin D randomized controlled trials are required and are
currently in progress.
Keywords: cathelicidin; COVID-19; endothelial dysfunction; IL-6; immune system; inflammation;
MMP-9; SARS-CoV-2; vitamin D; 25-hydroxyvitamin D
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