A vitamin D deficiency can be caused if you stay mainly in closed rooms and are hardly ever outdoors. A study now shows that a lack of vitamin D can significantly worsen a corona infection.
- Vitamin D deficiency increases the risk of death in the event of a corona infection.
- The mortality is therefore increased by 10 times
- This is the result of a recent study by scientists
- But be careful: too much vitamin D can also be harmful – experts warn
Vitamin D belongs to the group of fat-soluble vitamins. The most important are vitamin D2 and vitamin D3. As the Robert Koch Institute explains, vitamin D is important for our bone metabolism, the metabolic processes in the body, the control of genes, and the formation of proteins. Vitamin D deficiency is often found in people who spend most of their time indoors and rarely go outside. Because vitamin D is mainly formed through the skin through sunlight.
Update from November 21, 2020, 9 a.m.: Experts warn against too much vitamin D.
The vitamin is important for health and studies to show that it can help reduce mortality from Covid-19 disease. Older people in particular who live in nursing homes often suffer from a vitamin D deficiency as they are less exposed to sunlight. In addition, the production of the vitamin in the body decreases with age.
It is therefore often recommended to take vitamin D in addition, for example through dietary supplements. That is probably really helpful, but experts warn: As always, according to Paracelsus, the dose makes the poison. It is the same with vitamin D.
The Robert Koch Institute, therefore, warns against too high a dosage. The problem with vitamin D in particular is that it is a fat-soluble vitamin. So it may be stored in muscles and adipose tissue. This can lead to an overdose if it is taken frequently and heavily. Specifically, a vitamin D level that is too high results in “hypercalcemia”, i.e. an increased calcium level. This can acutely lead to abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting, or, in particularly severe cases, even kidney damage, cardiac arrhythmias, unconsciousness, and death, according to the RKI in its statement.
An overdose can occur if a wide variety of measures to increase the vitamin D level are combined, i.e. food, tablets, and plenty of sunlight. If you want to find out whether you have a vitamin D deficiency, it is best to have a doctor do a blood test.
Cause of vitamin D deficiency: Too little sunlight
A deficiency often affects older people in nursing homes or old people’s homes. Due to their age, they already have to struggle with a lack of vitamin D, as the body’s own production of vitamin D decreases with increasing age.
Counteracting a vitamin D deficiency is not that easy. If you want to counteract this with food, there are only a few that can supply the necessary amount of the vitamin. Different fish species, in particular, are known to have plenty of vitamin D. Eel, herring, or salmon are often recommended. Somewhat less vitamin D can be obtained by eating liver or eggs. Another way to counteract a deficiency is dietary supplements in the form of preparations.
A lack of vitamin D should definitely be counteracted. The consequences can be serious. This is also shown by a new study on vitamin D and corona. If there is an additional vitamin D deficiency in the case of an infection with the coronavirus, the course of the disease can have a bad end.
Vitamin D deficiency and corona: mortality is increased
However, this is not a symptom, but a decisive influencing factor that can strongly influence the course of the disease. That is what a new study suggests.
The risk of a fatal outcome was 19-fold increased with a vitamin D deficiency compared to normal vitamin D levels. Confounders such as age, previous illnesses, and gender were also taken into account in the study. After adjusting for these confounding factors, there was still 10 times higher risk of death for coronavirus infected people with vitamin D deficiency.
However, it is still unclear exactly what the connection is: According to a meta-study by the University of Hohenheim, many patients also have low vitamin D levels. This could also be related to the fact that the patients in the intensive care unit with Covid-19 are people with previous illnesses and mainly older people. A comparative study on the actual effects of vitamin D during the course of the disease is still pending.
Vitamin D deficiency increases the risk of life-threatening disease
As reported by the German Press Agency, 212 COVID-19 patients were divided into groups based on the severity of their illness (mild, average, severe, critical) and the vitamin D values of the patients were determined in another study. The result: the lower the vitamin D value, the more difficult the gradients were.
A life-threatening course was 23 times more frequent with low serum vitamin D than in comparison with normal values.
Vitamin D against Covid-19
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends vitamin D for the prevention of respiratory diseases. Large meta-analyses show that supplementing with vitamin D lowers the risk of acute respiratory diseases by up to 70 percent in people with a low baseline vitamin D status. COVID-19 is also an acute respiratory disease.
Vitamin D is mainly absorbed from the sun. If necessary, you can also use preparations. But not all vitamin D supplements are helpful: 15 out of 20 products tested failed the eco-test.
