It is often claimed that vitamin D deficiency would favor severe corona courses. A new study, which is used as an argument, does not actually establish causality. (Archive image)
© Danny Gohlke/dpa
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OfVincent Büssow
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A new study is used as an argument for the fact that vitamin D tablets protect against corona. What’s up with the claim?
Nahariya – A new Study* from Israel has investigated the relationship between a low vitamin D level and severe corona courses. In contrast to previous studies, the vitamin D content was examined before infection with the Sars-CoV-2 virus, instead of afterwards. The study is already being used as new evidence for a causal relationship between the factors studied – but on closer inspection, the situation looks different. Furthermore reported fr.de.*
In the study, published on Thursday (03.02.2022), adults were Corona*-Examined patients who were admitted to the Galilee Medical Center in the city of Nahariya in Israel between April 07, 2020 and February 04, 2021. Of 253 of the people to whom this applied, the vitamin D level was measured and recorded 14 to 730 days before the corona infection. These values, in connection with the severity of the course of the disease, provided the basis for the study.
| Deficient supply of vitamin D | |
| Total | 30.2% of adults |
| Womens | 29,7 % |
| Both men | 30,8 % |
| Source: RKI study from 2016 |
Vitamin D and Corona: study finds no causality
Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Connection between vitamin D and Corona controversially discussed*. The results of the new study seem clear at first glance: patients with vitamin D deficiency (less than 20 nanograms per milliliter) suffered a severe corona course fourteen times as often as patients with a high vitamin D level (more than 40 nanograms per milliliter). In the social networks, the study is therefore used as an argument for the fact that taking vitamin D supplements protects against a serious corona disease. However, the study does not allow this assumption.
In the discussion part of the study, the authors themselves point out that vitamin D deficiency “can be a sign of a wide range of chronic health conditions or behavioral factors”, which “simultaneously increase the severity of Covid-19 diseases and the risk of death”. This means that a connection between a low vitamin D level and a severe corona disease is possible, but both are probably a consequence of other factors.
Study on vitamin D and corona: expert warns of overdose
Therefore, the study authors point out that “we should not overestimate the potential benefits of vitamin D supplementation to improve the results of Sars-CoV-2 infection”. Dr. Martin Smollich, Head of the Pharmaconutrition working Group at the University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, reported on the possible consequences of a vitamin D overdose with reference to the study. On Twitter, Smollich reported on parents who gave their child two pipettes of vitamin D daily instead of a vaccination to protect against Corona. The child is now in intensive care. ♪fr.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA (vbu)