Vitamin D For Preventing COVID-19: Hype or Hope?

NPR (04/14/2021)
  • When Covid-19 started spreading, many Americans turned to Vitamin D supplements to boost their immune systems.
  • Researchers also quickly noticed an overlap between demographics more likely to fall severely ill from Covid (overweight, elderly, darker skin) and Vitamin D deficiency, eventually supported by observational studies.
  • Still, some medical experts remain skeptical of Vitamin D’s preventative value since these studies weren’t randomized or controlled (gold-standard).
  • Years of research tracing the association between Vitamin D and other diseases (eg diabetes, cancer) reached inconsistent conclusions.