Viewpoint: Taking vitamin D is the ‘least crackpot’ of the coronavirus nutrition ideas

screenshot covid deaths are being linked to vitamin d deficiency here s what that means
Credit: solidcolours/iStock

For the most part, supplements are a waste of money at best and harmful at worst. But could vitamin D be a notable exception – now more than ever? Let’s take a look.

Turns out there’s nothing quite like a pandemic to bring out the nutrition crazies. Eating lots of garlic and adding hot peppers to your soup are two “cures” for COVID-19 that the World Health Organization has chosen to debunk, but there are any number of equally-bonkers, immune-boosting food scams that have gone “viral” during the coronavirus crisis.

Simply put, you can’t “boost” your immune system through diet, and no specific food or supplement will prevent you from becoming infected with the coronavirus. 

However, vitamin D could be something of an exception as it’s not so easy to get from food and is widely deficient across populations, including in the US. This and the fact that as warmer months arrive we’re still largely locked down and unable to take full advantage of vitamin D from the sun makes it worthy of study in relation to COVID-19. 

Until future large and well-designed studies are completed we just don’t know what the impact of vitamin D might be in COVID-19 specifically. But upping your intake is certainly the least crackpot of all the nutrition ideas out there.

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