Research & Studies
The New Vitamin D Study on COVID (CORONAVIT)
The data on Vitamin D and COVID-19 is confusing and contradictory. A new study is generating headlines – but there are serious methodological issues to consider.
Research & Studies
The data on Vitamin D and COVID-19 is confusing and contradictory. A new study is generating headlines – but there are serious methodological issues to consider.
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Just look at the headlines in ScienceDaily, my favorite magazine, to see how chaotic the landscape of Vitamin D and COVID data has become. I read the studies and latest findings there daily—great for learning. Unless, of course, you want to read something about Vitamin D. Here's a selection of headlines (translated):
You can find (not just there) many studies that assign Vitamin D a role in COVID.
Keep in mind: back then it was still Delta-COVID. You should always remember that Omicron-COVID is no longer much like the original disease – it's a different clinical picture.
In any case, there are of course also studies that seem to show that Vitamin D plays no role in COVID. These are usually the ones our media seizes upon because… well, because everything that could simply help has to be torn down. If a journalist happens to catch COVID themselves anyway, they can always write an article about long COVID later. ;-) Okay, that was mean.
No, Vitamin D is not a cure-all. It's simply that people in Switzerland get alarmingly low Vitamin D levels between autumn and spring. And Vitamin D is known to play a crucial role in the immune system. Plus: Vitamin D as a secosteroid with great similarity to other steroid hormones is immunosuppressive at somewhat higher doses. Therefore, in my opinion, it helps quite reliably in severe cases, in cytokine storms and such.
Long story short: As some of you may have noticed, we're becoming very much more active on our blog again. It's existed since 2014. After activity has recently shifted to our newsletter and Instagram, the blog should now take center stage. That's why we'll be posting our most valuable content there as often as possible. We've decoupled the blog from edubily simply to have more freedom and flexibility in what we write. The edubily guide/blog will focus more on longer articles on specific topics (like the current Omega-3 Index). Best to bookmark genetisches-maximum.de and check back regularly.
You can currently find an article about the new Coronavit study there. While it's still in preprint—meaning it hasn't yet been published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. But: You can safely assume that this study will be picked up by all media to launch another campaign against Vitamin D – they have to keep people uninformed. The study concludes that it doesn't matter whether you take Vitamin D (3200 IU) or "no Vitamin D," you'll get infections just as often, be hospitalized or die with the same probability.
If you're shaking your head in disbelief now, you should quickly read the article. It will make clear why this study is a "garbage study" (really!) and why it unfortunately shows nothing. Just remember the contents and perhaps share them further so that others also have the chance to understand how science is actually done these days and why it's often not conclusive. Here's the link to the article.
