British investigates vitamin D against covid-19

"I agree that we have no support yet because vitamin D protects against covid-19," says physician associate professor Peter Bergman, vitamin D researcher at the Karolinska Institute.

The British Healthcare Authority NICE, the Government's Advisory Committee on Nutrition and the British Academy of Sciences Royal Society each report this week that there is no research support to determine whether vitamin D deficiency can aggravate covid-19 or not.

The reason is that several research studies indicate that covid-19 patients are more seriously ill with vitamin D deficiency, but they have not shown any connection. Perhaps the infection lowers vitamin D levels, not the other way around.

One study shows that in countries north of the 28th latitude (in the middle of North Africa), the risk of covid-19 mortality in the population increases for each latitude. Because solar radiation is the most important source of vitamin D, the researchers suspect a connection.

That could be an explanation for why blacks in the US are badly affected by the pandemic, for example, because a lot of pigment in the skin inhibits vitamin D production.

Other researchers are skeptical and believe that social factors are crucial, which is why some ethnic groups are hit harder than others by the corona virus. A large study of 340,000 British blood from a biobank, where 650 were ill with covid-19, showed no association with vitamin D deficiency.

Peter Bergman was one of the researchers behind a large international study that in 2017 found that vitamin D can provide some protection (10-20 percent) against other respiratory tract infections.

- We do not have enough data for covid-19. It is great that you are trying to study this now, believes Peter Bergman.

Right now, a web survey of 12,000 people in the UK is investigating covid-19 risk factors. In winter, it is planned to test vitamin D or sugar pills in patients to see the effect against coronavirus infection.

In anticipation of answers around covid-19, Peter Bergman believes that risk groups should go to the health center and take a blood test if you suspect vitamin D deficiency as it is not good for health for other reasons.

He does not recommend buying vitamin D tablets in health food stores because they are not government controlled and the levels can vary widely. It is safer to buy the pills at pharmacies instead and are prescribed by a doctor, according to Bergman.

Want to know more about Vitamin D: See "The Truth About Vitamins" in the Science World 13/7 at 8pm in SVT2 or SVTplay.