Vitamin D Supplementation Probably Doesn’t Prevent Covid-19

A strong answer to a question that has been asked for the whole pandemic

Pictured: Not a COVID-19 preventative, apparently. Source: Unsplash

Vitamin D is one of the most popular supplements in the world. Because it’s involved in numerous biological processes, and people with low levels of vitamin D are worse off in so many ways than people with higher levels, there’s long been a thought that it would help with everything from heart disease to cancer.

Of course, the fact that the supplement is mostly harmless and plausibly beneficial doesn’t hurt the case either. And, given the evidence that vitamin D might have some benefit against cold/flu, many people have been arguing since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic that a supplement of the vitamin might not just help people with coronavirus but actually prevent the disease entirely.

Antoher source of vitamin D. Not as profitable as supplements, and not as regularly recommended, but maybe that’s just the cynic in me talking. Source: Unsplash

It’s worth noting that if vitamin D worked against Covid-19 or even other respiratory infections this would indeed be a wonderful thing. It’s a cheap, easily produced and very safe supplement that people can take en mass without serious worries. If that prevented Covid-19, those of us in the medical world would be…