Does Vitamin D Help Fight Covid-19?


David Ho   |   February 9, 2021
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One study1 looked at patients who had contracted Covid-19 and either had mild or no symptoms. There were 40 patients in the study, and they all had low vitamin D levels. The investigators gave half the patients 60000 IU of vitamin D3 to take every day while the other half were not given the supplement. What were the results? After 3 weeks 62.5% of those taking the vitamin D3 cleared Covid-19, going from Covid-19 RNA positive to negative while only 20.8% of those who didn’t take vitamin D3 went from positive to negative. In other words, taking vitamin D3 was associated with more people clearing their infection in 3 weeks. This is a small study, and so the results should be interpreted with caution. 

In another study2 investigators looked at people infected with Covid-19 and found that those who had severe disease had lower vitamin D levels while those who had milder disease had higher levels. The investigators write, “As per the flexible approach in the current Covid-19 pandemic authors recommend mass administration of vitamin D supplements to populations at risk for Covid-19.”

While these studies do not prove that taking vitamin D3 will either prevent or treat Covid-19, they certainly provide some information to consider. If you are thinking about taking vitamin D3, a safe dose for elementary school-aged children is 1200 to 2000 IU per day while adults can take 4000IU to 5000IU of vitamin D3 daily. As with all treatments, please consult your doctor before initiation.

1Rastogi A., et al. Postgrad Med J 2020;0:1-4.

2Jain, A. et al. Scientific Reports; 2020,10:20191

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