Thread by @tomaspueyo

Vitamin D: What's its role in fighting the #coronavirus?
Thread

I was initially reluctant to look into it. I'm very skeptical of the supplement industry given that most supplements don't really work, which is connected to the fact that they're not regulated.
[1/

But after reading about the Bradykinin Hypothesis, which gives a potential pathway for Vitamin D to work, and realizing that one paper supporting the Bradykinin Hypothesis has been peer-reviewed, I decided to look into it.
[2/

elemental.medium.com/a-supercompute…

The Bradykinin hypothesis was 1st suggested in April.
[3/
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…

Another paper in July, peer reviewed, supported it.
[4/
elifesciences.org/articles/59177

That paper suggests some ways to treat the disease. One of them is Icatibant, which has some support to show it works.

89% of those treated with icatibant reduced oxygen supplementation, but only 17% for those without icatibant
[5/
jamanetwork.com/journals/jaman…

The Braykinin hypothesis also points at other potential drugs that already exist: danazol, stanozolol, ecallantide, hymecromone, timbetasin (none tested)

They also propose Vitamin D, but unlike these other drugs, it has some evidence to support it.
[6/

There has been some evidence that Vitamin D reduces mortality rates since at least May. The more Vit D, the less C-Reactive Protein, and the lower the mortality.

[7/16]

medrxiv.org/content/10.110…

A few days ago, another paper showed that ppl who likely had higher Vit D (as measured the year before) were also 45% less likely to test positive for COVID.

[8/16]

jamanetwork.com/journals/jaman…

The same day, another paper came out with a double blind randomized controlled trial. 50% of the patients who went to the hospital and didn't get Vit D ended up in the ICU, but only 2% of those with Vit D injections. Small sample, not peer reviewed.
[9/

sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

This could also be one of the reasons why summertime reduces the size of outbreaks (along with more outdoors interactions, higher temp, higher humidity...)
[10/16]

So it looks like we understand how Vit D can help against the coronavirus, and we have some evidence that it does in some circumstances.

We also know that adult populations have a deficiency of Vit D
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…

In the US, it's ~40%
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…

[11/16]

And it does look like taking Vit D in supplements does help increase it in the metabolism
yalemedicine.org/stories/vitami…

(Don't take too much though)
[12/16]

And a pretty low cost
[13/16]

This might be especially useful now that so many ppl are staying indoors so much longer.
[14/16]

So:
- There's evidence having more Vit D can help protect from the virus (prevent & treat)
- We have a hypothesis on how it works
- We might have a deficit anyways
- It's cheap to get supplementation and it works
[15/16]

It sounds like a positive cost-benefit relationship.
So to be consistent, I started supplementation today.

Have I missed key science about Vit D?
Should I reach different conclusions?
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