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According to new research, a vitamin commonly produced by skin cells exposed to the sun may play a role in preventing death from the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.
Preliminary results from a still peer-reviewed study by scientists at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Foundation Trust and the University of East Anglia have linked low levels of the hormone vitamin D to death rates of COVID-19 in Europe.
It is a study that certainly deserves some attention as a potential piece of the coronavirus puzzle, reminding us that health and illness can be a complex issue involving a variety of lifestyle factors.
But it’s also important to interpret evidence like this as part of a broader scientific conversation, which means it would be premature to make recommendations and certainly too early to get to the supplement aisle before more tests arrive.
The researchers searched the existing health literature to catalog average vitamin D levels among citizens of 20 European countries, and then compared the figures with the relative number of COVID-19 deaths in each country.
A simple statistical test showed that there was a pretty compelling correlation between the numbers, where populations with below-average vitamin concentrations also had more deaths from SARS-CoV-2.
“The population group most vulnerable to COVID-19 is also the one with the highest vitamin D deficiency,” the researchers conclude in their preliminary report.
Cross-sectional reports like these are not without problems, doing little more than suggesting that there might be some kind of relationship. People who tend to have higher levels of vitamin D in their bodies could be doing more than helping to limit the destruction caused by the virus, for example.
But the results aren’t surprising either, as they coincide with stronger previous studies that also suggest that healthy vitamin D levels may reduce the risk of respiratory infections like the flu and tuberculosis, as well as childhood asthma.
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble compound that we can obtain as a nutrient from foods such as mushrooms or fish, or that is produced in our skin when a form of cholesterol reacts to ultraviolet light.
Commonly known for its role in maintaining calcium levels in our bones, deficiency of this vitamin is responsible for skeletal deformities such as rickets, as well as an increased risk of bone degeneration behind conditions such as osteoporosis.
The researchers are gradually piecing together the vitamin’s functions in the immune system, noting its relationship to autoimmune conditions and the discovery of receptors for the chemical in various immune cells.
How it could fight coronavirus infections, if it is, will surely be a popular topic in future studies.
Meanwhile, however controversial the results may be, a single study prior to peer review should not be the basis for medical advice. Science simply does not support taking the leap between reading about healthy amounts of vitamin D in the blood and taking a supplement.
In 2017, medical researchers Mark J Bolland of the University of Auckland in New Zealand and Alison Avenell of the University of Aberdeen in the UK argued for the need for caution about how we interpret studies not unlike this one.
“Vitamin D supplementation is a hot topic, prompting passionate arguments for and against widespread supplementation,” they write in an editorial about the wide range of studies on the subject in the past decade.
The results may seem positive, but there is simply no way to turn a mix of statistics into accurate recommendations that can be tailored to individual needs. Even the World Health Organization intends to use past research as the basis for specific recommendations.
“We believe that they should be viewed only as generating hypotheses, requiring confirmation in well-designed and adequately powered randomized controlled trials,” write Bolland and Avenell.
Research speculating that a single commonly available vitamin could make the difference between life and death may seem like a potential life raft in rough water, but we need more research to tell us how and why these patterns exist to balance the risks that come with vitamin supplements.
In the midst of a pandemic that has the potential to claim thousands of lives worldwide every week, science feels extremely slow. But it is always worth the wait.
The document is available as a preprint at Research Square.
