<story><title>The Impact of Vitamin D Level on Covid-19: Systematic Review Meta-Analysis</title><url>https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7973108/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>PragmaticPulp</author><text>The association between Vitamin D deficiency (VDD as referred to in this article) and increased risk of respiratory infections is well-known. Mild to moderate Vitamin D supplementation, especially during winter or in those with subpar dietary habits, is a good idea.&lt;p&gt;However, I&amp;#x27;ve noticed that Vitamin D has been garnered an almost cult-like following on parts of the internet in recent years. Some of the health claims around Vitamin D are getting out of control, and the recommendations for Vitamin D supplementation are far too high in certain circles.&lt;p&gt;I have to admit that I fell for this to some degree. I started supplementing 5000 IU&amp;#x2F;day after reading all of the writings about Vitamin D deficiency, the health benefits of Vitamin D, and the arguments that current Vitamin D supplementation recommendations were far too low.&lt;p&gt;But that 5000 IU&amp;#x2F;day put me near overdose territory when I got my serum levels checked. Even my doctor, who is very pro-Vitamin D supplementation, warned me to significantly cut my supplementation.&lt;p&gt;The scary part is that I see recommendations for significantly higher Vitamin D dosing all over Twitter and health forums lately. There&amp;#x27;s a growing idea that more is better, amplified by health influencers trying to stand out from the crowd and the growing cult-like status of Vitamin D as a wonder vitamin.&lt;p&gt;I think encouraging mild vitamin d supplementation (or improved dietary patterns with more Vitamin D) is a good step in the right direction, but I&amp;#x27;m also worried to see how much of this is being exaggerated and taken to unhealthy extremes.&lt;p&gt;When in doubt, get a blood test.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>ravenstine</author><text>I think the cult-like following for Vitamin D is an inverse of some of the cult-like following for the vaccines. (VACCINES ARE GOOD, FOLKS, DON&amp;#x27;T REPLY SAYING I&amp;#x27;M AN ANTIVAXXER)&lt;p&gt;There are people who believe that the vaccines are much more capable than they are, and go as far as lionizing Pfizer in the form of things like tattoos, Fauci fan art, and so on.  Yes, they are a very small segment of the population, but I&amp;#x27;ve run into these people in real life.  One of my best friends has a faith-like belief in the vaccines to such a point that he totally clams up if I show a shred of skepticism.  This was a guy who practiced formal debate and we used to have many intellectual discussions despite our differences.&lt;p&gt;The people who believe Vitamin D is their Lord and Savior are reacting to the fact that the establishment has almost entirely abandoned the pretense of &amp;quot;diet and exercise&amp;quot; in favor of pharmaceuticals to the exclusion of almost anything else.  Vitamin D isn&amp;#x27;t a cure, but it is &lt;i&gt;very&lt;/i&gt; underappreciated, and when the entire medical system not only fails for decades to solve obesity but then fails to tell people to take action in their own lives to get themselves fit and healthy, it&amp;#x27;s cause to raise an eyebrow no matter what you think about Vitamin D.&lt;p&gt;Both are a result in a division caused by a system that fails to explain its own legitimacy.  I think it&amp;#x27;s great that we have the vaccines.  I think Vitamin D is great.  I think both are imperfect.  But I can&amp;#x27;t blame people for attaching themselves to either one as if they are separate churches to attend; what have the establishment done to establish our trust?&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; But that 5000 IU&amp;#x2F;day put me near overdose territory when I got my serum levels checked. Even my doctor, who is very pro-Vitamin D supplementation, warned me to significantly cut my supplementation.&lt;p&gt;That&amp;#x27;s interesting.  It&amp;#x27;s been a really long while since I looked at research papers around Vitamin D, but my conclusion was that what was thought to be a daily limit for Vitamin D wasn&amp;#x27;t entirely justified for the average healthy person, but I&amp;#x27;ll have to check that again.  I&amp;#x27;ve been either getting some sunlight every day or taking 5000 IU supplementally every day and haven&amp;#x27;t suffered any obvious consequences.&lt;p&gt;Sunlight really is the best though, and you don&amp;#x27;t need that much sunlight to get a sufficient dose.  It also raises levels of nitric oxide which has its own benefits.</text></comment>
<story><title>The Impact of Vitamin D Level on Covid-19: Systematic Review Meta-Analysis</title><url>https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7973108/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>PragmaticPulp</author><text>The association between Vitamin D deficiency (VDD as referred to in this article) and increased risk of respiratory infections is well-known. Mild to moderate Vitamin D supplementation, especially during winter or in those with subpar dietary habits, is a good idea.&lt;p&gt;However, I&amp;#x27;ve noticed that Vitamin D has been garnered an almost cult-like following on parts of the internet in recent years. Some of the health claims around Vitamin D are getting out of control, and the recommendations for Vitamin D supplementation are far too high in certain circles.&lt;p&gt;I have to admit that I fell for this to some degree. I started supplementing 5000 IU&amp;#x2F;day after reading all of the writings about Vitamin D deficiency, the health benefits of Vitamin D, and the arguments that current Vitamin D supplementation recommendations were far too low.&lt;p&gt;But that 5000 IU&amp;#x2F;day put me near overdose territory when I got my serum levels checked. Even my doctor, who is very pro-Vitamin D supplementation, warned me to significantly cut my supplementation.&lt;p&gt;The scary part is that I see recommendations for significantly higher Vitamin D dosing all over Twitter and health forums lately. There&amp;#x27;s a growing idea that more is better, amplified by health influencers trying to stand out from the crowd and the growing cult-like status of Vitamin D as a wonder vitamin.&lt;p&gt;I think encouraging mild vitamin d supplementation (or improved dietary patterns with more Vitamin D) is a good step in the right direction, but I&amp;#x27;m also worried to see how much of this is being exaggerated and taken to unhealthy extremes.&lt;p&gt;When in doubt, get a blood test.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Strom</author><text>&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;But that 5000 IU&amp;#x2F;day put me near overdose territory when I got my serum levels checked.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;I need to consume 4000 IU&amp;#x2F;day just to keep my serum levels acceptable. I do agree though that blood tests are necessary. When I started getting into the vitamin D supplements, I had my blood levels tested every 3 months for a few years. I started out dangerously deficient and even 8000 IU&amp;#x2F;day was barely moving the needle in the beginning. However over a longer period 8000 IU&amp;#x2F;day ended up being too much, so I cut it down to 4000 IU&amp;#x2F;day where I&amp;#x27;ve been for years now.&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of factors going into this and everyone&amp;#x27;s circumstances are different. Frequent testing to verify assumptions is a must.&lt;p&gt;I spend a good amount of time outside, going running regularly, and am in decent shape. I also eat 250g of salmon weekly, which contains about 1000-2500 IU. However at the end of the day I live in the north (59 deg lat) and the sun here is of limited impact.</text></comment>