<story><title>Vitamin D Insufficiency is Prevalent in Severe Covid-19</title><url>https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.24.20075838v1</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>mindcrime</author><text>Interesting thing... Vitamin D is one of those things that, when vitamins come up on HN, you will often hear the refrain that &amp;quot;it&amp;#x27;s the one vitamin that large numbers of people are actually deficient in and ought to supplement.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;ve heard that many times over the years and I have taken a Vitamin D supplement on and off (more off than on) over the years.&lt;p&gt;When this COVID-19 thing first hit, I had a physical scheduled (by chance) just about the same time, and I&amp;#x27;d heard about this Vitamin D &amp;#x2F; COVID-19 connection, so when I went in for my physical, I asked my doctor to order a Vitamin D test as part of my bloodwork.&lt;p&gt;As it turns out, I was indeed &lt;i&gt;very&lt;/i&gt; deficient in Vitamin D. I started taking 4000 IU a day and it&amp;#x27;s had a noticeable impact on my overall sense of wellbeing. It &lt;i&gt;could&lt;/i&gt;, of course, be placebo effect even so. And I have no particular reason to think that it will make any difference one way or the other in terms of me getting COVID-19. But I thought it was worth pointing out one more anecdote that suggests that the old &amp;quot;Vitamin D is worth supplementing&amp;quot; refrain might just be true.&lt;p&gt;If you&amp;#x27;re in doubt, and it&amp;#x27;s an option, do what I did... just ask your doctor to run a Vitamin D test next time you go in for a checkup &amp;#x2F; physical.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>the_jeremy</author><text>A psychiatrist I saw multiple years ago told me to start taking Vitamin D. I went more or less blindly with 5,000 IU after reading some internet articles.&lt;p&gt;I got my blood checked last year and decided I should probably actually know if I&amp;#x27;m doing too much or too little. I was within 5% of the middle of the healthy range for vitamin D levels. For reference, 5,000 IU is &amp;gt;800% the FDA daily recommended value. People with indoor jobs and hobbies are probably not getting enough.</text></comment>
<story><title>Vitamin D Insufficiency is Prevalent in Severe Covid-19</title><url>https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.24.20075838v1</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>mindcrime</author><text>Interesting thing... Vitamin D is one of those things that, when vitamins come up on HN, you will often hear the refrain that &amp;quot;it&amp;#x27;s the one vitamin that large numbers of people are actually deficient in and ought to supplement.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;ve heard that many times over the years and I have taken a Vitamin D supplement on and off (more off than on) over the years.&lt;p&gt;When this COVID-19 thing first hit, I had a physical scheduled (by chance) just about the same time, and I&amp;#x27;d heard about this Vitamin D &amp;#x2F; COVID-19 connection, so when I went in for my physical, I asked my doctor to order a Vitamin D test as part of my bloodwork.&lt;p&gt;As it turns out, I was indeed &lt;i&gt;very&lt;/i&gt; deficient in Vitamin D. I started taking 4000 IU a day and it&amp;#x27;s had a noticeable impact on my overall sense of wellbeing. It &lt;i&gt;could&lt;/i&gt;, of course, be placebo effect even so. And I have no particular reason to think that it will make any difference one way or the other in terms of me getting COVID-19. But I thought it was worth pointing out one more anecdote that suggests that the old &amp;quot;Vitamin D is worth supplementing&amp;quot; refrain might just be true.&lt;p&gt;If you&amp;#x27;re in doubt, and it&amp;#x27;s an option, do what I did... just ask your doctor to run a Vitamin D test next time you go in for a checkup &amp;#x2F; physical.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>axegon_</author><text>Well yes, Vitamin D is pretty hard to come around in the northern hemisphere so no surprise there. Mind you, it&amp;#x27;s far not the only thing - magnesium, zinc, selenium are just a few which most people are missing. I mean unless your diet consists entirely of tuna and salmon probably. Over the last few years, I&amp;#x27;ve stressed significantly on my physical health(after being very overweight for the most of my adult life and now happy to say this is not the case anymore at all). And while Vitamin D has been one of the things I&amp;#x27;ve become very strict about, my supplements menu has significantly expanded. And there are plenty of products which come bundled with your daily intake of vitamins and minerals. And one in particular has become a part of my breakfast at this point. I haven&amp;#x27;t had as much as a sneeze in the last two years, haven&amp;#x27;t felt even mild fatigue or exhaustion, even after the toughest of days. But as you said, it&amp;#x27;s best to consult a doctor first, especially if you have bad medical history. If you are healthy and fit though then there are plenty of good options to go with.</text></comment>