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Vitamin D, Sunlight, and Respiratory Infections

Vitamin D, Sunlight, and Respiratory Infections

by | May 1, 2023

Post Categories: Book Reviews | Natural Living | Nutrition and Lifestyle | Respiratory and Lung Diseases | Studies/Reviews | Supplements

A study by David Jolliffe et al has been nagging at me since it was published in September 2022 in the British Medical Journal, and it’s time to see if we might make sense of them. This was a comprehensive trial that asked whether measuring vitamin D levels and treating individuals found deficient would lower morbidity from upper respiratory infections (URIs), particularly from Covid-19. The results suggest that doing so is a waste of time.

In Joliffe’s phase-3 open-label controlled trial, some 2,958 people were tested for vitamin D levels. People considered low in vitamin D (r <30 ng/ml)), approximately 86% of those tested, were given six months of vitamin D, either 800 IU/day (n=1,328) or 3200 IU/day (n=1,346). A control group was neither tested nor supplemented (n=3,100). The researchers monitored the proportion of participants diagnosed with acute respiratory tract infections from any cause and the number of participants with confirmed Covid-19.

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Author

Jacob Schor, ND, FABNO

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