Jan 21, 2021 19:00:00

Claims that there is no evidence that vitamin D affects the severity of the new corona

Many studies published so far have shown that '

severe patients with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) are deficient in vitamin D ' and that ' vitamin D reduces the severity of COVID-19. ' It is reported that it turned out. However, a new study focusing on genetic differences shows that 'there is no evidence that vitamin D affects the severity of COVID-19,' at least in people of European descent.

No evidence that vitamin D is able to prevent or affect the severity of COVID-19 in individuals with European ancestry: a Mendelian randomisation study of open data | BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health
https://nutrition.bmj.com/content/early/2021/01/07/bmjnph-2020-000151

No evidence vitamin D affects COVID severity in people of European ancestry: new study
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-01-evidence-vitamin-d-affects-covid.html

While various discussions were held on the relationship between COVID-19 and vitamin D, a total of 200 doctors and scientists said in December 2020, 'At least low levels of vitamin D make people more susceptible to COVID-19 and are seriously ill. It is certain that it will be easier to become infected, 'he said in a joint name, calling for an immediate increase in vitamin D intake.

More than 200 scientists and doctors request to increase vitamin D intake to combat new coronavirus --GIGAZINE

However, in response to claims about the effectiveness of vitamin D for COVID-19, some experts have raised concerns about the side effects of overdose of vitamin D, and said, 'Take vitamin D. Some have questioned the effectiveness of vitamin D, saying that it cannot prevent illness. '

Doctors point out that 'taking vitamin D does not prevent illness' --GIGAZINE

Hasnat A Amin and Fotios Drenos of Brunel University, England, are also researchers who have doubts about the effectiveness of vitamin D. Drenos commented on previous studies: 'Most of the studies on vitamin D and COVID-19 look only at'correlation'. For example,'people who die of COVID-19 have low levels of vitamin D.'' Is true, but older people at high risk of dying from COVID-19 spend more time at home, so they are less likely to be exposed to the sun and, as a result, may think that their vitamin D levels are low. You can do it. '

The mainstream of research on COVID-19 and vitamin D, the Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) , divides the study into two groups, one given vitamin D and the other given a placebo. It is done in.

However, Amin et al., Who thought that these studies could show 'correlation' but not understand 'causality,' focused on a technique called ' Mendel randomization (MR) .' MRs are methods used to derive causal relationships in the field of genetics and differ from randomized RCTs in that they are grouped according to genetic diversity.

Amin et al. Published from UK Biobank, which is considered to be the largest biobank in the world, and COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative , an international project to investigate the relationship between COVID-19 symptoms and human genes, to start research. Get the data. After grouping people with 'genes with high and low vitamin D levels', MR analyzed the severity of COVID-19 in each group.

As a result, there was no causal relationship indicating that 'vitamin D deficiency affects the severity of COVID-19'. From this, Amin and Drenos said in a treatise, 'We did not find any evidence that vitamin D could prevent infection with the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) or the aggravation of COVID-19.' I concluded. Regarding this, Amin said, 'Comparing the group with genes with high levels of vitamin D and the group with genes with low levels of vitamin D, if there is a difference in severity between the two, it can be said that there is a' causal relationship '. , There was no difference. '

Since all the data used in this study are significantly biased towards Europeans, Amin said, 'Because skin color and culture have a great influence on the effect of sun exposure, this study I don't know if the results apply to non-European people as well. '

Drenos Mr. on it is said, 'because there is no evidence that just because taking Supplements of vitamin D are protected from COVID-19, should continue to protect the known health measures in the future', continued social distance He said that it is important to take it and wash hands thoroughly .

A thread on the Hacker News online bulletin board featuring Amin et al.'S paper states: 'It's important to note that this study did not look at data that actually measured vitamin D levels. I said. want to do is, not whether this study is wrong, this paper is that 'decisive not in the study. '' that comment and ......

'If I were to give this study a more loyal title, I understand that'genetic factors for high and low vitamin D levels do not appear to be related to the severity of COVID-19'.' A comment such as 'I am doing it' was posted.