Vitamin D may play an important role in the treatment of Covid-19 positive individuals. Further confirmation to the brilliant insight of a group of Italian researchers comes from a randomized experimental study conducted in Spain.
Vitamin D and Covid-19, the Italian insight
The first hypothesis about the beneficial effects of vitamin D in counteracting the effects of Covid-19 was due to the intuition of two Italian doctors, Giancarlo Isaia and Enzo Medico, from the Academy of Medicine and the University of Turin.
In March 2020, the two professors had called attention to the vital role of vitamin D in preventing coronavirus and its most serious complications. Evidence based on a meta-analysis of the scientific literature, compared with epidemiological data, later published in Aging in Clinical and Experimental Resarch (1).
The Spanish study
Further confirmation to the Italian thesis comes from research conducted at the University Hospital of Cordoba (Spain). The study, soon to be published, is already available in The Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.
Spanish researchers selected 76 patients who were positive for the new coronavirus, all of whom were treated with hydroxychloroquine according to the standard protocol. They divided the patients into two groups. The largest group (50 of the 76 patients) were given high doses of calcifediol (the hydroxylated metabolite of Vitamin D).
Less intensive care
The results showed a highly significant difference between the two groups with regard to the occurrence of major complications. In fact, only 2 percent of patients treated with calcifediol were then admitted to the intensive care unit, compared with 50 percent of patients in the control group.
The study shows that administration of high doses of calcifediol can significantly reduce the most serious complications in Covid-19 positive cases. Further research may offer further support for the recommendation to administer vitamin D to all patients with Covid-19.
It is also urgent to organize suitable supplies of vitamin D, whose role is also essential in prevention. And overcome the restrictions on its prescription introduced in the National Health System, in a cost-saving logic inappropriate to the circumstances.
Marta Strinati
Notes
(1) Giancarlo Isaia, Enzo Medico, University of Turin. Possible preventive and therapeutic role of vitamin D in the management of the COVID-19 pandemic
Giancarlo Isaia, Enzo Medico. Associations between hypovitaminosis D and COVID-19: a narrative review. Aging in Clinical and Experimental Resarch, 2020 https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-020-01650-9
Professional journalist since January 1995, he has worked for newspapers (Il Messaggero, Paese Sera, La Stampa) and periodicals (NumeroUno, Il Salvagente). She is the author of journalistic surveys on food, she has published the book "Reading labels to know what we eat".
