Vitamin D deficiency can affect susceptibility to infection, according to White House health advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci.
“If you are deficient in vitamin D, that does have an impact on your susceptibility to infection. So I would not mind recommending, and I do it myself taking vitamin D supplements,” Fauci, 79, said during an Instagram Live.
However, there is a complication when it comes to determining whether one is vitamin D deficient and how much of the supplement one must consume. Medical professionals cannot agree on the efficacy of vitamin D screenings and supplementation recommendations.
“You’re wandering into a maze,” Dr. Clifford Rosen, an endocrinologist and professor of medicine at Tufts University’s School of Medicine, who has studied vitamin D for over three decades.
Experts say vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that can help in maintaining muscles and strengthening the bones. People with low vitamin D may have soft and brittle bones.
One can get vitamin D from direct sunlight and foods such as fatty fish (salmon, tuna and mackerel), milk, and mushrooms.
Researchers at the University of Chicago Medicine found that vitamin D deficiency is associated with the likelihood of contracting Covid-19, according to the study published in September.
A study published in 2014 by the NIH showed that 35% of adults and about 50% of infants in the US were suffering from a vitamin D deficiency. Experts say that people with vitamin D deficiency may not show any symptoms at all.
Skin aging and dry skin may worsen if one has a vitamin D deficiency, according to Dr. Raman Madan, a dermatologist at Northwell Health’s Huntington Hospital.
Meanwhile, Paul Thomas, a registered dietitian nutritionist and scientific consultant at the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Dietary Supplement, said that severe deficiency can lead to bone fracture and muscle weakness.
Studies indicated that prolonged vitamin D deficiency can lead to bone-related diseases in adults and children.
Thomas recommends getting a blood test if one wants to know if they are vitamin D deficiency.
Vitamin D effectiveness
Dr. Michael Holick, a vitamin D researcher, professor of medicine at Boston University and director of Bone Health Care Clinic, also recommends vitamin D to everyone.
Holick cites his research and other studies that reveal a link between low vitamin D levels and higher rates of several diseases. Based on Holick’s 2010 book, "The Vitamin D Solution,” vitamin D deficiency is common and supplements could help one “avoid the myriad ailments associated with deficiency, including heart disease, cancer, and osteoporosis,” he wrote.
“For obese people, they need two to three times more,” Holick, an endocrinologist, says.
Thomas pointed out that natural vitamin D can be seen in the blood when one's consumption is adequate from sunlight and food. “If your vitamin D blood level is sufficiently good at the end of the summer, it can remain at adequate levels throughout the winter ... if you get some vitamin D from food," he said.
As for food, “the only foods naturally containing vitamin D are oily fish such as wild-caught salmon, which contains about 600-1000 IUs vitamin D, mushrooms exposed to sunlight and cod liver oil. Eight ounces of milk or orange fortified with vitamin D contains 100 IUs,” Holick says.
Holick also believes in getting “sensible sun exposure” for “some” vitamin D, but warns that “you cannot make any significant vitamin D before 10 a.m. and after 3 p.m. no matter where you live in the United States.”
