Vitamin D may help fight off coronavirus after all, a study suggests.
The jury has been out on the 'sunshine vitamin' since early in the pandemic, with conflicting findings muddying the waters.
Papers that did find a link were deemed not rigorous enough and not definitive. But a new study — this time in Israel — claims to have the most conclusive evidence yet.
Previous research has been criticised for only looking at vitamin D levels when the Covid patient was already in hospital.
Being ill is known to make levels of the vitamin drop, which may have skewed findings, according to critics.
To overcome this limitation, in their latest study, researchers from Bar Ilan University and the Galilee Medical Center looked at patient records up to two years before they were diagnosed with Covid.
They found people who were consistently deficient in the vitamin were up to 14 times more likely to suffer severe disease, even after adjusting for age and other underlying health woes.
The patients were in hospital before Israel's vaccine rollout was widespread and scientists said its findings should be seen as a green light for anti-vaxxers to turn to supplements instead.
People are still strongly encourage to get jabbed, with extra vitamin D only offering a helping hand alongside more steadfast protection against the virus.
High Vitamin D levels can help reduce the risk of developing severe Covid, a 'remarkable' Israeli study has claimed. Graph shows: Vitamin D levels in 253 mild, moderate, severe and critical Covid patients at the Galilee Medical Center in in Nahariya. More than 40ng/mL of vitamin D in blood is considered a 'high-normal' level, while below 20ng/mL is deficient
The researchers measured vitamin D levels in 253 adult Covid patients from April 2020 to February 2021.
Those with vitamin D deficiencies were found to be significantly more likely to develop severe Covid than patients with high levels of the vitamin.
They said the association was so strong they could predict Covid patient outcomes just by their age and vitamin D levels.
Vitamin D is vital in helping the immune system respond properly to the virus, they said. But they could not prove higher vitamin D levels were the only factor behind better disease outcomes in Covid patients.
Dr Amiel Dror, a physician at RMC and one of the researchers behind the study, said the results were also as important for Omicron as the previous variants patients in the paper had.
It comes on the back of a host of studies suggesting the 'sunshine vitamin' — usually sourced from sunlight — can help protect against the virus.
But the research was not deemed strong enough by the UK Department of Health to warrant continuing A previous scheme of giving out 3p Vitamin D pills to the clinically vulnerable in winter.
Around 3million people were offered a four month course of the vitamin — which Britons do not get enough of from September to April — last year, but the programme was cancelled.
The vitamin, also abundant in oily fish, red meat, liver and egg yolks, boosts general health and fortifies bones and muscles.
Vitamin D deficiency is endemic in the Middle East, including Israel, where nearly four in five people are thought to be low on the vitamin.
The Israeli study, published in peer-reviewed journal PLOS One, looked at patients during the country's first two waves of the pandemic before vaccine coverage was widespread.
They checked Covid patients with an average age of 63 against their previous hospital records to see what their long-term Vitamin D records were like.
Out of the 1,176 patients admitted to the GMC in Nahariya, 253 had been previously tested for Vitamin D levels, allowing the researchers to examine the relationship between the vitamin and Covid outcomes.
Of those, 52 per cent were deficient, with less than 20ng/mL of the vitamin in their blood, 14 per cent had insufficient levels (20 to 30ng/mL), 17 per cent had adequate levels (30 to 40ng/mL), and 16 per cent had high-normal levels (more than 40ng/mL).
Pictured: Doctors attend a Covid patient at at Beilinson Hospital Rabin Medical Centre in Petah Tikva, Israel, on Tuesday
More than a quarter (25.6 per cent) of deficient patients died with the virus, compared to 2.3 per cent in the normal-high group.
Vitamin D deficiency was found in 87 per cent of patients with severe disease and 34 per cent of those with mild or moderate disease.
They also found the association between Vitamin D deficiency and was consistent between those testing low for the vitamin between 14 and 730 days before their positive Covid test.
Dr Dror told the Times of Israel: 'We found it remarkable and striking to see the difference in the chances of becoming a severe patient when you are lacking in vitamin D compared to when you’re not.
'What we’re seeing when vitamin D helps people with Covid infections is a result of its effectiveness in bolstering the immune systems to deal with viral pathogens that attack the respiratory system.
'This is equally relevant for Omicron as it was for previous variants.'
He said the findings were not based on incomplete or flawed data as with previous studies.
Dr Dror added the team's use of medical records to rule out medical conditions being the actual cause of worse outcomes gives wait to the findings.
He said people should consider taking a vitamin D supplement to help avoid worse outcomes with the virus.
From early April to the end of September, most people in the UK get all the vitamin D needed from sunlight.
During the autumn and winter, however, Britons can't get their required intake — 10 micrograms per day — from being outdoors, so are advised to take a supplement.
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