October 2020
Shawn Radcliffe
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With no coronavirus vaccines approved for full use, many people are turning to vitamins and other supplements to bolster their immune system and help them fight off COVID-19.
While plenty of posts on social media push these supplements as personal coronavirus shields, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, cautioned last month that most “so-called immune boosting supplements” actually do “nothing.”
However, there is one supplement that may be of use to the immune system — vitamin D, also known as the “sunshine vitamin.”
“If you are deficient in vitamin D, that does have an impact on your susceptibility to infection,” Fauci said in an Instagram Live interview with actress Jennifer Garner. “So I would not mind recommending — and I do it myself — taking vitamin D supplements.”
Fauci was not speaking about COVID-19 specifically, but about vitamin D’s general role in supporting the immune system — in particular, about the benefits of this nutrient for people who are deficient.
Right now, the National Institutes of Health says there’s not enough evidence to show that vitamin D can prevent or treat COVID-19.
But there is enough evidence that scientists are exploring the benefits of this and other supplements against the coronavirus.
