All kinds of medications are being tested to minimize the symptoms of the coronavirus until there is a vaccine. Professor Martineau of Queen Mary University of London recently suggested that corona patients with severe symptoms in intensive care have a strikingly low vitamin D level. Do we already have to stock up on vitamin D?
When you think of vitamin D, you probably immediately think of the sun. We do know that our body needs vitamin D, but for what exactly?
Why do we need vitamin D?
Iris Groenenberg expert nutrition and health at the Netherlands Nutrition Center: ‘Vitamin D is important to be able to properly absorb calcium and you need calcium to keep your bones and teeth strong. In addition, vitamin D also plays a role in the immune system. You need vitamin D for the proper functioning of your immune system. ‘
“The main way to get vitamin D is sunlight,” says Groenenberg. “If you have fair skin and you spend a lot of time outside, you get two-thirds of your vitamin D requirements from sunlight.”
The Nutrition Center advises to be outside every day between 11:00 AM and 3:00 PM in spring, summer and autumn, with an uncovered face, uncovered hands and no sunscreen. Your body then produces vitamin D itself and stores a supply for the winter when the sun is too low.
Do you want to sit in the sun for more than 15 minutes to half an hour? Then, of course, you have to apply sunscreen or cover your skin well, so that you do not burn.
‘Go outside a lot and eat according to the Wheel of Five’
Besides sitting outside in the sun, you can also get vitamin D from food. Groenenberg: ‘Vitamin D is found in fatty fish, such as herring, salmon and mackerel. It’s also found in meat and eggs, but less so than fatty fish. Vitamin D is also added to low-fat margarine, margarine and baking and frying products, but not to oil. ‘
If you eat according to the Wheel of Five and spend fifteen to thirty minutes outside every day, most people will get enough vitamin D. But that does not apply to everyone. ‘In principle, everyone needs the same amount of vitamin D, but in some groups it is not produced efficiently in the skin.’
That is why the Nutrition Center advises various groups to use supplements. This concerns young children up to the age of four, women over 50, pregnant women, people with a medium skin color or people who cover themselves. Even people who do not spend much time outside are advised to use supplements.
The advice for these groups is to take 10 micrograms extra vitamin D every day. This can be done via both drops and tablets. Everyone over the age of 70 has an extra high need for vitamin D. For these people, the advice is to take 20 micrograms of vitamin D daily.
Can you take too much vitamin D?
‘Pay attention to the dosage and stick to the recommended daily amount of 10 or 20 micrograms,’ says Groenenberg. “Sometimes the package insert for a product prescribes extremely high dosages, but that’s not a good idea.”
Excessive vitamin D can cause calcium deposits. ‘You don’t get that from being in the sun too much, but really only when you use excessive supplements.’ With calcium deposits you can, for example, get kidney stones or a reduced kidney function. ‘
Does extra vitamin D help against the symptoms of the coronavirus?
Professor Martineau of Queen Mary University of London suggested that corona patients with severe symptoms in intensive care have a strikingly low vitamin D level. Is there a link between the coronavirus and vitamin D?
Groenenberg: ‘It is good to comment on that data. If many people are in intensive care with a low vitamin D status, that does not mean that it is because the vitamin D level is too low. It has not yet been sufficiently demonstrated whether vitamin D reduces the risk of infections. ‘
The people who are in intensive care are mainly overweight and elderly people. And we now know that it is precisely the elderly who need vitamin D supplements to achieve a good vitamin D level.
‘We know that vitamin D plays a role in the immune system and that many people actually have to take supplements while they are not aware of this. If you do not go outside much, there is nothing against taking a supplement. But it makes no sense to store and take a lot of vitamin D, because it doesn’t work that way. ‘
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