Vitamin D may be recommended by UK government as preventative/treatment for Covid-19

Vitamin D has moved a step closer to being used as a potential way to prevent and treat coronavirus after Matt Hancock asked government health advisers to produce new guidelines on its use.

The health secretary told the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) and Public Health England to create guidelines for the use of the “sunshine” nutrient two weeks ago, before it was reported that the government was planning to give four months worth of vitamin D supplements to more than 2 million vulnerable and elderly people, following the lead of Scotland.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Nice, which sets NHS clinical guidelines, told the Guardian: “Nice and PHE received a formal request to produce recommendations on vitamin D for prevention and treatment of Covid from the secretary of state for health and social care, Matt Hancock, on October 29.”

The move comes after the government began considering giving vitamin D supplements to elderly people and those who are shielding as the UK enters winter. There is growing concern that many people may have poorer vitamin D levels than usual as a result of staying indoors for longer periods during the pandemic.

Vintage wrote:The sun in Northern countries isn't strong enough or available for long enough or at the correct angle, in winter, to give indigenous people (light skinned) the adequate amount of Vitamin D at the best of times, so if people with darker skins are having the sunlight blocked by their melanin, they are really in trouble.

Ben Reilly wrote:

Vitamin D has moved a step closer to being used as a potential way to prevent and treat coronavirus after Matt Hancock asked government health advisers to produce new guidelines on its use.

The health secretary told the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) and Public Health England to create guidelines for the use of the “sunshine” nutrient two weeks ago, before it was reported that the government was planning to give four months worth of vitamin D supplements to more than 2 million vulnerable and elderly people, following the lead of Scotland.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Nice, which sets NHS clinical guidelines, told the Guardian: “Nice and PHE received a formal request to produce recommendations on vitamin D for prevention and treatment of Covid from the secretary of state for health and social care, Matt Hancock, on October 29.”

The move comes after the government began considering giving vitamin D supplements to elderly people and those who are shielding as the UK enters winter. There is growing concern that many people may have poorer vitamin D levels than usual as a result of staying indoors for longer periods during the pandemic.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/14/covid-uk-government-requests-guidance-on-vitamin-d-use

The article goes on to say that the reason Covid seems to infect more darker-skinned people in Europe and America might be that their melanin blocks sunlight and they live in countries that don't receive as much sunlight, possibly leading to severe Vitamin D deficiencies.

eddie wrote:Dude, you’re obsessed with egg sandwiches. I should NEVER have introduced you to the Eddie-Eggie-Sarnie....

Tommy Monk wrote:I've never had it without it being encased in a capsule... Just knock it back with a glug of tea or something and don't taste it at all...

Tommy Monk wrote:


Yes... I can imagine it tastes absolutely rank!


Have occasionally had a little burp a while after taking the capsule form, and that is unpleasant enough...

Tommy Monk wrote:What are "flintstone vitamins"...?