Vitamin D overuse can lead to toxicity: PGI doc

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 5

“Use of vitamin D in high doses, especially injectable preparations, to prevent Covid-19 should be strongly discouraged. Vitamin D supplemented prior to the diagnosis of Covid-19 was not found to improve clinical outcomes in our meta-analysis. Instead, overuse can lead to vitamin D toxicity,” said Prof Sanjay K Bhadada from the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education & Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh.

Doctors at the PGI, Chandigarh, have recently published a study in the Journal of Endocrinological Investigation entitled “Vitamin D supplementation and clinical outcomes in Covid-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis”.

The study was conducted by Dr Rimesh Pal, Dr Mainak Banerjee, Prof Sanjay K Bhadada, Dr Anirudh J Shetty, Dr Birgurman Singh and Dr Abhinav Vyas.

“Pooled data from 13 studies showed that vitamin D supplemented after the diagnosis of Covid-19 leads to improved clinical outcomes in terms of reduced mortality and/or intensive care unit admission,” said Prof Sanjay K Bhadada, Head of Endocrinology Department at the PGI, Chandigarh.

“As the Covid-19 pandemic continues to rampage, search for an effective therapy still remains elusive. Accordingly, multiple existing drugs have been repurposed for the management of Covid-19. In this context, vitamin D, a fat-soluble vitamin which is primarily related to bone and mineral metabolism, has shown some promising results in Covid-19,” read the study.

“The study lends ample support to the fact that vitamin D can be used as an effective adjuvant treatment modality in patients hospitalised with Covid-19. The anti-viral and the immune-modulatory role of vitamin D are perhaps helpful in this regard. Nevertheless, irrational and rampant use of vitamin D to prevent Covid-19 should not a norm,” it further reads.