RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Vitamin D can be an ally in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic according to a study conducted by scientists at the University of Turin in Italy. According to the study, the vitamin is not a cure, but rather a tool capable of reducing the risk factors of the disease.
The study found that most of the patients hospitalized for the Covid-19 showed vitamin D deficiency, particularly the elderly.
“Offsetting this large vitamin deficiency can be achieved mainly by exposure to sunlight as far as possible, even on balconies and terraces, eating vitamin D-rich foods and, under medical supervision, taking specific drugs,” the researchers told the Italian newspaper La Repubblica.
In the document, the researchers suggest to doctors that, in addition to general prevention measures, “ensuring adequate levels of vitamin D for the population, but in particular for those already infected, their relatives, health professionals, the frail elderly, people in care homes, quarantined and all those who, for a variety of reasons, are not adequately exposed to sunlight”.
Italy is the second most affected country in the world by the coronavirus, behind only the United States, with 92,472 infections and over 10,000 deaths.