I’ve largely stayed out of the Covid debate due to the level of hysteria it generates. The heat/light ratio there is even more extreme than in other areas of policy. Skinner’s superstitious pigeons are rife.

However the debate over the impact of Vitamin D interests me since it highlights the issue of individual variability and population medicine. There are contradictory findings everywhere. The Lancet has published a very tentative article entitled Vitamin D for COVID-19: a case to answer?, and Nutrients has published a more forthright paper detailing the Immunologic Effects of Vitamin D on Human Health and Disease

This paper ends with the statement:

The bottom line is that there is no downside to increasing our intake of vitamin D to maintain serum 25(OH)D at at least 30 ng/mL (75 nmol/L), and preferably at 40–60 ng/mL (100–150 nmol/L) to achieve optimal overall health benefits of vitamin D.

That gives a null hypothesis to fire at. And so far nobody has a list of people with high Vitamin D levels who have died.

So I thought I’d find out where I was - particularly as I ended up on antibiotics for the first time last November for a chest infection that wouldn’t go away.

I live above the 55th parallel and I have type II skin - a genetic adaptation for this latitude. But of course I live a modern life largely in front of a computer during the week, although I get out as much as I can (averaging 3700 steps per day over the last year). BMI is 22.5 at the moment which is reasonable for my age.

My results came back:

Total Vitamin D : 32.9 nmol/L
Status: INSUFFICIENCY

If I’m this low, then I dread to think where others are after six months locked down and their two weeks in the sun in the bin. Right now I should be at about the highest point I’m going to be in the annual cycle.

Over the next 8 weeks I’ll be following a supplementation regime and I’ll retest in October to see whether it has worked.