Coronavirus is a disease so uncertain that most of us are willing to do everything we can to protect ourselves from catching the virus – or at least delay a serious case. That is why so many people have turned to vitamins and supplements as a natural way to boost their immune system in the fight against COVID. Unfortunately, this may just be an illusion. A new study published on February 12 in Open JAMA network I just confirmed that certain common vitamins will not stop your COVID symptoms, after all. Read on to find out which vitamins the researchers say won’t really help you, and for the vitamins you should be taking, these 3 vitamins can save you from serious COVID, Study Finds.
The researchers for this study brought together 214 patients with coronavirus recovering from COVID at home. Randomly, some individuals were assigned to receive high doses of zinc, vitamin C or both supplements for 10 days. The other patients did not receive supplements and received only standard care, such as rest, hydration and medication to reduce fever. However, the study was stopped early because the researchers saw “no significant difference” in reducing the symptoms of those who received one or two of the supplements compared to those who received none of the supplements.
“Unfortunately, these two supplements failed to match your hype”, Erin Michos, MD, associate professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Miguel Cainzos-Achirica, MD, associate director of preventive cardiology research at Houston Methodist, wrote in a statement accompanying the study. And for other ways of not being protected, if you see it on your mask, the FDA says to throw it away right away.
Not only was there no evidence that these supplements helped people infected with COVID – patients taking vitamin C and zinc reported unpleasant side effects. “More adverse effects (nausea, diarrhea and stomach cramps) have been reported in the supplement groups than in the usual treatment group,” wrote Michos and Cainzo-Achirica in their statement.
According to the researchers, zinc can produce a metallic taste, dry mouth and gastrointestinal intolerance when administered in high doses. High doses of vitamin C can also cause gastrointestinal intolerance – which was explicitly observed in this study, since a greater proportion of patients who received the large dose of vitamin C reported nausea, diarrhea and stomach cramps. And for more reactions, if you have these side effects from the vaccine, don’t take another injection, says the CDC.
Both vitamin C and zinc are over-the-counter supplements that help strengthen the immune system, which is why some experts have suggested them as possible treatments in the fight against COVID, the authors noted. Even the ex-president Donald Trump allegedly received zinc to help treat his coronavirus symptoms, according to a report by The New York Times.
But in general, research on taking these supplements to help with infection is still uncertain. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), vitamin C supplements do not reduce the risk of getting a common cold for most people. However, people who take vitamin C regularly “may experience a little shorter colds or slightly milder symptoms when they have a cold.” As for zinc, the institute says that research has been conflicting and that this supplement can only be beneficial against the common cold “under certain circumstances”. And for the most up-to-date information, subscribe to our daily newsletter.
Although vitamin C and zinc may be out of the question in terms of health COVID, other vitamins are still being researched. In fact, a January study published in Angewandte Chemie, the newspaper of the German Chemical Society, found that three common vitamins can help in more severe cases of COVID: vitamin D, vitamin K and vitamin A. Another survey found that those with lower levels of vitamin K were more likely to be hospitalized with Severe COVID, although a lack of vitamin D can increase the likelihood of someone becoming infected.
This survey had a COVID advisor from the White House Anthony Fauci, MD, publicizing the importance of maintaining adequate levels of vitamins. “If you’re deficient in vitamin D, it has an impact on your susceptibility to infection. I wouldn’t mind recommending – and I do it myself – taking vitamin D supplements,” said Fauci during an interview with Instagram Live with the actor Jennifer Garner in September 2020. And for a more specialized view, Dr. Fauci says that these are the symptoms of COVID that do not go away.