Vitamin D insufficiency may account for almost 90% of Covid-19 deaths
When the third supportive pre-print paper was released in late April I started my elderly mother on a D3 supplement. As more papers came out in May I started my whole family on it. I read up on dosing and it&#x27;s pretty hard to overdose unless megadosing over a sustained period of time and negative reactions&#x2F;interactions are rare. We&#x27;ve been supplementing ~5k to 10k IU daily (total, incl any multi-vitamins) depending on age&#x2F;body weight (note: IU is not the same as mg). We also try to get 20-30m a day of actual sun exposure when possible. N=1 but so far no one in my family as gotten CV19 or even had any ILI symptoms despite some probable exposure.<p>I got my blood run last month and my D3 is at 89mL (normal range is ~30-100 on my provider&#x27;s test). While dietary supplementation is shown to be effective in studies, keep in mind that some experts believe sunlight generated D may be absorbed differently in ways that might matter, so getting some of both is ideal if possible. Sunlight supplementation scales with exposure duration * skin area * intensity, so less time can be partly offset with more area and&#x2F;or peak time-of-day. Latitude, altitude and significant particulate air pollution can also matter. Also, be aware many common types of window glass in homes&#x2F;autos as well as some sunblocks can reduce or block UV types which may contribute to the benefits.<p>Of course, the usual warnings about consulting your medical provider and more of a good thing is not always &#x27;better&#x27; apply, so be careful not to over do it. Although rare, some people who have megadosed huge amounts over long time periods (usually many times 10k IU daily) have built up potentially problematic amounts of D3.