Does Vitamin D Prevent Colds?
Vitamin D supplementation to prevent acute respiratory infections: systematic review and meta-analysis of stratified aggregate data
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 545 / 100
Evidence Score
The highest quality evidence. These studies systematically search, appraise, and synthesize results from multiple individual studies, providing the most reliable summary of current knowledge.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 545 / 100
Evidence Score
The highest quality evidence. These studies systematically search, appraise, and synthesize results from multiple individual studies, providing the most reliable summary of current knowledge.
Publication
Journal
The lancet. Diabetes & endocrinology
Year
2024
Authors
David A. Jolliffe, C. Camargo, J. Sluyter, M. Aglipay, J. Aloia, P. Bergman, Heike A. Bischoff-Ferrari, Arturo Borzutzky, V. Bubes, C. T. Damsgaard, Francine M. Ducharme, G. Dubnov-Raz, S. Esposito, D. Ganmaa, C. Gilham, A. Ginde, Inbal Golan-Tripto, E. Goodall, C. Grant, C. Griffiths, A. Hibbs, W. Janssens, A. V. Khadilkar, I. Laaksi, Margaret T. Lee, Mark Loeb, Jonathon L. Maguire, Paweł Majak, S. Manaseki-Holland, J. Manson, David T. Mauger, David Murdoch, Akio Nakashima, Rachel E Neale, H. Pham, Christine Rake, Judy R Rees, Jenni Rosendahl, Robert Scragg, Dheeraj Shah, Yoshiki Shimizu, S. Simpson-Yap, G Trilok Kumar, M. Urashima, A. Martineau
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Claims (7)
This claim says that taking lots of vitamin C, echinacea, garlic, or vitamin D doesn't actually help you get better from a cold, according to real studies done on people.
Taking vitamin D supplements doesn't really change your chance of having serious side effects, and it's considered safe for helping prevent colds and other breathing infections.
When scientists look at studies about vitamin D preventing colds and flu, it seems like some smaller studies showing vitamin D doesn't work might be missing. This could make vitamin D look more helpful than it really is.
Taking vitamin D supplements doesn't really help prevent common colds or similar infections for most people, based on a big review of studies.
Taking a small daily dose of vitamin D might help lower your chances of getting colds or other breathing infections, but taking more doesn't seem to help extra, and scientists aren't totally sure about this yet.