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
Surprising Findings
Vitamin D didn't reduce overall infection risk despite previous research suggesting it might.
Many health influencers and some studies have promoted vitamin D for immunity, making this null result counter to popular belief.
Practical Takeaways
If you take vitamin D for cold prevention, focus on daily low-to-moderate doses (400–1000 IU) rather than high or infrequent doses.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Vitamin D didn't reduce overall infection risk despite previous research suggesting it might.
Many health influencers and some studies have promoted vitamin D for immunity, making this null result counter to popular belief.
Practical Takeaways
If you take vitamin D for cold prevention, focus on daily low-to-moderate doses (400–1000 IU) rather than high or infrequent doses.
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
Related Content
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.