ReviewNutrients2020
The Benefits of Vitamin D Supplementation for Athletes: Better Performance and Reduced Risk of COVID-19.
Review in Nutrients, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 32 citations in OpenAlex.
- Vitamin D supplementation and clinical outcomes in COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of endocrinological investigation · 2022Pooled it
- The link between COVID-19 and VItamin D (VIVID): A systematic review and meta-analysis.Metabolism: clinical and experimental · 2021Pooled it
- Trial
- The Effect of Dietary Supplementation on Physical Performance in Adolescent Male Soccer Players Infected with SARS-CoV-2.Nutrients · 2025Article
- Vitamin D Status and Cardiovascular Disease in College Athletes After SARS-CoV-2 Infection.Clinical journal of sport medicine : official journal of the Canadian Academy of Sport Medicine · 2024Article
- Efficacy of vitamin D supplementation in the treatment of patients with COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Annals of medicine and surgery (2012) · 2024Review
- Can the supplementation of vitamin D, sun exposure, and isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic affect the seasonal concentration of 25(OH)D and selected blood parameters among young soccer players in a one-year training season?Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition · 2023Article
- The association between vitamin D intake with inflammatory and biochemical indices and mortality in critically ill patients with COVID-19: A case-control study.Immunity, inflammation and disease · 2023Article
- Vitamin D deficiency in athletes: Laboratory, clinical and field integration.Asia-Pacific journal of sports medicine, arthroscopy, rehabilitation and technology · 2022Review
- Influence of exercise and vitamin D on the immune system against Covid-19: an integrative review of current literature.Molecular and cellular biochemistry · 2022Review
- The Impact of COVID-19 on the Preparation for the Tokyo Olympics: A Comprehensive Performance Assessment of Top Swimmers.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Are Host Defense Peptides and Their Derivatives Ready to be Part of the Treatment of the Next Coronavirus Pandemic?Archivum immunologiae et therapiae experimentalis · 2021Review
- Role of vitamin D in treating COVID-19-associated coagulopathy: problems and perspectives.Molecular and cellular biochemistry · 2021Review
- Antiviral peptides against Coronaviridae family: A review.Peptides · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic is having major economic and personal consequences for collegiate and professional sports. Sporting events have been canceled or postponed, and even when baseball and basketball seasons resumed in the United States recently, no fans were in attendance. As play resumed, several players developed COVID-19, disrupting some of the schedules. A hypothesis now under scientific consideration is that taking vitamin supplements to raise serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentrations could quickly reduce the risk and/or severity of COVID-19. Several mechanisms have been identified through which vitamin D could reduce the risks of infection and severity, death, and long-haul effects of COVID-19: (1) inducing production of cathelicidin and defensins to reduce the survival and replication of the SARS-CoV-2 virus; (2) reducing inflammation and the production of proinflammatory cytokines and risk of the "cytokine storm" that damages the epithelial layer of the lungs, heart, vascular system, and other organs; and (3) increasing production of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, thus limiting the amount of angiotensin II available to the virus to cause damage. Clinical trials have confirmed that vitamin D supplementation reduces risk of acute respiratory tract infections, and approximately 30 observational studies have shown that incidence, severity, and death from COVID-19 are inversely correlated with serum 25(OH)D concentrations. Vitamin D supplementation is already familiar to many athletes and sports teams because it improves athletic performance and increases playing longevity. Thus, athletes should consider vitamin D supplementation to serve as an additional means by which to reduce risk of COVID-19 and its consequences.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.