Methods

• Online databases and bibliographic reviews were used to identify the relevant articles.

Results and Discussion

• Vitamin D has been proposed to have antiviral effects. It has been reported to be associated with significant reduction in ICU admission rates in COVID-19 patients.
• Vitamin C is known for enhancing the immune system. It has been proposed that vitamin C could be beneficial in immune defense against COVID-19 infection.
• Magnesium has been reported to increase 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels when they are <30 ng/mL at baseline; thus, as vitamin D helps protect against COVID-19, magnesium too could be beneficial. Magnesium in combination with B complex vitamins and D has shown a significant decrease in oxygen support.
• Vitamin B12 plays a fundamental role in the gut microbiome, which can affect the innate immune response. Vitamin B has only been studied in combination with vitamin D and magnesium, which showed significant decrease in oxygen support (including ICU support).
• Zinc enhances the innate anti-infective properties of basophils, eosinophils and neutrophils. It helps in mitigating symptoms of the common cold and can also inhibit RNA polymerase in vitro.
• ALA has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. It can decrease the levels of serum inflammatory cytokines and inflammatory-related symptoms in patients with the acute coronary syndrome, liver transplantation and kidney-pancreas combined transplantation. However, it has not yielded encouraging results in COVID patients.

Conclusion

• Among all the investigated vitamins and supplements, vitamin D presented the most promising data, exhibiting significant decreases in oxygen requirements, need for ICU treatment, SARS-CoV-2 RNA test positivity and mortality, which were all observed in hospitalized patients.
• Other investigated vitamins and supplements did not demonstrate any statistically significant benefits.
• More data is required regarding other vitamins and minerals.

Source: Speakman LL, Michienzi SM, Badowski ME. Vitamins, supplements and COVID-19: a review of currently available evidence. Drugs Context. 2021;10:2021-6-2.