Vitamin D may reduce flu-like illness in healthcare workers
Supplementing 5000 IU vitamin D3 daily can reduce influenza-like illness in healthcare workers, according to a study.
In this prospective, controlled trial, researchers compared the incidence rate of influenza-like illness amongst a random group of 255 healthcare workers who took vitamin D3 supplementation for at least 2 months and a control group of 2827 workers. All healthcare workers were required to self-monitor and report symptoms of an influenza-like illness.
There was a lower risk of influenza-like illness and a lower incidence rate for non-COVID-19 influenza-like illness in participants taking the vitamin D3 supplement.
“Daily vitamin D3 supplementation is an inexpensive and safe intervention. The results of the present study suggest that daily vitamin D3 supplementation can be recommended to reduce the incidence of ILI in healthcare workers. Reducing ILI is important to improve the health of healthcare workers, to improve patient safety due to less exposure to sick healthcare workers, and to reduce health care utilization and health care cost,” the authors wrote.
Reference
van Helmond N, Brobyn TL, LaRiccia PJ, et al. Vitamin D3 Supplementation at 5000 IU Daily for the Prevention of Influenza-like Illness in Healthcare Workers: A Pragmatic Randomized Clinical Trial. Nutrients. 2022;15(1):180. doi: 10.3390/nu15010180. PMID: 36615837; PMCID: PMC9823308.