A new study shows that Black women with low vitamin D levels are more likely to get COVID-19, leading researchers at Boston University to surmise that attaining sufficient levels of vitamin D may help protect them from COVID-19. People with a dark skin have lower Vitamin D levels.
Scientists assessed three levels of vitamin D — deficient, insufficient
and sufficient — among women who had been tested for COVID using data
from a 1995 Black Women's Health Study of 59,000 Black women ages 21
through 69 years. The new study found that Black American women with
deficient levels of vitamin D had a 69% greater risk of COVID-19
infection than women with sufficient vitamin D levels.
In
addition, the study showed that being obese adds to the risk of getting
COVID-19. Vitamin D deficiency and obesity are also known to lead to a
higher risk of osteoporosis, cancer and cardiovascular disease.