#Coronavirus lockdown has made us more vitamin D deficient

Still in isolation due to the coronavirus, and away from the sun? Taking Vitamin D in capsule form can prevent deficiencies.
Getty Images/iStockphoto

Even as coronavirus-related lockdowns continue to lift in New York City, which began Phase 3 of reopening on Monday, and more people leave the confines of their apartments to meet up with friends under summer skies, there is still one thing to keep in mind: Even with easier access to the outdoors, we still may not have sufficient Vitamin D in our systems.

“It can only come from adequate sun exposure, and without that there’s no source of Vitamin D that’s enough,” says Dr. Len Horovitz, an internist and pulmonologist at Lenox Hill Hospital. “Either you’re a farmer or a tennis pro and you get it that way, or you take a [daily] gel cap.”

Even before the onset of the coronavirus outbreak in the spring, Vitamin D deficiencies were a problem, but it’s become even more pronounced since the shutdown encouraged people to stay indoors to curb the spread.

“[People] have even less ultraviolet exposure in lockdown,” says Horovitz. “But it can be corrected.”

Sure, fish and fish oils are rich in Vitamin D — and with the risk of skin cancer, there is such a thing as too much sun exposure — but the best method is “to take that gel cap in the morning,” says Horovitz.

“It’s the only vitamin people really need,” he says, adding that you can get the others in a healthy diet.

Indeed, “it’s one of the easiest deficiencies to correct,” says Dori Arad, Ph.D., a clinical dietitian, exercise physiologist and director of Mount Sinai’s Physiolab. The body makes Vitamin D from cholesterol under the skin, which sunlight activates, then it heads through the liver and kidneys to process further. But with those who are still in isolation — he points to people with pre-existing conditions and those over age 65 — taking it in vitamin form is effective.

“Moving forward, we’ll see more Vitamin D deficiencies for sure,” Arad says.

Vitamin D has several benefits, including assisting bone density and immune system function, but its deficiency doesn’t show any acute signs or symptoms.

“The wounds should heal better; the fracture should heal faster,” says Horovitz.

Since replenishing depleted levels of the vitamin is so easy, there are no health implications for people having stayed inside so long, he says.

“They’re probably more cabin fever and psychological effects than physical effects,” he says.