OCTOBER 27, 2021
Consumer survey spotlights rise of vitamin D in 2021
Vitamin D usage in the U.S. rose 10 percentage points over the past year, notes Nutritional Outlook’s coverage of CRN’s 2021 Consumer Survey on Dietary Supplements. Vitamin D has gained attention during the COVID-19 pandemic for its role in supporting immune health—and, more specifically, helping to combat respiratory infection.
All eyes on immune health: Vitamin D is among the list of ingredients that have seen a significant increase in usage over the last 12 months as research and news reports point to them as potentially helpful in boosting overall immunity:
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Vitamin D (52% vs. 42% in 2020)
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Vitamin C (40% vs. 35%)
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Zinc (22% vs. 15%)
More than supplements: “45% of all respondents actually indicated they’ve had their vitamin D levels checked by a healthcare provider at some point during the pandemic,” noted Consumer Survey Advisory Committee Chair Tom Druke of Balchem during his presentation at Now, New, Next. “So people are getting tested, and they’re acting on that.”
Dive into vitamin D: Visit the CRN Foundation’s Vitamin D & Me! site to access leading research, expert video interviews, news, and educational content about vitamin D and COVID-19.
Go deeper: See more topline results from the 2021 Consumer Survey on Dietary Supplements here.
Go all in: Purchase the complete set of consumer survey data here. CRN members receive special pricing with code.
Vitamin K and D deficiencies independently associated with COVID-19 severity, study finds
Vitamins K and D could play independent roles in COVID-19 pathogenesis, according to findings from an independently conducted study supported by CRN member company Kappa Bioscience.
Vitamin K status was lower in COVID-19 infected patients than in healthy controls, with similar vitamin D levels in each group. Participants who were vitamin D deficient had worse vitamin K status, and experienced the most severe COVID-19 outcomes.
This independent association of vitamin K and vitamin D deficiencies with worse COVID-19 disease severity suggests a potential synergistic interplay between the two vitamins in COVID-19, the authors concluded. The study, published in Open Forum Infectious Diseases (with highlights coming soon to Vitamin D & Me!) is the first to examine the influence of both vitamins K and D on the course of COVID-19.
What they're saying: The synergistic benefits of the vitamins K and D have been flagged by Kappa Bioscience before as the “Perfect Pair." Trygve Bergeland, Kappa’s vice president of science, explains, “Put simply, vitamin D enables the production of some key proteins, which play a role in calcium metabolism. But they are produced in an inactive state, and vitamin K2 is the catalyst that activates them.”