evidence: Clinical data increasingly has shown that patients with low vitamin D levels have a greater chance of COVID-19 infection—and severe disease and death. Now, research led by scientists from Lankenau Institute for Medical Research (LIMR), part of Main Line Health, points to an explanation for the link and provides evidence that higher vitamin D intake can help fight off the disease. [...] Published literature has indicated that patients with vitamin D deficiency were five times more likely to become infected by COVID-19. Data supporting supplemental doses for those with vitamin D levels in the normal range are less clear, the authors said. "The benefits, however, are so clear and the risks so minimal that we believe physicians should be recommending supplemental vitamin D right away," Mullin said. "Cytokine storms, where the body's immune response kicks into overdrive and can result in severe disease and death in COVID, compromise the body's airway barrier function. We already know from past studies that vitamin D blunts cytokine storms in cases of flu. In cases of COVID-19, vitamin D therapy may allow time for a patient's own immune defenses to kick in before it's too late."