The relationship between COVID-19, Zinc and Vitamin D: A Systematic Review

Background: The 2019 coronavirus illness (COVID-19) pandemic emphasizes the value of consuming necessary nutrients, particularly those that strengthen an organism's inbuilt immune system in the case of COVID-19 or other viral diseases.The nutritional condition of COVID-19 individuals should be assessed at the time of admission, according to a few recent studies, to help medical professionals balance and normalize the case's nutritional needs. Zinc and its ionophores are candidates against COVID-19 due to the mineral's immunomodulatory and antiviral properties. In addition to playing a crucial part in cell maintenance, development, and activation during innate and adaptive immune responses, zinc is crucial for the health of the immune system. The function of calcium and vitamin D as immunomodulators has received attention. Vitamin D in its active form has strong immunomodulatory properties. T lymphocytes, macrophages, and dendritic cells are only a few immune system cells that have vitamin D receptors on them.
Objectives: The study aims to summarize current evidences regarding the relationship between COVID-19, Zinc and Vitamin D.
Methodology: PubMed, Web of Science, Science Direct, EBSCO, and Cochrane library were searched. Study articles were screened by title and abstract using Rayyan QCRI then a full-text assessment was implemented.
 
Results: A total of 286 study articles resulted from the systematic search, and then 88 duplicates were removed. Title and abstract screening were conducted on 198 studies, and 54 studies were excluded. Finally, 146 studies were screened for full-text assessment; 139 were excluded and 9 eligible study articles were included in this systematic review. All of studies reported correlation between severity of infection with both two variables (zinc and vitamin D levels).
Conclusion: The likelihood of hospitalization was considerably greater in individuals who had both low serum zinc levels and COVID-19. Serval Studies’ findings suggested that severe COVID-19 in adults may be caused by genetic variations related to vitamin D. This could influence preventative plans based on nutrigenetic profiles particular to a group. When compared to patients who were admitted to the ICU or non-ICU and survived, researchers discovered that blood levels of zinc, vitamin B12, and 25(OH)D were lower in patients who died. results in COVID-19 patients appear to be generally influenced by blood levels of 25(OH)D, vitamin B12, and particularly zinc at the time of admission.
 