Osborne is an expert in functional nutrition and certified with the American Clinical Board of Nutrition, according to his website.
Multiple vitamins and minerals, including vitamin D, vitamin C, B complex vitamins and zinc, are listed on East Virginia School of Medicine's treatment protocol for coronavirus in patients. Zinc has an impact on viral replication which may prevent the virus from entering cells, Osborne told Fox.
Vitamin D levels in particular may have an impact on coronavirus mortality, Osborne explained. "So far, here's what we know: people with low vitamin D who get COVID have a greater tendency toward dying, have a greater tendency toward hyper-inflammation in the cytokine storm that comes with COVID, and have a greater tendency toward getting on ventilators," he told Fox News.
Osborne went on to recommend that people get a blood test to check their vitamin D levels, saying that the test is "probably one of the smartest things that a person could do right now, with an unpredictable role of a relatively unknown illness."
He cited a study by University of Chicago researchers that found that patients who were vitamin D deficient in the year before they were tested were 1.77 times more likely to test positive for the coronavirus.