Given that vitamin D decreases pro-inflammatory IL-6 and that IL-6 is implicated in the COVID-19 “cytokine storm,” (170) and finding that mean IL-6 levels are higher in males and African Americans and increase with age and obesity (groups with increased risk for COVID-19 mortality), Silberstein went on to evaluate the possibility that vitamin D deficiency causes upregulation of IL-in high risk individuals prior to exposure to COVID-19, increasing their likelihood of developing fatal COVID-19 complications (171). This evidence concerns the gene IL6 and obesity due to melanocortin 4 receptor deficiency.